How to help Labor's Anti Live Export Policy

First off, IT IS an Anti Live Export Policy. If your plan is to "transition" from Live to Chilled then it is about a gradual shut down of the trade. Its abolishing the trade in a orderly fashion. It is about shutting the trade down. Its about placating the Veganarchist vote in the metro area. This time round, Labor knows every vote will count.

So despite them saying it isn't about banning Live Trade, they will continue their "transition" plan and won't support the Liberals promised plan to build a Live Export Facility if the Fremantle Port is leased out.

Sounds like an ANTI LIVE EXPORT plan for sure.

How do we help their plan to have no negative impact on the WA economy and show the way for the rest of the world to follow? Its pretty simple.

Firstly, its all about creating WA jobs and keeping more money here. So the jobs have to be for Australian citizens, not 457 visa holders.

Secondly, it needs to deliver the same or better farm gate price to livestock producers if there's to be no negative impact on the WA economy.

Thirdly, it has to deliver to the customer an equal product for the same price.

Remember those 3 things...in fact let's deal with them one by one.

1) Currently there are not enough slaughtermen & meat processors in the country to handle the extra TWO MILLIONG HEAD OF SHEEP PER YEAR that will have to be transported, handled, slaughtered and processed before being chilled and exported.
If its about jobs, its about creating jobs here so long term unemployed will have to be trained and employed and not for 457 visa holders. After all, Labor says its for Australian jobs...not imported ones. Now whilst you're trying to get your head around that number of livestock, don't forget to add in 1.3 MILLION HEAD OF CATTLE that have to be handled, transported, slaughtered, processed, chilled, loaded transported to port then exported.

2) Farmgate price has to be the same or better than current live export prices. You'd get therefore no argument from farmers who already face dwindling profit margins well below normal metropolitan small to medium enterprises (SME). But wait there's more, to make it appealing to overseas buyers, you have to ensure that the chilled price to their consumers in Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and everywhere else is exactly the same or cheaper than what their consumers are paying now. Slowly you're beginning to get a handle on the idea of threading Everest through the eye of a needle. The numbers have to stack up, yet they cannot because in amongst that non workable equation is the fact that many nations do not have good infrastructure to store chilled or frozen product. Its often killed on demand and until its needed for sale, it stands and grazes. A lot cheaper than running a freezer plus in a freezer it cannot put on more weight. Once you overcome all that, then there's the inability to transport frozen and chilled meat. Then when you overcome that, much meat is sold in market places, hanging warm & wet on a hook. It doesn't spoil because its killed in the early hours of the morning and before lunchtime its in the consumer's home being cooked because many consumers don't have refrigerators nor reliable, cheap electricity supply. Remember its cost roughly AUD$150-250 per year to run a fridge maybe a little less for a freezer. For most people in Indonesia that can be a large portion of their annual earnings.
Labor has to cost out and remedy that price squeeze to suit both the producers in Australia, the processor industry in Australia, the overseas importers, the overseas retailers and the overseas consumers.

It also doesn't take into account that aside from the logistical nightmare and the foolish economic folly on every level, Chilled into a 3rd country is not popular because warm meat in a wet market is safer for some markets? Many are suspicious of chilled and frozen because when its wet & warm its impossible to hide spoiled meat. Chilled and frozen can spoil if it thaws and its then hidden if its refrozen. Some overseas consumers won't touch it, they'll buy wet & warm which will still be in their markets. Yes, Australian Chilled will have to compete with Warm & Wet from other countries...both for market share and its own profitability.

At this point in time, its not possible to replace Live with Chilled yet many tell us it is, so how do we find middle ground and placate those outside the industry who want to change the industry?

Simple really.

If most of WA is in favour of Banning Live Export and if its good for WA's economy and jobs market and its profitable for farmers and everyone in the trade then its easy to move to a chilled trade & all the required infrastructure and staff required by starting with an Industry Infrastructure Fund.

If Labor and its supporters are so convinced that the majority of WA want this and its profitable for all then you just have to find 200,000 people with the apparently superior ethics to take out a mere $50,000 mortgage on their home and invest it in a super fund willing to take on this oh so fantastic once in a life time, highly lucrative ethical investment.

200,000 x $50,000 is $10,000,000,000

That should fully fund the industry, offer modest yet competitive returns for the super funds and its investors, transition the industry, build the new industry.

Its there, all fully funded.

Now, once its built & paid for all the chilled industry has to do is make a profit, deliver same or better profit to live stock producers and offer a chilled product at a very competitive price to overseas consumers with everyone in the chain making a reasonable profit for their efforts.

How long do you think it'd take to make a good return on the $10,000,000,000 investment?
What return would it make? 12%?
At 12% after tax profit the entire $10,000,000,000 or $50,000 per person investment would be paid back in 6 years (yes fully repaid in SIX YEARS) and then just be adding a good, apparently reliable 12% pa return to the person's super. Yes, borrowed money paid from the mortgage paid back in 6 years and from then on return free clear profit to a person's super fund. Sounds sooooo easy.

Over to you Mark MacGowan. You're not planning to spend one red cent on promoting Live Export, you're planning to promote and encourage the chilled trade. Here it all is, fully costed and funded at no cost to the WA Government Coffers at all...unless you want to drop a lazy $10,000 million in and get it paid back in 6 years and have a big chunk dropping into Consolidated Revenue for each year thereafter.

Its all that simple apparently. No really the dreadlocked lass told me its moral & profitable. Ok that's all she said because she didn't know really anything about the industry at all.

The plan only lacks a couple of things...well one really.

Reality.

If its that easy, get some skin in the game and get some good big ethical returns as you close the live trade. Its at this point some people say "I'm not funding the death of any animal for food just so you can make a profit"

Then some protestors reveal themselves to be the type of Vegan Activists known as abolitionists. They pretend to be whatever it takes to abolish all meat eating.

Stop and seriously think.