Media Release

Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has called on Abattoir workers to reject the lies being promulgated by ‘greedy foreign meat processing corporations’, after workers at a Townsville Abattoir rallied against live cattle export numbers yesterday in a bid to save their own jobs.

Mr Katter said cattle numbers were down precisely because of the previous ban on live export, but two actions by Government would turn this around.

“Understand this clearly – the reason that you have no cattle to slaughter is because the foreign corporate meatworks corporations and a bunch of ratbag greenies had the live cattle trade stopped,” Mr Katter said.

“It halved the price for cattle, so every cattleman was making a loss.

“They sold off their breeders and now cattle numbers are down.

“So it’s not the cattle going onto the live export market that’s the problem – it’s that we’ve got no cattle.”

But Mr Katter said this could be turned around.

“We will build the Hells Gate Dam.

“We will get irrigation for every cattle farmer in North Queensland.

“This will double the number of cattle in North Queensland and increase our turn off from one in six to one in three – in line with the rest of Australia – but only once we get that irrigation.”

Mr Katter made his statement today from NSW where he is meeting with meat processing interests, because otherwise in three years we will be desperately short of meat processing capacity.

“We once had nine meatworks in North Queensland, now we have one.

“The meat processers had a huge picnic, literally over the dead bodies of live cattle producers, for four to five years.

“But do not make the stupid mistake you were conned into making last time.

“I would plead with the Unions to listen to the people that know and not the greedy foreign meat processing corporations that bring in s457 workers,” Mr Katter said.