Get a better deal, Mr Rudd

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd needs to return from his Indonesian trip with a better deal for Queensland’s struggling graziers, Acting Premier Jeff Seeney said today.

“Labor wrecked Queensland’s northern cattle industry when it banned live exports to Indonesia two years ago (June 2011) and the ongoing impact of that kneejerk decision has hit our cattlemen harder than anyone could have imagined,” Mr Seeney said.

“We have a dire situation where hundreds of thousands of cattle are starving and hundreds of graziers are facing the possibility of losing everything.

“While the Prime Minister is busy pleading mea culpa on all sorts of issues, he needs to add another one to his list – the harm done to his home state’s valuable beef industry by his own Government.

“The Prime Minister must face the fact that it was Labor yet again pandering to activists that savagely impacted the industry and hurt our hardworking graziers.

“Gillard and Ludwig were incompetents. They are now gone and it’s up to Kevin Rudd to make a genuine effort to fix their mess.

“The Newman Government’s decision to open up non-pristine National Parks and National Reserve properties for emergency agistment will save thousands of cattle, but it is the Rudd Government that needs to re-establish the live cattle export trade.

“He has a lot of work to do. His first task must be an apology to Indonesia for undermining the trade relationship between our two countries, and his second must be repairing that relationship to help out Queensland’s drought-stricken graziers.

“The Newman Government it working hard to repair this relationship. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry John McVeigh recently visited Indonesia and Trade and Investment Queensland (TIQ) will soon open a new office in Jakarta.

“The Prime Minister must come back from Indonesia with a better deal for our graziers.

“If he doesn’t, he’s a complete and utter failure who has continued the Labor legacy of letting down Queensland graziers.”