Heed industry experts not anti-industry activists

Last week we met with the MLA team preparing the 2025 Sheep Industry Projections Report. While a routine activity for industry, it was a good reminder about the ongoing industry investment and rigour that goes into producing contemporary, accurate industry reports. Not only does the MLA team use the best market intelligence, but it also tests assumptions with people closer to the ground to ensure reports reflect the reality of what is occurring in practice and understanding why.

To develop good policies and associated legislation governments need to heed the advice of industry experts, not anti-industry activists.

We’ve seen the opposite approach through the recent House of Representatives Agriculture Committee abridged inquiry into ending live sheep exports. Based on the findings, the committee seemed to be more interested in and convinced by people that hadn’t set foot on a live export ship since 2011 than the experts currently working in the industry who monitor and improve its operation to meet the expectations of markets and society.

This inquiry process triggered a response from the experts currently working within production animal industries as service providers who felt compelled to write a submission to the committee to address some of the evidence provided.

Unsurprisingly, this network of veterinarians strongly disagreed with evidence provided in the animal welfare section by the RSPCA, Animals Alliance, Vets against live export, and so-called independent vets; that is, the anti-industry activists.

Concerningly, the submission also highlights that the views of the Australian Veterinary Association did not align with the people that would normally be considered the subject matter experts, nor did it consult with the veterinarians in its membership currently working within or with extensive experience in live export when preparing for this public inquiry.

Another area where our industry suffers from governments paying too much attention to anti-industry activists is land use and emissions.

On 14 June 2024, the ABS released advice that it had modernised the way official agricultural statistics are produced to better support Australian agriculture, which altered its assessment of the size of the national beef herd. The ABS now estimates there were 27.8 million beef cattle at 30 June 2023, a 3.4 million (or 14 per cent) increase on its previous estimate at 24.4 million head. The new estimate is now less than 1 million head from MLA’s 2023 herd estimate at 28.7 million.

Immediately following the release of the ABS beef cattle numbers, climate activists were inciting alarm that there is now 20 per cent more methane and this would have significant implications for the red meat industry’s greenhouse gas reporting.

Governments need to listen to and work with industry experts not anti-industry activists on holistic solutions to complex challenges. Failing to do so will not deliver the policies and regulatory frameworks needed to responsibly and sustainably progress, it will only ever result in detrimental short- and long-term outcomes.

By Travis Tobin

[as published in the Stock Journal]