ANGER over a perceived lack of government assistance for Bovine Johne’s Disease (BJD)-affected producers hit boiling point for many graziers in Queensland over the weekend.
Following a call for personal stories from affected producers, the overwhelming response was that key industry bodies such as Agforce, the Cattle Council of Australia and Animal Health Australia need to effectively represent their members by ensuring compensation is dispensed.
Without support, family businesses will continue to be crippled.
“We have been feeling ... we are banging our head against a brick wall.”
The main pressure point is the rejection of the graziers’ claims for compensation arising for costs incurred as a result of BJD quarantine. In one instance, a grazier had accumulated costs to the hefty sum of $700,000, of which they could only claim $14,500.
Queensland Agriculture Minister John McVeigh belatedly addressed producers’ late yesterday afternoon (Tuesday), issuing a statement about a potential compensation cap increase just after 5pm.
Dr McVeigh said the BJD Industry Advisory Committee had met Friday, December 20, and discussed recommendations to “enhance” BJD assistance.
“Based on its advice and a review of the funding available, I will be recommending to double the current $50,000 to cap making affected producers eligible for up to $100,000 in assistance,” he said in the statement.
“While it is important that assistance to affected producers is maximised, it is essential that existing funds can continue to support those producers eligible for assistance under the regulations for the life of the scheme (until 30 June, 2014).”
Dr McVeigh said as the raising of this cap would require a regulatory amendment, the change would not come into effect until the end of January.
Graziers speak out
Urgent access needed
Wallace Gunthorpe - BJD Action Coalition, BJD Industry Advisory Committee
“Tom Campbell was quarantined for five and a half months in drought conditions and made a claim of $36,000 through the supply chain assistance program and was rejected.
“He also spent another $30,000 feeding underweight cattle that could not go to the feedlot.
“Tom mustered and tagged his breeders for testing at his own expense and has not been able to claim one red cent in compensation.
“Tom had a lease block at St George lined up but when the people found out he had previously been quarantined for BJD they refused to lease to him. I still remember the Minister telling us that no individual will bear the burden of BJD policy for the sake of the industry!
“I hope the fact that Tom has been an outspoken critic of the government, Agforce and Cattle Council Australia’s poor handling of this situation has not put him in this position.
“Trade places with Tom for a moment and see how you would view the situation.
“This letter was written on October 21, 2013, by Agriculture Minister John McVeigh, in which the Minister says he will make an announcement shortly on what additional assistance can be made available. The Minister does not seem to realise the pressure people are under.
“The extra $3M is not much use to anyone if genuine people like Tom cannot access it. Hence we have a situation where there has been about $330,000 claimed from the $5M in the last fifteen months.
“The compensation is clearly not working.
“When they introduce the new levy, who will pay into it knowing you have very little chance of making a successful claim?
“A lot of people fought hard to get the $5M. Now that we have it, let's use it to help people that are genuinely out of pocket for the supposed greater good of the industry.”
Wall of silence
John Bethel - Huonfels Station, Georgetown
“I have been trying for months to get a claim in for the compensation and have been told that under no circumstance will any Biosecurity Officer sign off on my claim so it can’t be submitted…
“Apparently there is a wall of silence being put up and I have been personally given wrong advice because there is no communication back down to my case manager, my local stockman, and he is as pissed off as I am.
“I have been completely crippled by this and think the only avenue left for us all is to take legal action, which I believe we should have done right at the start.”
Ridiculous criteria
Tim and Megan Atkinson - Lucky Downs, Greenvale
“We have been feeling the same way for quite some time with Agforce and the government, that is, we are banging our head against a brick wall.
“We have had approximately 40 bulls slaughtered and although we did get the full amount of $50,000 assistance, the full cost of those bulls is in the vicinity of $132,000 alone, without taking into account any other expense we have had to service.
“We have also tried to access the QRAA loan funding, but were unsuccessful with fitting their ‘criteria’ - which is next to impossible.
“Out of interest, has anyone else applied? I heard a report … about two to three months ago that there was something like 85 applications and they put about 20-25 through. If anyone else is in the same situation, perhaps we could create a joint letter in regard to the ridiculous criteria.”
Lack of empathy
Rodger Jefferis - Elrose Station, Cloncurry
“I was alarmed at the attitude of our peak bodies when this first broke and at the lack of empathy for those affected. The main objective seemed to be to maintain Queensland’s BJD-free status while spending as little as possible on compensation, despite the Minister’s statement that this was a whole industry problem and should not be carried by just those affected.
“The stigma associated with BJD would be causing the majority of those quarantined to suffer silently and this along with the fact that it has dropped off the press is exactly what Agforce and Queensland Biosecurity wanted.
“They can beat their chests and say they have confined the outbreak while saving our markets but we are really worse off now because WA demands a whole herd test.
“It needs to rain across a lot of the country within a month. The difference to last year is that most cattle will not be moveable.
“You wonder how many other cases like this there are out there because the latest I heard was that very little of the available compensation had been taken up.”
Clayton's package
Alex McDonald - BJD Representative for Australian Registered Cattle Breeders Association (ARCBA)
“I have followed the emails and completely understand your frustration with the difficulties of achieving reasonable financial assistance from the $5m supposedly available from the Queensland government, which appears to me more like a ‘Clayton’s’ financial assistance package.
“I understood the maximum claimable amount had been lifted to $100,000 but this does not appear to be the case for Tim and Megan Atkinson. If so, why not?
“Minister John McVeigh needs to be reminded of his statement in Rockhampton that no individual breeder should bear the cost of eradicating BJD for the benefit of the Queensland beef industry.”
