CATHY McGowan believes Wednesday’s Senate hearing into the red meat processing sector is vital to the strength and future of the region’s beef producers.
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But the federal member for Indi is not putting a lot of faith in the Abbott Government.
“The people want a mandated code of practice for the industry, but the government is not in favour of that, they are really reluctant to interfere,” Ms McGowan said on Friday.
“It is good that it is coming to Albury because the beef industry is so important around here.
“The next thing is that the Senators need to act on what comes out of the hearings.”
The Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee’s inquiry into the red meat processing sector will sit at Albury’s Entertainment Centre on Wednesday.
More than 90 submissions have been made from industry bodies, councils and producers including from the Border region.
Mudgegonga beef producer Julian Carroll, Black Star Angus, told the inquiry in a submission that the Government had an obligation to step in when a free market was compromised.
“A lack of competition in the marketplace has been exacerbated by the behaviour of the processors, commission buyers and saleyard operators,” Mr Carroll said.
“When the market does not work freely, it is the responsibility of the government to regulate it.
“We can only hope that the supply pressure forces change in the industry by requiring truer competitive behaviour amongst the buyers of our cattle.
“However, the processing companies have demonstrated that they are not good corporate citizens and we can assume they will fall back into their anticompetitive behaviour when the supply and demand pendulum swings back in their favour.”
The underlying view of most submissions from the Border and North East was a perception of collusion, or lack of transparency, among big buyers at saleyards, which put the integrity of the process under question.
“It is widely believed among producers that collusion between buyers is a fact at saleyard auctions and elsewhere, but that it is impossible to prove,” the Wangaratta VFF said.
“It is worth noting that many cattle buyers act on behalf of multiple clients, and that this fact is likely to have a repressive effect on prices achieved at auction, particularly if it is the case that buyers are rewarded for buying cheaply.
“We are not aware of any other auction system where one bidder represents more than one client for the same commodity.”