The Labor candidate for Mount Isa said restoring credibility in the cattle industry had been a major focus as he tried to overcome what was seen as one his biggest roadblocks to success.

The live export ban hit hard for many producers and most are yet to forgive the party for crippling the industry.

The cattle industry in the North West is a major priority for Mr Tayler and his campaign manager Anne Seymour.

‘‘Right from the word go, I wanted to restore some credibility to the Labor brand so I approached local grazier Anne Seymour to gain a greater understanding of the problems faced by people on the land,” Mr Tayler said.

“From what Anne has explained, what our graziers want more than anything else is to just be able to run their business without being hamstrung by governments.’’ 

Mr Tayler said the main problem graziers faced was not having a strong voice in government.

‘‘Labor has in the past made decisions that directly affected our cattle industry and what I see as the main problem for our graziers is not having a strong enough advocate in government making sure that real consultation is taking place with the agriculture industry,’’ he said

‘‘Anne has quite rightly pointed out that the days of graziers indiscriminately clearing land are gone and that cattle are just like us and need shade.

“Labor’s change to the vegetation laws are aimed at the small percentage of rouge people that are not acting in good faith which was witnessed directly after the LNP made their changes to wind back vegetation laws.

‘‘Securing water infrastructure for industry such as agriculture has been one of my major election priorities, so for anyone to claim differently means that they have not been listening or reading what has been in the media or are choosing to misinform people.’’