Bill Byrne has come under fire for his comments about the live cattle trade since taking up the role of Agriculture Minister.

“The driving force behind live cattle is the notion that producers would get a price advantage,” he told the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin.

“There wouldn’t be a price benefit and it would directly threaten full-time jobs … I’d oppose it for that reason.”

Boulia beef producer Ann Britton said the industry was still recovering from Labor’s live export ban in 2011, with many of their woes also compounded by years of recent drought.

Some of the high quality fat cows coming from Mrs Britton’s Goodwood Station have sold for $2 a kilogram, outlining the industry had turned around for the better.

But the prospect of uncertainty for the live cattle trade in light of Mr Byrne’s comments could leave producers at the mercy of processors.

“With no other market (processors) can set their price,” she said.

“We could have a lovely 500kg cow selling for 50c a kilogram.”

“It’s not a viable business if sthere’s only one customer there to buy the meat.”

She said having both the live export and processing market open gives competitive options for producers.

Mrs Britton, a vocal industry advocate, said it made no “business sense” to have the entire beef industry relying on one customer (processors) to take their meat. 

“Live export doesn’t oppose processors, they complement each other,” she said.

“Live export gives producers two markets.”

Mr Byrne also commented that the live cattle trade would likely threaten the feasibility of processors and value-adding of the local meat-processing industry

‘‘(Processor) TEYS in particular have been clear about their position,’’ he told The Morning Bulletin.

Mrs Britton said there was widespread concern in the beef industry about Mr Byrne’s comments.

‘‘I would prefer Mr Byrne to talk for all of Agriculture as Queensland Agriculture Minister, not Member of Rockhampton – the Beef Capital of Queensland.”

Mrs Britton said cattle producers were still “raw” from the impact of the live cattle ban of 2011.

She said Mr Byrne’s comments clouding the live export trade in uncertainty had the cattle industry cautious about what was in store from the Queensland Labor government.

“Producers are still raw from 2011,” she said.

“Many are still just trying to get their head above water and some have also had no rain whatsoever this season.”

She said Mr Byrne’s comments weren’t a “well thought out thing to say”.

Mrs Britton said she was unsure if Mr Byrne’s comments were “testing the waters” of producers. She said he needed to speak to producers, industry representatives such as AgForce and not rely on the wishes of processors such as TEYS.

“The minister needs to be talking to us,” she said.

“If he shuts down the live cattle market there won’t be any cattle producers for the processors.”

According to Mrs Britton, about 11,000 jobs were directly created by the live export trade, but there were many other detrimental flow-on affects if the industry wasn’t flourishing.

She said the toll from the 2011 live export ban was felt by not only producers, but the many communities reliant on the cattle industry across Queensland.

“A lot of Northern Queensland and the Northern Territory rely on live export,” she said.

She said a huge chunk of producers between Mount Isa and Townsville and to the North were live export producers.

‘‘Live export has shown it’s an industry vital to Australia and it creates jobs,” she said.

Employment is directly created by the live cattle export industry, ranging from cattle station workers, helicopter pilots, truck drivers and export ship workers.

Agricultural giant AACO has only recently confirmed the need for both live export and processing facility by opening up both markets in the Northern Territory.