Bob Katter says Australia's live export industry is facing difficulty because of an exorbitant number of bureaucrats the Federal Government is now forcing live exporters to pay for from July 2021.
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Cattle producers are likely to bear the brunt if proposed massive regulatory cost hikes on livestock exporters go ahead because end markets have no ability to pay more.
Mr Katter said the annual cost of departmental employees had shot to a whopping $15 million a year since the Federal Government started new measures on the industry three years ago with 180 staff regulating 243 live export shipments last calendar year.
"That is a staggering four staff for every five shipments. There are only 19 live exporters in the industry," Mr Katter
Mr Katter said cost-recovery impost will increase the price of exporting cattle by 400%, or $40 to $50 per head of cattle while Australia's key export markets, including Indonesia and Vietnam, look at alternate markets in Mexico and Brazil.
"Scott Morrison must get onto the Department of Agriculture and end this red-tape madness immediately," he said.
"The last time we lost the live export industry in 2012, it cut the price of cattle clean in half. The current spike in the cattle market will not be maintained and cattleman will then be rendered non-viable and our meatworks jobs will be placed in jeopardy."
KAP leader, and State Member for Traeger, Robbie Katter said the notion that industry had to pay in full for unrestrained, ideologically driven regulations was absurd and the Federal Government was pricing out Australian beef producers from being able to participate in global markets, which was contrary to national interests.
"You can't keep mindlessly punishing these industries - like mining and agriculture - with constant regulatory burdens, particularly when they have just over the last 12 months demonstrated how vital they really are to the security of the Australian economy," Robbie Katter said.
"There will be significant consequences, as people in agriculture are sick of being the whipping boy of extreme ideologies.
"If the Federal Government is so intent on pandering to these extremists by adding layer upon layer of regulation, that's fine but don't then send the exporters and producers the bill."
Neither the minister nor the department has made comment as yet.
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