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Producers to wear Cormo costs
5 Feb 2004
North Queensland beef producers will be passed a $1.50/head levy imposed on the live export industry by the Federal Government. The levy will be charged from March 1 and last for four years. It's a cost recovery initiative to recoup the Government about $11 million spent on the Cormo Express live sheep debacle. The live export cattle trade's contribution will be capped at one-third of the total cost, with sheep and lambs to pay $60 cents/head and goats 40 cents/head.
While it's ostensibly the live exporters who will bear the extra costs, members of the live trade sector say that producers will ultimately foot the bill.
Northern beef exporters are angry, meanwhile, that they are being forced to pay for an issue that involved the sheep industry and Saudi Arabian politics. The exemption of dairy cattle from the levy has also annoyed beef cattle exporters who say they're not linked with the sheep industry any more than their dairy counterparts.
North Queensland Register, 5/2/04.
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