Six years after the decision to ban the live export of cattle to Indonesia, a class action has begun in the Federal Court to seek justice for the families and businesses of the Northern Industry.
On June 7th of 2011, the federal government and the then Minister for Agriculture, Joe Ludwig closed the live export trade to Indonesia, a trade critical to the livelihoods of northern cattle producers.
In a landmark case, the court will consider evidence gathered from over 100,000 pieces of evidence including detail from emails, telephone conversations and memos from within government and the Minister’s office.
The Government has conceded that loss has been suffered and the court will consider the evidence of detriment from key industry sources including lead applicant, the Brett Cattle Company in order to establish a case of misfeasance on the part of federal Minister Ludwig.
The industry will argue that in enacting the second export control order, closing the live export trade, federal Minister Ludwig misused or abused his power as Minister for Agriculture. The Minister must give evidence to explain the decision that has caused so much damage to the North.
If successful, this will be the first time a case of misfeasance has been proven against an Australian government Minister.
“The importance of this case cannot be understated and the message it sends to government is powerful”, said Tracey Hayes, CEO of the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association (NTCA).
“What happened in 2011 cannot be allowed to happen again. Governments need to know that knee jerk reactions like that in 2011 have no place in good government, our agricultural export industries and the lives and businesses of the northern cattle industry”, said Ms Hayes.
“The case would not have been possible without the support of the Australian Farmers Fighting Fund.
The case will be heard in two parts-– liability 19 to 28 July 2017 and the calculation of loss 11 to 15 December 2017. Justice Rares has indicated that the matter should be heard and determined as soon as possible so that any compensation is awarded and distributed to those affected.”
-NTCA