Industry seeks $200m-plus compo for cattle ban: lawyer

08/06/2012 - A lawyer running a class action over the suspension of live cattle sales to Indonesia last year says those associated with the industry deserve more than $200 million in compensation.

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A senior associate at Brisbane firm McCullough Robertson, Trent Thorne, said it was not just producers who were hurt by the ban on live cattle sales.

"You have got helicopter musterers, you have got feed suppliers, trucking companies, export agencies," Thorne said.

"I am estimating that the losses will be north of $200 million."

The Australian government banned live cattle sales to Indonesia in June last year after graphic footage of animal slaughter techniques were broadcast.

The government lifted the ban a month later and later offered a total of $30 million in compensation to those affected by the sales ban.

Thorne said the compensation was woefully inadequate and each person who successfully claimed was only allowed $5000, or up to $20,000 if there were exceptional circumstances.

"Some stations, their fuel bill wouldn't be covered," he said.

He said smaller producers were still feeling the impact of last year's ban, because the Indonesian government cut cattle import permits, in what some commentators said was retaliation for Australia's ban.

Thorne said the larger cattle companies had better breeding stock and were more likely to secure sales with the limited number of permits issued in Indonesia.

Source: AAP

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