Meat leadership blamed by Moyle

Press, 6 July 1988, Page 3

Meat leadership blamed by Moyle

By

PETER LUKE,

political reporter Old-style leadership within the meat industry was to blame for the industry’s 10-year failure to face up to reality, said the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Moyle. Monday’s announced restructuring showed that the industry was at last facing reality, and that its “moment of truth” had arrived, he said. “The frustration of it is that the changes that are happening suddenly now should have been occurring over the last 10 years.” Mr Moyle said that a 1983 report had shown extensive over-capacity in the industry in spite of an artificially induced high level of the lamb kill then. The entire future of the industry depended on the farmer’s being given a profitable price, otherwise stock would not be there for processing. Monday’s moves signalled the beginning of a large-scale rationalisation, said Mr Moyle. “The meat industry is heavily capitalised and its seasonal nature determines that expensive plant must be used

to its maximum capacity throughout the killing season.” Ideally, contractual arrangements should encourage farmers to present stock throughout the year, but pastoral realities meant there would be peaks of production. Mr Moyle said that unions and management had to reach sensible agreements to maximise through-put at the lowest possible cost during the peaks, through the best use of shiftwork and technology. As the location and configuration of many older plants were impossible to modify, closings were inevitable as new plants emerged. Live-sheep exports could only be a very minor consideration in the closings, said Mr Moyle. “Until this year, exports of live sheep have never reached the quota limits set by the Live Sheep Export Advisory Committee,” he said. “The decline in the export lamb kill from 39 million in 1984-85 to an expected .28 million this season cannot be blamed on live-sheep exports.”