O'Sullivan urges participation

The straight-talking Toowoomba based Senator also suggested that producers needed to “jam a stick up the spine” of their peak bodies.

Mr O’Sullivan made the comments at the Property Rights Australia (PRA) conference in Roma on Friday where more than 100 delegates gathered to discuss a variety of landholder rights issues.

While negotiations with coal seam gas (CSG) and mining companies dominated the PRA agenda, Mr O’Sullivan used his keynote address to speak about recent efforts to counter the work of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB).

Mr O’Sullivan told delegates he was opposed the GRSB largely because it was driven by groups from outside the beef industry, such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and McDonalds.

Together with outgoing Nationals Senator, Ron Boswell, Mr O’Sullivan was instrumental in organising the “square-table” forum of 27 beef industry leaders in late May.

The group laid the foundation for a framework that hopes to promote Australian beef sector credentials without the need for further regulation or certification.

Mr O’Sullivan said that while it was a positive step forward, the issue highlighted that some primary producers felt disillusioned with their peak industry bodies.

“…they pay their levies every year and every year they wait for an increase in their farm profits that never comes,” he said.

“My advice is that if your peak bodies are not doing what you think they should be doing then you need to have a think about that.”

“You need to take an interest and get your anger concentrated,” he told PRA delegates.

“You need to get on the phone and drive people like Bruce Scott (Federal Member for Maranoa) and Barry O’Sullivan insane.

“You need to send your local members off to do your bidding on the issues that are important to you.”

PRA chairwoman, Joanne Rea, said PRA was one of the first groups to recognise potential issues with the GRSB.

“We starting advocating against this in 2011,” she said.

Ms Rae also urged beef producers to continue monitoring the square-table talks to ensure any changes were in the best interest of the industry.

“I think we have had a win but I also think that we need to keep up with the industry bodies and how they are advancing the issues,” she said.

“I really hope that beef producers realise that they don’t let anyone into their industry who is not part of their industry or not part of their sovereign government.

“They need to be a little more discerning about whose word they take about what is and what is not a good product.”

Sponsored by Queensland Country Life, the PRA conference drew delegates from across all areas of Queensland as well as NSW and Victoria.

The organisation was established in 2003, initially to assist landholder Ashley McKay fight an illegal tree clearing charge.

Ms Rae said the group’s charter had widened since then to include a large number of issues affecting landholder rights.

“In recent years we have had a shift towards coal seam gas and mining and people taking care to look after their rights with regard to that,” she said.