QUEENSLAND Agriculture Minister Bill Byrne has hit back at suggestions it was up to him to open up live cattle exports out of Port Alma.
Last week, former Member for Keppel and champion for the port Bruce Young said 80 properties in the region sent cattle to Townsville.
Port Alma, 50 kilometres south from Rockhampton and used for live cattle export until the 1990s, was underutlised and needed Mr Byrne to get it opened, Mr Young said.
However, "That is a matter for my federal counterpart," Mr Byrne said.
"After all it's his responsibility and it's his jurisdiction and the business cases and models have been put forward to him to consider."
Mr Byrne visited China a few months ago and had been talking about growing live cattle exports.
He said he welcomed the new free trade agreement between the two countries.
"There is a considerable body of work to be done prior to maturing people's ambitions regarding live export to China, but it must provide optimism in providing price pressure in an upwards fashion," he said.
Just not in central Queensland.
"I have been on the record saying increasing the level of live cattle out of central Queensland will have implications for processing.
"Now I don't resolve from that, and as recently as yesterday I was talking to the processors who are concerned about the supply of cattle going forward, and I suggest you go and have a look at the analysts' views of what the cattle supply exists in Queensland and Australia more broadly and what the implications will be."
MINISTERIAL BRIEFING
BILL Byrne said he had received advice from people intimately involved in the industry that export from the region would put pressure on processors. He had reflected those views because as the minister he represented all parts of the industry, everyone involved in the supply chain and not just producers. "And that includes processors, remembering that presently over 95 per cent of beef exported from Queensland is processed - so processors are extremely important to any discussion about exports and exports of business and they employ a very large number of people in our communities."
Mr Byrne said 2500 Rockhampton jobs directly relied on those meatworks; he would continue to represent the interests of those meatworkers. An enormous amount of effort had gone into Townsville's port, and it had the capacity to increase considerably more. "They are already the largest cattle exporter in Australia, exporting more than Darwin."
