Australia's live
export industry is in shock after Indonesia has drastically reduced the number
of import permits for cattle for the current quarter.
The allocation for the July to
September quarter is just 50,000, which is significantly less than the 200,000
permits that were expected and the 250,000 for the quarter just gone.
Australian Livestock Exporters'
Council chief executive Alison Penfold described the news as a
"disappointment" and a "surprise".
She told ABC 24 on Tuesday that
the reasons for the decision, which was made late last week, had not yet been
made clear.
But she said they would be
due to trade and food security - and not any other issues going on with
the Australia-Indonesia relationship.
"It certainly will
present some challenges, particularly around shipping for the
industry but we've been trading with Indonesia now for over 30
years," she said of the decision.
"We have had our ups
and downs but we will continue to work constructively with our
customers and within the parameters that are set for the trade."
A spokesman for Agriculture Minister
Barnaby Joyce said the government would continue to "make representations
on behalf of exporters to ensure this important trade relationship is
maintained".
He is expected to address the
media from Perth later on Tuesday.
Mr Shorten told reporters that he
was "most concerned" about what was happening to cattle
exports.
"This is a grave
concern."
When pressed about the reasons
behind the dramatic cut in permits, he said: "I sincerely hope that our
relationship with Indonesia at the political level is not driving this
reduction."
The opposition's agriculture
spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon argued the relationship was certainly a factor.
"Of course the Abbott
government's relationship with Indonesia or the deterioration of it won't be
helping at all," he told the ABC.
In a statement, he also said,
"there's no doubt Australia's relationship with Indonesia has deteriorated
under Tony Abbott".
Labor also pointed to Mr Joyce's
split with cabinet over the government's approval of an Shenhua coal mine
in his electorate.
"The situation in Indonesia
is a shocking development but should not have been entirely unexpected if
Minister Joyce was across his brief and not distracted by his
internal wars with cabinet," Mr Fitzgibbon said.
The former Labor government faced
a diplomatic storm over cattle of its own, when it banned live exports to
Indonesia in 2011.
It suddenly stopped exports after
footage emerged of animal cruelty in Indonesia, sparking outrage from both the
Australian cattle industry and Australia's neighbour.
The cattle permit change comes
just weeks after former Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa said
relations between Australia and Indonesia appeared to be at their lowest point.
Australia's Ambassador to
Indonesia, Paul Grigson, has only recently resumed his post in Jakarta. He was
briefly recalled after Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed.
Relations between Indonesia and
Australia have also been tested over the past 18 months by allegations that
Australian spies tapped former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's phone
during Labor's time in office, as well as the Abbott government's asylum
seeker boat turnbacks policy.
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