John Lloyd of Delungra wrote this open letter to Tony Windsor.
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The action of the Gillard government (which you were a part of) in freezing the exports of live cattle to Indonesia in June 2011 was utter madness.
It crippled the cattle industry that Australia and Indonesia depend on.
It caused great financial and management issues for cattle producers.
The flow-on effect to other rural industries meant many went to the wall.
Mr Windsor, you and Mr Oakeshott had the balance of power and could have stopped this ban overnight.
You were supposed to represent a rural electorate. Why didn’t you act?
What do you do when you have 1000 head of cattle yarded and ready for export and trucks ready to load, only to see the government put an immediate stop to it?
Northern landholders had nowhere to send their cattle and no way to pay expenses.
Some cattle were shot, but the majority were sent to southern markets and sold at bargain prices. This then depressed prices for local producers.
The Gillard government, and your refusal to step in, showed no regard for property, for the industry, families, employees, transport operators, stockmen (mostly Aboriginal) or the communities that relied on them.
Aboriginal-owned holdings went broke.
It caused suicides.
We operate a cattle stud, and the live exports ban cost us a third of our yearly income for over three years and devalued our stock.
Thankfully, with the election of the Coalition government in 2013, and with the new Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce opening up new markets, the cattle industry is buoyant again.
The difference between you and Barnaby Joyce is stark.
Barnaby Joyce is doing an enormous job as agriculture minister and member for New England, and I thank him for the job he has done and will do over the next three years.