Farmer compo claims get third degree
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is taking a hard look at compensation claims from farmers affected by the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis.
An internal report to MPI staff shows payments had slowed down for questionable claims. Director of response Geoff Gwyn told a select committee last week claims were taking between 48 hours through to as much as four months to prepare.
In one case a farmer had included the cost of a Gold Coast holiday in his claim, during the process of trying to import cattle from Australia.
‘‘We cannot comment on the specifics of individual cases but this is the kind of thing we are working to rule out through our assessment process, and why the process can be so laborious,’’ an MPI spokeswoman said.
The farmer admitted claiming for the holiday.
‘‘We took our family over specifically for the sale, we did stay in Australia for a holiday after the trip but the purpose of the trip was to purchase the cattle.
‘‘I think it would be fairly typical for most people who go over to Australia, if you’re there you’re going to spend an extra couple of days. We sort of expected they might come back to us with a counter offer and something like, we’ll pay for half of that or twothirds but they rejected everything,’’ the farmer said.
Problems highlighted in the report include:
Farmers’ records of stock being destroyed do not match data from freezing works or what was loaded on trucks for destruction.
Claims where farmers have destroyed stock on the basis of the movement controls imposed rather than instructions from MPI to destroy stock. ‘‘We need to ensure that the decision to destroy stock is not a business as usual action’’, the report said.
Claims for losses arising from cancelled contracts when no written contract exists. ‘‘Some farmers will provide supporting letters from other farmers of the existence of an oral contract and will argue that these contracts have been in place for several years. However, when asked for evidence of these receipts and payments through the accounts of the farm they are unable to do so.’’
Mitigation of losses. ‘‘Under the [Biosecurity] Act, farmers must take all reasonable steps to mitigate losses. In the assessment process, we look at whether reasonable steps have been taken, but the process of assessing this can take time.’’
Claims made for losses incurred before MPI powers have been exercised.
An anonymous source said the main problem was poor record keeping by farmers – ‘‘in some instances just slackness, in others they have deliberately cheated the taxman with unrecorded contracts/cash transactions that can’t be verified’’.