BEEF INDUSTRY

THERE is a lot of “I told you so” happening regarding China’s beef bans from four abattoirs. I’m referencing this in terms of “I told you if you didn’t stop being mean to China about the Wuhan lab and coronavirus, they’d turn around and kick us in the guts”.

Some media reports would have you believe the end of the world is nigh. Sure, China hit Australian barley with an 80 per cent tariff, but from all accounts this was in-train even before coronavirus broke.

But, as far as beef is concerned it’s all a bit of a yawn. One agent told me northern producers were telling him they want Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other pollies to keep sticking it into China regarding the source of COVID-19.

Was it the Wuhan lab or the wet, wildlife market?

One of the abattoirs on the banned list is Kilcoy Global Foods, which is owned by Hosen Capital and is based in … wait for it … Beijing.

Yes, Kilcoy is China-owned. Go figure.

Tom Kennedy is the Townsvillebased live export manager for Elders in Queensland. The impression I got from him this week was there aren’t any real fears the rhetoric coming from China will grow into some sort of beef industry wrecking ball.

Mr Kennedy did not appear to be losing any sleep over the matter, at least not at this stage. His closing quote, which should provide comfort to northern beef producers was, “I’d still prefer to own a cattle station than a

casino”.

Outback dilemma

FLYING foxes outnumber humans in Charters Towers 25 to one. The town, or “city” as it is known, is located on the Flinders Highway 136km southwest of Townsville. It has a population of 8000 homo sapiens and a transient 200,000 or so flying foxes. I am advised that at present, the bats are nowhere near this in number but, watch this space, they will return to find fresh feeding grounds just as sure as bluebottle flies will find a fresh cowpat. Some would say that if they wanted to, flying foxes could take over Charters Towers. Others would say they already have. But, that is not what this is really about.

What we are more concerned about this week is Charters Towers’ status as an outback centre. Take a look at the State Government’s COVID-19 map showing outback shires. Despite all those cowboy hats, Wrangler jeans and 4WDS, the Towers is not officially “outback”.

This is not sitting well with Towersites.

Outback status under COVID-19 means there can be 20 people in a pub – as opposed to 10 in nonoutback areas – and outback residents can travel 500km compared to 150km for non-outback residents. This means that in nonoutback Towers there can be only 10 people in a pub and residents can only drive 150km for recreational purposes. Mayor Frank Beveridge and ousted mayor Liz Schmidt both reckon the town and the shire have been diddled.

I did a little survey on Facebook asking, “yes” or “no” if Charters Towers deserved the title “outback”.

Thirty-six came back with a “no”, 12 said “yes”, and three sort of ummed and ahd, claiming it was “gateway to the outback”.

Some who gave the thumbs down to Charters Towers being considered

“outback” included Richmond Mayor, John Wharton, the ABC’S Chrissy Arthur, Bowen’s Mike Brunker, funny man Hugh

Urquhart, Townsville media identity Andy Toulson, rodeo bull contractor Bridget Brandenburg, Hervey’s Range grazier Carol Ross, retired Richmond grazier, John Power and politician Shane “Toot Toot” Knuth.

In the “yes” camp we had Townsville’s Kevin “Ducky” O’donnell, lifesaver Brad Seawright, former Ingham Canegrower’s boss Peter Sheedy, Townsville’s Deb Derbyshire and former politiciancum-tourism entrepreneur, Mick Trout. The three ummers and ahers were Ian Emerson, David Anthony and Marshall “Jaws” Colwell.

This all takes me back to my school days when blokes from places like Dalby and Chinchilla liked to identify as bushies. Blokes from the “real bush” like Thargomindah, Windorah and Winton used to tell them to pull their heads in.

I can see why there is support for Charters Towers being outback. The town itself is not “outback”, but there are areas in the shire that arguably fit the category. Greenvale, the Belyando roadhouse/pub and Pentland could be considered “outback”, but in this instance we are only talking about Charters Towers itself, not the shire. Ditto, the Bowen River Hotel and the Mt Coolon pub – out in Adani country – which are both in the Whitsunday Regional Council area. Both of these bush watering holes are considered “nonoutback” for the sake of coronavirus.

Mareeba Shire is not in the State Government’s coronavirus outback listing. While the town of Mareeba is only 61km west of Cairns, there are parts of the shire that are quintessentially “outback”. The towns of Chillagoe and Almaden are as outback as it gets, both in remoteness and general vibe, but they have to contend with being city-slickers when it comes to COVID-19. The lady at the Almaden pub hit the roof this week when I told her that, sorry, the State Government’s map says you are not “outback”. Not happy.