Thank you for the wonderful article ‘A short history of cruelty’ by the brilliant David Lowe (The Echo online, 25 September: www.echo.net.au/articles).
Those who profit most from this terrible trade in animal suffering are some of the richest people in this country. The government needs to give jobs to Australian workers, rather than furthering enriching the coffers of Australia’s wealthy, including the mining and beef queen Gina Reinhart.
They would process the meat in Australia. Reinhart holds the most land. She controls 9.2 million hectares, or 1.2 per cent of Australia’s landmass, through three different corporate entities, according to data compiled by Guardian Australia (Ben Butler 17 May 2021). The government would also save Australian taxpayers money in subsidies. These traders also benefit from insurance payments when thousands of animals die in transport. Another profitable racket.
The former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Animal Welfare (nicknamed by some as Minister for Animal Cruelty), Barnaby Joyce, was also the live export industry’s biggest cheerleader. He scrapped the department’s animal welfare branch in 2013. He angered many Australians with his disregard for animal welfare, and his jokes.
He is mates with Gina Reinhart. It was then reported on the evening news that she helped him financially with his election. Not long after, Gina Reinhart was given the opportunity to buy, together with her Chinese business partner, Shanghai Cred Corporation, Australia’s second-largest cattle property, the Kidman cattle empire. This meant they could send more of Australia’s cattle to China, to be tortured (the Chinese wrongly believe the more an animal is made to suffer the better the meat) and slaughtered.
Reinhart feels encouraged to expand her empire, buying more and more cattle and sheep stations. She has already stated that she will increase the number of cattle on one of the stations by 6,000 and is determined to export 30 million cattle to China. China’s animal welfare standards are non-existent and almost impossible to control.
Politician Bob Katter, who spoke out against the Kidman deal, called it a cheap con. This was reported by Bidda Jones and Julian Davies in The Sydney Morning Herald in an article about live exports controlled by a small band of multinational companies. It is time Labor stopped being fearful of voters in Western Australia. They, and Gina Reinhart, will never vote Labor.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
