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Speaker 1: Now Malaysia has lifted its temporary suspension of live cattle

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Speaker 1: and buffalo exports from Australia. Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries

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Speaker 1: and Forestry see inner statement that it had been formally

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Speaker 1: advised that Malaysian authorities would begin granting import permits to

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Speaker 1: industry immediately. Now, unfortunately it's not all good news at

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Speaker 1: this point. The situation with Indonesia doesn't seem to be

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Speaker 1: getting any better at this stage. But joining us on

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Speaker 1: the line to tell us a little bit more about

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Speaker 1: the situation is the CEO of NT Cattleman's Association, Will

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Speaker 1: Evans Hi, Will Katie, how are you yeah, really good?

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning. Now, Will,

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Speaker 1: firstly on Malaysia, when did you learn that that temporary

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Speaker 1: ban had been lifted?

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Speaker 2: So the news with Malaysia came through yesterday and there's

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Speaker 2: obviously something very welcomed by the industry in the top end.

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Speaker 2: Malaysia is a significant market for us, it's an important

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Speaker 2: market for us. We're very happy that they've been working

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Speaker 2: so collaboratively with the Australian government and we've obviously been

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Speaker 2: able to address their concerns. So We're very satisfied that

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Speaker 2: that market remains open, has been reopened, and look forward

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Speaker 2: to sending cattle there as soon as this week.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask what does it mean

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Speaker 1: in terms of getting cattle to Malaysia. How quickly is

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Speaker 1: that going to happen.

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Speaker 2: Well, as of today, exporters will be able to apply

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Speaker 2: to the government for a notice of intention to export,

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Speaker 2: which means that the federal government will now allow them

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Speaker 2: to go as they've received notice from Malaysia that they

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Speaker 2: will accept the consignments. So it's basically a removal of

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Speaker 2: a bureaucratic block, but it allows us now to export

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Speaker 2: to Malaysia.

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Speaker 1: And well, it was all about lumpy skin disease. So

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Speaker 1: what led to Malaysia or the Malaysian government making this decision.

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Speaker 1: Is there further testing taking place or is something sort

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Speaker 1: of you know, something changed to lead them to going

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Speaker 1: back down this path of allowing us those exports back

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Speaker 1: into their country.

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Speaker 2: Well, the industry and the Australian government have been working

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Speaker 2: really closely with Malaysia. We've had visits from some of

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Speaker 2: the chief veterinary officers from Galaysian regions to come over

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Speaker 2: and expect at livestock have a look at the cattle

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Speaker 2: in the yard to understand our testing procedures and our protocols,

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Speaker 2: and for them, they've been satisfied with that, and obviously

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Speaker 2: the news yesterday means that they've lifted the blockage that

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Speaker 2: they had in place.

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Speaker 1: So obviously good news in terms of this movement forward

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Speaker 1: with Malaysia. Unfortunately, though not all good news. Where are

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Speaker 1: things at with Indonesia.

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Speaker 2: So on Sunday we receive notice that an additional three

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Speaker 2: facilities across Northern Australia have been suspended, so two of

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Speaker 2: those are in Western Australia, one of them is in

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory. Essentially, it's a continuation of the same

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Speaker 2: issue that has been ongoing for more than a month now.

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Speaker 2: We are having a problem where somewhere between the cattle

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Speaker 2: disembarking the Northern Territory and arriving and being unloaded in Indonesia,

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Speaker 2: the testing procedures are saying that those cattle are coming

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Speaker 2: up with lumpy skin. So where the Australian government's working

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Speaker 2: very hard on this at the moment and we're still

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Speaker 2: working through this with the Indonesians to try and see

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Speaker 2: this market fully reopened.

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Speaker 1: This is our largest market as well, isn't it Indonesia.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So to give you give everyone a really clear understanding.

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Speaker 2: If we were to export sate four hundred thousand had

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Speaker 2: a cattle in a good year, more than three hundred

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Speaker 2: thousand of those will go to Indonesia. So Malaysia is

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Speaker 2: an important market from the type of cattle that we

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Speaker 2: send there. Indonesia is very much our main market.

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Speaker 1: So we're too from here with Indonesia, because I mean

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Speaker 1: you just made the point like somewhere between those cattle

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Speaker 1: being exported from Australia where they don't have a lumpy

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Speaker 1: skin disease and then you know their arrival in Indonesia,

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Speaker 1: they do like where to from here or how do

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Speaker 1: we know? How are we going to sort this issue?

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Speaker 2: Well, So the Australian government at this stage is asking

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Speaker 2: for our trust. They're saying, look, we're going to work

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Speaker 2: through this with the Indonesians. They have a concern and

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Speaker 2: we need to meet them with their concerns, and we're

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Speaker 2: supportive of that at this stage. Kadie, though I need

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Speaker 2: to be clear, they don't have our trust. What they

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Speaker 2: have is our expectation. We have an expectation. The Australian

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Speaker 2: government at this stage is doing everything they can, everything

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Speaker 2: they can to see this trade reopened. We have a

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Speaker 2: short window until the end of this year when the

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Speaker 2: rain arrives to get more than one hundred thousand cattle

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Speaker 2: out of the Northern Territory and into Southeast Asia. We

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Speaker 2: have to have that outlet available to us. So there

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Speaker 2: isn't trust at the moment, Katie that what there is

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Speaker 2: is expectation and what there is is respect. But those

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Speaker 2: things they need to meet us halfway as well, and

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Speaker 2: they need to reassure us that everything that they can

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Speaker 2: be doing they are doing.

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Speaker 1: Well, because I guess you know the impact if you're

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Speaker 1: not actually able to get this to get these exports

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Speaker 1: back into Indonesia moving and moving, like you said, by

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Speaker 1: the end of the year or sooner, it's going to

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Speaker 1: be incredibly detrimental, isn't that.

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Speaker 2: It's going to be a real challenge. It's important. It's

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Speaker 2: also important for people to understand since last year the

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Speaker 2: cattle price is more than halve so what we've got

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Speaker 2: is a declining market domestically, and without having the outlet

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Speaker 2: of Southeast Asia, we're in a really tough spot. In

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Speaker 2: terms of what we can do with our cattle. So

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Speaker 2: this market is critical to us, absolutely critical. And it's

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Speaker 2: not just critical to the Northern Territory, Northern Western Australia

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Speaker 2: and Northern Queensland. It's also critical beef industry as a whole.

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Speaker 2: So we have to get these cattle overseas and we're

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Speaker 2: very optimistic that the discussions that are taking place between

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Speaker 2: the Australian government and Indonesian government will yield an outcome.

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Speaker 1: Well, what is the Australian government saying too to you

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Speaker 1: at this point in time? How quickly are they expecting

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Speaker 1: that there is going to be an outcome.

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Speaker 2: We don't have a timeline at this stage. I mean

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Speaker 2: this is international diplomacy at a very high level. The

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Speaker 2: Australian government again are asking us for their trust. Look,

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Speaker 2: it is a difficult issue and there's no way around that.

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Speaker 2: The importance of it being resolved is something that we've

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Speaker 2: communicated to the Australian government. They're aware that without having

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Speaker 2: a resolution this soon, there is going to be big

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Speaker 2: challenges for the beef industry nationally and I know that

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Speaker 2: they are taking it seriously, but we need reassurance, We

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Speaker 2: need the absolute commitment that any avenue that they have,

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Speaker 2: they are using it to try and see this relieved.

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Speaker 1: Well Will Evans, the CEO of the Northern Territory Cattleman's Association,

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time this morning. I hope that

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Speaker 1: this can get sorted sooner rather than later