May 14, 2014
Queensland Nationals Senator Ron Boswell today warned primary producers to take action now to maintain control over production and marketing.
In what Senator Boswell described as his “last substantial speech in the Senate”, he said: “What I want to do is leave all Australian primary producers with a warning: take action now to maintain control over the production and marketing of your product.
“Primary producers are under threat from a long-term strategy by a powerful and sophisticated combination of environmental zealots and major corporations that would effectively control primary production practices worldwide.”
Senator Boswell said the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, an organisation created by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and dominated by non-producer bodies, was an example of the threat.
“I regard WWF and other environmental activists teaming up with major corporations to impose conditions on producers as a dangerous development,” Senator Boswell said.
“Management of primary production is being taken away from producers and from elected governments by environmental non-government organisations. They are doing it via environmental conditions enforced by corporations.
“This was encouraged during the six years of the previous Labor Government. That government was in effect a Labor-Greens alliance, and Labor surrendered to environmental lobbyists time and again. It is time the Australian Government re-asserted its legitimate role in management of primary production.
“WWF and other environmental activists are increasingly trying to dictate what can and can’t be caught, harvested, grown or mined in Australia.
“WWF is an organisation with a turnover in the hundreds of millions of dollars and 5000 staff spread across offices in 60 countries. It is a huge multinational business with enormous resources. What’s more, it is handling the likes of roundtables and stewardship councils on a daily basis.
“By contrast, producers are often developing responses on the run, responding as best they can to a sophisticated, well-rehearsed strategy from WWF. Let’s not pretend that, individually, any single commodity or industry representative body can handle an organisation as powerful and sophisticated as WWF.
“I call on everyone involved in productive toil in our primary industries to address this issue. Work together, and with the Australian Government, to retain the influence you deserve to have over the way your industries operate.
“Producers have a fundamental knowledge of how their operations should be conducted; Government has the scientists, economists and resource managers to assist producers.
“Together, they can guarantee sensible, rational, sustainable management of this nation’s natural resources.”
