Thursday, November 8, 2012

The Lee Rhiannon Show


Lee Rhiannon gets more than she bargains for when she attempts to debate an informed farmer on the live export issue.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Another Bloody Hatchet Job

A good friend of mine send me the preview for Monday's upcoming Four corners episode "Another Bloody Business"  and I'm not impressed to say the least.

The video begins with some footage of a steer being tripped out of a Mk 1 restraining box (the type that are banned and no longer used)  and hitting the floor with an accompanying sound effect and the typical spooky/sad music playing in the background to pull at your heartstrings. 

They then pat themselves on the back for creating outrage.

Now I'll return to that in a minute because I want to cover the outrage thing but the words that really got to me was when the story was promoted as the story "they don't want you to see"?

Now I take exception to that.

The live export industry is required by law to disclose things like how many animals die in transit and to report things like when a ship is turned away from a port  because of disease concerns.The Australian Government was kept in the loop the entire time this saga was playing out and Wellards have even posted a statement on You Tube.


Now if this is the story "they didn't want you to see, why are they showing it to you themselves?

ABC TV seems to go to great lengths to paint live export in a negative light by pouncing on every negative story about the live trade they can find and seem to totally ignore any positive stories about the trade with the only exception being Landline. Which very few people in the cities watch anyway. The ABC even see's fit to publish polls with leading questions such as this one.



 Now four corners want to pat themselves on the back for creating outrage.

Now I do acknowledge that animal welfare has come forward in Indonesia by leaps and bounds (even if they won't) but is outrage really something to be proud of?

Is the ABC proud of driving a wedge between Rural Australia and the big cities?

Are they proud of the snap live export ban that sent many farmers close to financial ruin?

Is it right the ABC continues to pat themselves on the back while the northern property market is depressed to the point that some farmers are in debt more than their properties are worth?

Is the ABC proud of creating an all time low in relations with one of our nearest and biggest trading partners?

The people that bore the brunt of this "outrage" were our northern cattlemen and women, real people with families and simple dreams that just want to make a living from running cattle in the outback. These people had their dreams shattered but did they really deserve that? 

Did Lyn White get any footage of an Australian farmer anywhere in those hell hole abattoirs in Indonesia?

Did Australian farmers commit those horrible acts of cruelty?

No?

Then why is the ABC so proud of punishing them for it?