The Armidale Beef Industry Forum began with a long prayer. That was the first unusual thing.
“As we hear the voices of those present, and the communities that they represent here today, that their fears, their anger, their broken spirits will be heard,” intoned the Uniting Church minister, “and our land will be given a new hope and a bright future by the decision-makers of governments and beef industry authorities who are often driven by the dollar.
“Lord, give us kind hearts and wise heads, so that we may hear not only one another’s voices, but we may also hear your voice ...”
The meeting’s chairman, Alan Jones, who arrived late in his private helicopter, missed that last bit.
For Mr Jones—the second and most unusual aspect of this meeting—there was only one voice, and it was his.
He ran the meeting like his radio show. Complex issues with many shades of grey became straightforwardly black-and-white. The enemy was identified, and thoroughly flogged.
In this case, Mr Jones’s enemy was his employer’s enemy: the beef industry establishment. His views on the industry, which he possibly only acquired during a hasty read on the flight up to Armidale, were stamped “Bindaree Beef”.
The acronyms of the beef industry peak bodies reminded him of NRL, where “... all these acronyms that stand for bureacracy, and money being taken out of the game.
“They stand for a burgeoning bureacracy that takes money away from the grower. At the end of the day: parasites. The duplication that I’ve identified is beyond belief.”
Most of the audience loved it. Mr Jones was among fans. Noting that his old man was “a bushie”, he took up their cause on behalf of “us” and “we”—which led to some interesting propositions, like, “they may as well start up the helicopter and send us home” if various “unpalatable truths” were not recognised by industry leaders.
In his role as whipper-upper, Mr Jones annihalated any prospect of meaningful discussion. Not that most of the audience minded: they wanted blood on the floor, and got it. But they didn’t get democracy.
When several resolutions were put to the assembly, without discussion, the fraction of the audience that didn’t agree with the mood of the meeting eventually gave up voting on propositions it didn’t agree with in the first place.
By the last resolution, only former Rangers Valley feedlot and Australian Lot Feeders Association head Malcolm Foster offered a lone dissenting hand. “Are you sure?” Mr Jones enquired from the podium. “You just love being the Lone Ranger.”
That was the third unusual thing: the meeting’s approach to democratic process.
Bindaree Beef, the Australian Beef Association, and the many producers who share the views of these organisations genuinely believe that their current problems are due to bad industry management. They want change, and Saturday’s meeting was intended to make that change happen.
But there’s a big industry out there, and as the minister said, it has many voices. It remains to be seen whether those voices want to speak as one in the language of the Armidale Beef Industry Forum.
If they don’t, one thing is certain: Bindaree Beef’s JR McDonald, the ABA, and a big wing of disaffected beef producers will be back, and they will be madder than ever.
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