Live Export

Bretts stand by Bulldog brand

James Nason, 18/08/2011

The Brett family's Mack Titan on Waterloo Station. The Brett family from Waterloo Station west of Katherine in the Northern Territory have been Mack users their entire lives.

They recently featured in a cover story for Mack’s corporate magazine Bulldog, which focused on the role a Mack Titan plays in their 1960 square kilometre, 20,000 head live export cattle operation.

Asked this morning if the family was concerned about Mack’s association with the RSCPA, an organisation that has actively campaigned to shut down the industry upon which their business relies, Col Brett said “not at all”.

He said Mack had obviously been concerned about this issue because company representatives had been in direct contact with Mack owners across Northern Australia in recent weeks to explain that the company’s past association with theRSPCA was not an endorsement of its position on live exports.

“It was some years ago when Mack Trucks last gave a donation to the RSPCA, I believe, well before anything like this had happened,” Mr Brett said.

“I think it has been something that has been taken right out of context by the RSPCA deliberately, their innuendo implies, as I can understand, that they (Mack) were supporting the RSPCA with the live export ban, but that is not correct at all.”

Mr Brett said that after decades of involvement with Mack trucks he could not fault the company.

“We’ve had a number of Mack Trucks over the years, I find the people in Mack have been extremely good people, they have been a good company to all of us, and I don’t think there would be anyone in the bush that would knock Mack, I would be very surprised.

“In the past they have been a generous company to animals, they have appreciated animals, not only just cattle, and that is where they have put some of their money.”

Mr Brett added that he had personally made regular donations to the RSPCA over the years but believed the organisation now appeared to be “politically motivated”.

“The ordinary person who has been a beaut old RSPCA supporter, they are just pushed aside, and they only want to focus on these campaigns.”

Mr Brett said the family had received no income since October as a result of the ban, and had been fortunate that other trucking companies had supported them by passing on work for their Titan.

“That has kept us above water,” he said.

Some desperately needed financial relief is also ahead with the family currently mustering to supply cattle to an NACC boat that is planned to leave the port of Wyndham, WA, for Indonesia in early September.

“It is certainly a relief to our bank manager,” Mr Brett said.

“We were cut off at the knees for a period of time and it made it pretty tough.

“We can’t understand why the Government has done this to us, there are no other outlets other than the store market and this is a great trade for both countries

“It employs a lot of people in Indonesia and it is a protein source for them.

“It is something our country gains from and they gain from, we have a great relationship with them, but I don’t know what they think of us now.”

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