IT has been 16 years since Australian cattle producers were last formally asked for their views on the $5 per head Cattle Transaction Levy, and soon they’ll be asked again.

The levy was last changed in 2006 when participating levy paying producers voted to increase it from $3.50/head to $5/head.

Much has changed since then, with just one obvious example being inflation – a $5/head levy in 2005 would have to be over $8/head today to have the same purchasing power in 2025.

But the quantum of the levy is just one element that Cattle Australia will be asking producers to consider in a forthcoming review announced by CA president Garry Edwards at the NTCA conference in March.

Cattle Australia CEO Dr Chris Parker

It will also look at the mechanics of the levy, including how it is distributed and whether it is still meeting the needs of Australian grassfed cattle producers today, Dr Chris Parker told Beef Central in a recent interview.

“It has been a long time since it was last reviewed, and we need to be in a position where we’re able to manage what is a very different world from when it was last reviewed,” Dr Parker said.

“We are in a world where we go to 100-odd markets, we have demands on both research and development and marketing and promotion.

“We would have a view that given the state of things like the National Residue Survey, where these are fundamentals that underpin our market access, we need to be thinking about whether, not just the full quantum, but whether the distribution of that levy is adequate going into the future.”

Three-phase review process

Dr Parker said the review will have three phases: firstly looking at the case for change, then considering potential options and, lastly, broad consultation and bedding down a final position to take to the Federal Agricultural Minister.

The entire process could take as much as two years, meaning it was important get the ball rolling and start soon, he said.

Levy for advocacy?

When CA president Garry Edwards first announced CA’s plans to review the cattle transaction levy in March, he flagged the importance of ensuring industry representation and advocacy is appropriately funded.

The question of whether compulsory levies raised for research and marketing purposes should also be used to fund industry advocacy activities has been raised and debated many times during industry restructure talks over the past 15 years.

Past Federal Agriculture Ministers have shown little appetite for allowing levies to be used for lobbying.

In response to the last direct request in 2015 then-Minister Barnaby Joyce said it would destabilise broader red meat industry structures and make producer representative organisations beholden to the Federal Government.

Under legislation, he pointed out at the time, compulsory levies collected by Government Departments are deemed to be tax proceeds and therefore classified as Government funds. An industry body could not freely express its views if the Federal Government controlled its funding base, he said.

But there remain existing exceptions to that rule such as Australian Pork Limited, a levy-funded peak industry body with strategic policy direction, marketing, R&D and national industry representative functions.

Last year producers in Central Queensland called for the ‘shackles to be removed’ on levy funding as conservation groups ramped up public campaigns accusing the cattle industry of engaging in illegal ‘deforestation’.

They saw double standards in that registered charities with tax-free status and taxpayer-funding could publicly denigrate an entire industry while producers were prevented by Government rules from using their own levy funds paid from their own pockets to defend themselves.

Cattle Australia with a budget of approximately of $2.5 million is responsible for setting policy and advocating for grassfed cattle producers, which account for a significant component of Australia’s $81 billion red meat industry, while Meat & Livestock Australia, which uses levy funds for research and marketing, is not able to do advocacy by law.

Producers to have their say

Asked about the levy-for-advocacy issue, Dr Parker said Cattle Australia has a legislative role to represent the interests of 52,000 cattle transaction levy payers, and any recommendation from the review would have to have the broad support of levy payers.

“We have to meet the levy principles of the Government and the levy principles are very clear around making change and the level of consultation that would be required to be able to provide a Minister with assurances that what you are recommending has the broad support of levy payers.

“So changes can’t occur unless levy payers agree, and there is a range of views around both what happens now with the levy, and then a range of views around what should happen with the levy.”

He said it was up to producers to consider how the advocacy work required to represent their interests is funded, noting “there are places MLA cannot go but where advocacy can”.

In proposing a levy review he said Cattle Australia is working closely with other red meat Peak Industry Bodies, particularly those in the production sector.

If there is little support from other red meat industry sectors to review levies, can CA still press ahead with a review of the Cattle Transaction Levy on its own?

In response to that question from Beef Central Dr Parker said the Cattle Transaction Levy is governed by an individual piece of legislation and can be reviewed and amended independently of other levies.

“We have responsibility to make recommendations in regard to the cattle transaction levy, and essentially that is what we would do,” Dr Parker said.

Cattle Australia Constitutional Review

Cattle Australia is also in the process of conducting a review of its constitution, for which a consultation phase with members has recently closed.

Dr Parker said the sub-committee overseeing the review recently met to consider the  submissions, and will meet again in July to make recommendations to go the Cattle Australia AGM at its annual Cattle Connect event, this year to be held in Dalby, on November 11-13.