A NORTHERN Territory Memorial will be held next week for late agriculture industry leader Luke Bowen, who tragically passed away last month.

Many in the industry have paid tribute to the former Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association chief executive officer and the inaugural CEO of Cattle Australia. He was best known for his work guiding the industry through the dark days of the 2011 live export ban.

The funeral will be held next Tuesday at the Darwin Convention Centre at 10.30am.

“Mr Bowen will be remembered as one of Australia’s finest leaders in agriculture,” NT chief minister Lia Finocchiaro said.

“On behalf of all Territorians, and the Northern Territory Government, I extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to Luke’s family and his partner, Tracey.”

Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries Gerard Maley said, “He was instrumental in establishing the Indigenous Pastoral Program and remembered for leading the Northern Territory’s cattle industry through the 2011 live export ban to Indonesia.”

“Luke was well respected right around the nation and internationally for his knowledge around agriculture.”

Tribute to Luke Bowen

Former Cattle Council of Australia presidentand NT cattle producer Markus Rathsmann has penned the following tribute to Luke in the lead up to his memorial service next week:

Luke joined the Northern Territory Cattlemens Association in 2010 as Chief Executive Officer.

Getting a good CEO is hard and finding one willing to move to Darwin is even harder, anyway Luke was up for the challenge.

He soon established the Real Jobs program for indigenous youth employment on NT cattle stations using his personal contacts at the ILC to support its development.

Luke was somewhat uneasy in his new role as NTCA CEO, where a CEO is somewhat judged by their performance at the annual Industry conference.

Late in 2010 Luke informed members that welfare groups had some confronting footage about the treatment of Australian cattle in Indonesian slaughterhouses. We were told the situation was in hand by MLA and reminded of the market investments by MLA in the Mark1 and Mark 1V slaughter boxes.

However, following the 4 Corners program in 2011, no one could have predicted or expected the public and political fallout that would soon follow. The sudden ban on all cattle travelling to Indonesia was a financial disaster for producers and all those involved in Live Export. It was creating an animal welfare disaster for animals waiting in the production supply chain.

Luke immediately organized NTCA members and the executive into action. He worked hand in glove with our NTCA president Rohan Sullivan, both working tirelessly for industry to reverse the shock decision. The NTCA executive flew to Canberra to brief politicians and garner support to reverse the ban. Luke skillfully brought Emily Brett and her family to Canberra too, to highlight families affected by the ban.

Our Peak Industry bodies were caught napping. No one wanted to defend the Live Export Industry during its biggest crisis. RMAC charged with providing advice to the minister, could not achieve a consensus position thus allowing the minister Joe Ludwig to point to a divided industry and not act to reverse the ban. Both Cattle Council and MLA also ran for cover claiming the issue was not core business. There was also virtually no support from other State Farm Organizations, with the exception of the Pastoralists and Graziers Association in WA.

In short Luke pointed out to members that in this time of crisis we were very much on our own. He put himself front and center to convince the Australian public and our fickle politicians that our livelihoods and the animals under our care mattered. In 2012 there was no time for an industry conference. The workload for Luke and our industry to reform was huge.  Our NTCA AGM had Luke displaying his famous spaghetti diagram of how the complicated Red Meat Industry structure was supposed to work in crisis. It had simply failed us.

Luke was always a person with a strong work ethic, no doubt the result of upbringing on the farm and his time as a shearer. He stood by the need for good governance maintaining the need for the NTCA to be apolitical. This allowed him to seek assistance and work with both sides of politics to the benefit of all producers. The NTCA office was like a war cabinet room with additional staff coming from the NT Labor party and support from Labor MLAs like Warren Snowden. Luke was always professional and never tried to score cheap political points keeping his own political beliefs to himself

Although the lifting of the ban 2 months later involved the efforts of many people. Luke was the public face of our Industry in its darkest time. His judgement was always sound and balanced allowing him to organize people, limited resources and strategy. It was no accident that he would use some of the ladies in our industry to portray the NTCA in a softer more caring light. Together we would joke, seriously of course that the NTCA needed to change its name to reflect the huge contribution women make in our industry today.

Luke fully understood the public concern with animal welfare. He kept a dialogue with RSPCA CEO Heather Neil. Heather would later go on to present at the NTCA annual conference. Quietly Luke hoped the RSPCA would change its policy and give the industry the support following the significant reforms and transparency.

The Live Export Trade could only recommence with the assurances to the public and politicians that those images on 4 corners would not happen again. The most significant reform was ESCAS The “Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System”. This meant exporters now had the onerous responsibility right to the point of slaughter in the supply chain. Supply chains had to have integrity and be transparent. The MLA after copping considerable criticism during the ban, now to their credit made major investments in Indonesia improving slaughter facilities, rolling out pneumatic stunning and training staff.

The biggest consequence of the ban was that it completely trashed our trading relationship with Indonesia. The ill-considered decision by the Gillard Government just prior to the Muslim holy month was not forgotten. We were now viewed as unreliable suppliers thus opening the door to inferior meat imports from India and Brazil. ESCAS was viewed as expensive adding to cost and seen as imposing our standards on them.

Following the work done by exporters and MLA to improve supply chain facilities several industry delegations made the trip to Indonesia to view facilities.  I was fortunate to be on a tour Luke organized for NTCA members with the livestock exporter AUSTREX inspecting their supply chains. In Lampung I clearly remember feedlot manager Greg Pankhurst telling our group. “Where have you guys been? You have been selling hundreds of thousands of animals and no one has been over here” He was absolutely right; we had taken the trade and Indonesia for granted.

Luke set about improving our damaged relationship with Indonesia with dignity and sincerity.  He established for NTCA members the Indonesian Student Program. Allowing a cross-cultural exchange bringing young graduates from Indonesian Universities to work on Northern Territory Cattle Stations. Often dressed in traditional batik Luke and his Indonesian friend Robi Agustiar would help the students and deans feel relaxed and welcome in Australia. This program has been an outstanding success and leaves a lasting legacy in our long term Australian Indonesian relationship.

When the trade was up and running again Luke sought the best (family) advice on who would be the best law firm to represent those affected by the Live Export Ban. Twelve years ago, Luke introduced a young lawyer named Andrew Gill from Minter Ellison in Canberra to a room of affected producers like myself in Darwin. With the support and assistance of the National Farmers Fighting Fund this landmark case has been well and truly won. It is unfortunate that the current Albanese government after 12 years still wishes to kick the ball down the road even further.

The work with the successful class action started by Luke was later progressed by Tracey Hayes.

Luke identified the talent in fellow NTCA director Tracey and offered her the Executive officer’s position as well as NFF representative for the association. Tracey later served with distinction as NTCA CEO and has gone on to a prominent board career. No doubt Luke saw other outstanding qualities in Tracey as they became partners.

For his efforts during the Live Export ban Luke received a standing ovation from the NTCA membership that most rock stars would be jealous of. Later going on to receive the Life member’s medal. He could have stayed as CEO for life if he wished but that was not his style. He believed he could best serve the pastoral industry by taking up a role in Northern Development and deputy CEO at Primary Industries which he served and advocated with distinction for 7 years.

Luke’s last role at Cattle Australia as inaugural CEO in 2023 was to reform and help establish a properly funded Peak Industry Council that the Beef industry so badly needs.

He was a person of the highest integrity who was very generous with his precious time. He would always get back to you irrespective of whether you were an NTCA member or not.  Luke was as comfortable talking to the prime minister as he was talking to staff, workers in the yards, our friends in Indonesia or countrymen in Arnhem Land.

In the coming weeks as we pay our final respects to Luke and the loved ones he leaves behind. Hopefully this article serves as a gentle reminder for those of us in the Northern Pastoral Industry the great things this man did for us and the big difference he made when we needed him most.