CATTLE CLASS
June 20th 2011 23:32
By Jonathan Scutt 21/06/11
Having watched the debate over the live cattle trade on the TV & read about it in the papers, we’ve seen the MLA being blamed & the government being blamed, but at last we see Joe Ludwig admit that we can’t force Indonesia to use stun guns.
Apparently we just assumed that the Indonesians would do what we told them to do despite them being a sovereign country. Imagine if Indonesia told us they would ban all cattle imports unless Australia banned homosexuality or abortion! Would we understand their cultural sensitivities?
I haven’t seen any of the media interview a Muslim cleric about exactly what Halal slaughter is all about. Does it have to be so cruel? Why are people so opposed to stunning livestock? What is the religious significance? Maybe we don’t want to talk about religion in case it launches another Jihad. Maybe we just don’t care what other cultures or religions believe, we just expect them to do as we tell them. Maybe we just assume the Western values are always right.
It would be nice if all countries & cultures shared our view on the humane treatment of animals. It would also be nice it they could all afford to import our meat frozen instead of alive. Maybe the MLA should be spending money on building freezer works in Indonesia to store our frozen meat in.
As so often happens, the Greens & animal welfare people are making simplistic demands for an end to the live trade as if the Indonesians will see the error of their ways & be swayed by such hectoring. If you don’t negotiate with them intelligently, they will simply buy their cattle from another country with less stringent standards than ours. Then what will the Greens do?
Having watched the debate over the live cattle trade on the TV & read about it in the papers, we’ve seen the MLA being blamed & the government being blamed, but at last we see Joe Ludwig admit that we can’t force Indonesia to use stun guns.
Apparently we just assumed that the Indonesians would do what we told them to do despite them being a sovereign country. Imagine if Indonesia told us they would ban all cattle imports unless Australia banned homosexuality or abortion! Would we understand their cultural sensitivities?
I haven’t seen any of the media interview a Muslim cleric about exactly what Halal slaughter is all about. Does it have to be so cruel? Why are people so opposed to stunning livestock? What is the religious significance? Maybe we don’t want to talk about religion in case it launches another Jihad. Maybe we just don’t care what other cultures or religions believe, we just expect them to do as we tell them. Maybe we just assume the Western values are always right.
It would be nice if all countries & cultures shared our view on the humane treatment of animals. It would also be nice it they could all afford to import our meat frozen instead of alive. Maybe the MLA should be spending money on building freezer works in Indonesia to store our frozen meat in.
As so often happens, the Greens & animal welfare people are making simplistic demands for an end to the live trade as if the Indonesians will see the error of their ways & be swayed by such hectoring. If you don’t negotiate with them intelligently, they will simply buy their cattle from another country with less stringent standards than ours. Then what will the Greens do?
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