Dairy, agents, exporters urge minister to act on NLIS fraud

The Australian Livestock Exporters Council (ALEC), Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) and Australian Livestock and Property Agents (ALPA) wrote that they were "concerned about a number of reported incidents of fraudulent tagging of cattle in Victoria".

The case involves a West Gippsland livestock agent alleged to have misused National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) tags and falsified paperwork to profit from the export trade in dairy heifers.

READ MORE: Raided: Agent X made a fortune from NLIS tags

It comes after three Gippsland agents who breached NLIS rules hundreds of times were penalised a total of $12,000 in 2018.

This August, ear-tag related "traceability issues" triggered a halt order that prevented 5000 dairy heifers destined for export to China from being loaded onto a ship at Portland.

"We recognise the incredible importance of our industry's integrity systems in underpinning our international trade by providing surety around biosecurity and traceability," the letter said.

"Any activity to subvert these systems places in jeopardy our trading markets and as such we fully support thorough investigations and severe penalties across of all our respective areas of the supply chain if allegations are proven."

The letter stressed the importance of the Chinese dairy heifer trade to Victorian dairy farmers and said it was "vitally important that we send a signal to our trading partners that this behaviour is the exception and is not tolerated within Australia".

"We commit to holding those that are proven to do the wrong thing to account and expect that if any of our members suspect this sort of behaviour that they will report it immediately and consider their commercial arrangements."

Asked how ALPA would hold any members found guilty of NLIS offences to account, chief executive Peter Baldwin could not be specific.

"We would obviously follow the correct procedures and protocols," he said.

Mr Baldwin could not point to any protocols or code of conduct that applied to ALPA members.

Stock & Land readers, including Kirkstall dairy farmer Brett Craig last week questioned why boluses were not compulsory.

"There's nothing stopping Barnaby from cutting out Bridget's tags and replacing them with his own," Mr Craig said.

"You can't take boluses out without surgery."

Boluses sit within the stomach or rumen of cattle and for a lifetime.

NLIS device provider Leader Products sells boluses at a 50 cent premium over ear tags and territory manager Brett Manson said they were equally simple to scan, with no difference in read rates.

A National Traceability Project led by the federal government concluded in October 2019.

"Our current agricultural traceability systems have recently been assessed and found to be meeting current needs," the project summary states.

Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) subsidiary, Integrity Systems Company, is responsible for running the NLIS.

Its chief executive, Dr Jane Weatherley said rumen boluses were not accepted by every feedlot, saleyard or processor.

"Under the Integrity System 2025 Strategic Plan, Integrity Systems Company is undertaking research into tamper proof animal identification methods such as implantable IDs, and other technologies that are becoming more widely available, such as facial recognition," Dr Weatherley said.

"Integrity Systems Company continues to look at ways in which the current cattle RFID can be strengthened to ensure it remains attached to an animals' ear for life, and is progressing a refresh of the NLIS Device Standards, to support new and emerging identification technologies in the future."

Unfortunately, there was no timeframe for delivery of the new technologies.

ALEC chief executive Mark Harvey-Sutton said there were two elements to maintaining the integrity of the system.

"There's a difference between whether the capacity of the system is appropriate - our integrity systems are very good in terms of their capacity and capability in terms of what they can demonstrate," Mr Harvey-Sutton said.

"There also needs to be a strong enforceability element because our traceability systems are regulated and it's completely the expectation of industry that they are enforced by the appropriate regulator.

"Ultimately, when incidents do occur, punishments need to be strong and swift and should follow a very extensive investigation."

The federal Agriculture Department said, when asked about boluses and penalties, that NLIS compliance was a matter for the state or territory governments.

"The Australian government has strict processes in place to ensure exporters comply with importing country requirements," a spokesperson said.

"Where non-compliance and or criminal activity is found, investigations are undertaken and appropriate action taken.

"The NLIS continues to provide very high levels of confidence to importing countries and has been fundamental to Australia's continued access to key export markets."

Victorian agriculture minister Jaclyn Symes was contacted but did not offer comment before deadline.