North Sydney Council's leather ban motion must be called out, say beef producers

That such an ignorant, extreme and simplistic notion can gain the support of a council can not be 'let go through to the keeper', cattle producers said.

North Sydney Council has carried a motion to prepare a policy on the use of leather and fur in all events held on its property.

The intention behind the original motion, put forward by 20-year-old councillor Georgia Lamb who is a member of the Sustainable Australia Party, was to facilitate the banning of leather products on council ground. She called leather products 'controversial' and 'outdated'.

The council carried a slightly amended motion, however, but one that also says that should any items owned by the council be put on display for historical reasons, they be 'framed in the context of their time' and note made that the council disapproves of the creation of any new items of leather or fur.

Only one councillor voted against the motion.

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The decision is quickly gaining notoriety throughout Sydney, where ratepayers are making fun of the triviality of such a move against a backdrop of the need for attention to road planning and big event management, among other serious issues. The hypocrisy of the decision being made from the comfort of leather seats has also been noted.

However, outside Sydney's lower north shore the motion is viewed as an attack on livelihoods based on ignorance - one that needs to be called out.

NSW Farmers president Xavier Martin said there was nothing more fundamental to society than the production of food and clothing.

"Farmers make a living out of healthy animals and healthy plants and using all of what they produce is critical to ensuring no resource is wasted," he said.

Central Queensland beef producer Adam Coffey, who strongly believes in the importance of keeping his farm gates open to anyone with questions and using social media to show people how beef is produced, said the industry needed to speak out about how ill-informed the motion was.

Grazing animals were part of the climate solution and leather was a byproduct of the production of food - why wouldn't society use a product that positively contributes to the climate equation, he said.

Australia's red meat industry was committed to being carbon neutral by 2030, he said.

"This motion might seem nothing but crazy but it is very dangerous for our industry. This is a prominent council. It is swaying opinion," Mr Coffey said.

"The thing we have to harness is that people aren't doing these sort of things to be obnoxious. They genuinely want to be provocative about climate change and animal welfare but they don't know how to do it.

"As landowners, farmers can have an influence but people in cities don't have that ability so they clutch at straws.

"This is our opportunity to better educate people about how we are aligned - about what our products are, how they are produced and how they contribute positively to what we all want to achieve.

"Our farm gate is always open and I can speak all day about the number of livestock sceptics who come to visit and walk out saying 'wow'.

"What we do is complex - it's not a simple thing to explain but if anything shows the need to do that, it's this council decision."