He adopted the slogan, like most of his policies, from former Prime Minister John Howard, who tapped into the xenophobic feelings of Australia to win the 2002 election.
Howard told the public he would “stop the boats”. He coined the slogan after a boatload of refugees sailed into Australian waters at a time he was behind in the polls.
Howard tested the waters, found the members of certain marginal electorates wanted nothing to do with asylum seekers, and used the Stop the Boats rhetoric as a rallying cause. It helped him win the closest of elections.
Abbott, who once described himself as the “ideological love-child of John Howard and Bronwyn Bishop” (and this is as scary as it sounds – on all levels) adopted the slogan for the most recent election.
However, it has caused his first post-election headache. He now wants to start the boats. More specifically, he wants to raise the number of cattle exported to Indonesia back to the levels of 2011 when the trade was stopped. Unfortunately his Stop the Boats and Start the Boats policies are at odds with each other.
Part of his plan to Stop the Boats was to tow them back to Indonesia. But neither Abbott nor anybody from his party thought of telling the Indonesian government about this plan. There was an election to be won.
Indonesia has made very plain its displeasure, saying towing boats back into its waters would infringe its sovereignty. It dominated talks with Abbott on his first overseas visit as Prime Minister.
Unfortunately for the Australian beef industry, and particularly cattle graziers on the vast properties of northern Australia, the issue has hampered talks on re-igniting the live export trade.
There hasn’t been a diplomatic bungle like this since, well, the former Labor Government banned all live exports to Indonesia in 2011.
In one of the worst political decisions in the history of Australian agriculture, Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig and Prime Minister Julia Gillard stopped all exports as a result of inappropriate treatment of cattle in one Indonesia abattoir.
Footage from one abattoir was taken by an animal rights activist and shown on national television. The government’s kneejerk reaction to ban all imports stopped the live exports to Indonesia (worth $320 million) literally overnight. When it realised what it had done, Ludwig travelled to Indonesia with a list of demands (written in English, mind you).
When Ludwig told the Indonesian government he would resume exports if it agreed to his demands, it showed him the door.
Cattle in northern Australian ports ready to be loaded had nowhere to go. Producers waiting for their annual pay cheque never got them. Northern cattle were sent to southern cattle sales, depressing prices for Australian cattle producers nationwide – all caused by the naivety of government.
The industry hasn’t recovered two years later. From a record level of 770,000 cattle exported in 2009 to 278,000 sent last year. (Those sent last year were at much lighter weights by Indonesian decree.)
The Coalition government was seen by producers as a clean slate. Indonesia needs Australian cattle. Its policy of self-sufficiency can’t be realised. Its agriculture ministry began issuing new import permits in July — which might eventually number 25,000 head of cattle – as a beef shortage was pushing prices 40% higher before the post-Ramadan feasting season.
Clearly, the resumption of imports is critical for both countries.
The Prime Minister must realise the error of his ways and place long-term governance – and the needs of the Australian beef industry – over short-term politicking.
He can’t Stop the Boats and Start the Boats at the same time.
• Stephen Cooke is an Australian rural journalist who edits Rural News Group’s Dairy News Australia.
