An emotional farmer has taken issue with the Australian government’s plans to invest $146 million into training Vietnamese abattoir workers, claiming the money needs to be invested into the local economy instead.
Brendan Farrell is the man behind the Burrumbuttock Hay Runners: an agricultural charity that delivers bales of hay to drought-stricken farmers around the country.
It’s an indisputably noble cause. But Farrell claims it’s often an uphill slog getting supplies to more than 10,000 farmers in need.
Australian farmer Brendan Farrell, the Burrumbuttock Hay Runners charity, has posted a video monologue denouncing the Federal Government’s plans to invest $146 million overseas
‘In the last four years we’ve done 13 hay runs,’ he says, in a video monologue uploaded to the Burrumbuttock Hay Runners Facebook page on Wednesday.
‘We’ve tried to help as many farmers as we possibly can: 12 and a half thousand of them.
‘Raising money, scraping the barrel all the time, trying to get fuels in trucks to get this hay to farmers in need through this drought that doesn’t seem to go away.’
Farrell, visibly upset, sits in the cab of his truck and lists no fewer than eight regional areas in New South Wales alone that are suffering the brunt of the drought.
Farrell argues that the money is desperately needed in the local economy – particularly as countless farmers battle against a ‘drought that doesn’t seem to go away’
‘But the thing that’s really p***ed me off at the moment is we can just all of a sudden whack out 146 million dollars to train Vietnamese abattoir workers on killing livestock better,’ he continues.
The 146 million dollars he is referring to is part of the Managing Abattoirs, Training and Exchange of Skills program.
Launched by Agriculture Minister David Littleproud last week, the program will invest in training abattoir and livestock workers in Vietnam over the next five years to improve animal welfare standards.
And Farrell isn’t the first to question the exorbitant initiative.
The $146 million Farrell refers to is part of the Managing Abattoirs, Training and Exchange of Skills program, which was launched by Agricultural Minister David Littleproud last week
The program will invest in the training of abattoir and livestock workers in Vietnam over the next five years
‘It’s got me buggered and baffled, it really has,’ he says.
‘I bust my balls all day to… try and raise new funds for the hay runner… [And] we can’t keep spending money the way we are.
‘We don’t have 146 million dollars just to give away to a country we don’t own.’
Farrell goes on to suggest that the Federal government’s ‘big old fat check book’ would be put to far better use investing in struggling local industries.
‘Why don’t we put 146 million dollars into Holden to try and keep them down in Melbourne a bit longer?’ he proposed. ‘Or Ford over in Geelong?
‘There is that many industries over here in Australia that are hurting.’
Farrell suggests that the Federal government’s ‘big old fat check book’ would be put to far better use investing in struggling local industries such as Holden or Ford
Regarded by many as a quintessential, true blue Aussie battler, Farrell clearly takes matters of Australia’s agricultural future to heart.
Toward the end of the video he becomes increasingly bewildered by the prospect of ‘where this country’s gonna be’ in years to come.
‘We have to make serious change now and we have to stop supporting other countries when our country is in more s**t than you can poke a stick at,’ he says.
‘Enough is enough. We’ve gotta stop doing this.’