The Nationals Member for Riverina, Kay Hull, has said the Coalition fully supports responsible foreign investment in local industries and said she was extremely concerned that ill-informed commentators could potentially derail the sale of the Japanese owned Rockdale Feedlot to a Brazilian owned company.

Mrs Hull said there was a very real danger that if the ACCC blocked the sale of the Itoham owned Feedlot to Swift, the entire business would fall over and one of the hardest hit drought regions in the country, which is facing annihilation if the Government adopts the Wentworth Group’s water cutback, would again lose a business which supports hundreds of local jobs.

“We simply cannot afford to let Rockdale fall over. The current owners of the feedlot are no longer interested in running Rockdale at its full capacity and it would be a devastating blow to farmers and local communities if Rockdale was allowed to be mothballed,” Mrs. Hull said.

“Swift is arguably one of the best operators in the world today and they have given me a guarantee that they will be spending a significant amount of money to bring the Feedlot, which has a capacity of 50,000 head, but is only currently running approximately 1,000 head, back to full production.

“When Swift gets the Rockdale Feedlot back into full production it will be a major buyer of cattle, grain, transport services and will be one of the regions largest direct and indirect employers.

 Mrs Hull said she was concerned that there was a great deal of misinformation about the sale being spread.

“It is quite wrong to suggest that producers would have limited options to sell their feeder cattle if this sale progressed. Producers will make decisions on what is best for their circumstances, they have access to many options to sell their cattle including local saleyards, domestic abattoirs who also buy from the paddock, in addition to the large number of feedlots in our area. In fact there are more than 100 feedlots in NSW alone.

“I have been one of the strongest critics of the supermarket duopoly here in Australia and know only too well what can happen when supermarkets use their market power against suppliers, however, it is patently false to claim that Swift and Coles will do some dodgy deal to screw farmers.

“ We must recognise that a 50,000 head feedlot needs a lot of cattle and will provide significant competition in the market place, which does not currently exist because Rockdale has not been run at its full capacity in recent times,” Mrs Hull said.