National Reform Summit in Canberra misses out small business operators …

… Tasmanian Aboriginal mutton birders completely ignored. Summit is elitist, says Michael Mansell

Michael Mansell says the National Reform Summit in Canberra has not been inclusive and smaller industries most in need of support have been sidelined.

Mr Mansell said, “Every year for the last 150 years, Aboriginal people in Tasmania have eked out a living from mutton birding. Up until the end of the 1940’s, around 500 Aboriginal people went mutton birding. Today the industry employs 90 people across the Bass Strait islands for a 6 week period. To survive, it needs help. Prime Minister Turnbull would not even be aware of our existence, which is probably also the case with Tasmania’s Federal politicians. We never hear from them. They never visit us during the season to see what we do.

There are no subsidies, no tax breaks. The people work from 5am to 10 pm, 6 days a week for 6 weeks. They are all unemployed. During the mutton birding all the workers lose their dole in exchange for a pay of $500 a week. The wages are low because all costs must be borne by the birders themselves without any help from government.

Super

The unemployed mutton birders have to be taxed and superannuation is deducted at 10% from their meagre pay. Superannuation is meant to be taken from workers so that when they eventually retire or suffer hardship through being unemployed, they can access their super.

In this case the mutton birders are already unemployed, and already suffering hardship. Few of them know how to fill in complicated forms to get access to their super so they leave the money in a super fund. It would make sense for people who are unemployed for the whole year not to have super deducted from any casual work they get. We are told by the Australian Taxation Office that until the Federal government changes the rules, there are no exemptions.

We drool with envy at the $320m this Federal Government gave to keep farmers on the land. We envy research grants available to other Tasmanian industry, the bailouts to Blundstone, Cadbury’s and aluminium ferry manufacturers at Prince of Wales Bay.

Free Trade Agreement with New Zealand

All the talk is about the Chinese Free Trade Agreement. Australia already has a FTA with New Zealand which used to be a market for mutton birds for decades. Now we cannot get our mutton birds into New Zealand despite Maoris and other New Zealanders screaming out for them. Again we get no help from any politician and cannot raise these issues at economic summits because we are not invited.

Mutton birders have to comply with all modern health and hygiene standards that apply to food processing, which we willingly do. That means construction of modern expensive processing plants, diesel guzzling generators, freezers and boat transport. The attached phot of a boat leaving Babel this season with a load of mutton birds is typical of the seas people have to go through.

We get no help in alternative electricity supply that would reduce diesel costs and generator pollution. We get no subsidy for freighting all our box and drum packaging from Victoria to Launceston then to Flinders Island. We get no help in paying again to send the same materials back to Launceston then across Bass Strait to buyers. Tens of thousands of dollars are incurred by shed operators flying crews to and from the islands without assistance.”

Michael Mansell has the mutton bird lease on Babel Island, off the east coast of Flinders on Tasmania’s north east. He employs 20 Aboriginal people every season.
Michael Mansell