Pulled Pork

My friend Claire is in New York City at the moment and stumbled upon this terrific street stall.

The Mystery of the Missing Diary

I was reunited with my diary yesterday.

Last week I turned my house, office and car upside down looking for my diary.

My life is literally in that little book. Every appointment, meeting, interview and important phone number is in that diary. My menstrual and pay cycles are also well documented in that diary. Not that the two are in any way related.

I was a mess last week. Was I coming or going? Was I Arthur or Martha?

A breakthrough in the mystery of the disappearing diary came last Wednesday with a phone call.

"G'day Kate, it's Danny at Dowerin, I've got your diary."

Come gain, excuse me, or as the young kids say these days WTF?  How on earth did my diary end up in Dowerin?

"I won the quiz on your breakfast show last week, you know the Ukulele Quiz? Well I've just received my prize in the mail- great CD, but your diary was also in the envelope."

It went on.

"I'm really sorry, but I've read some of it. I thought it was part of the prize but then I saw all these appointments written in in pen and pencil and realised it belonged to you."

Oh Lord. Has he read about which body parts I have waxed on a regular basis? Does he now know when I'm ovulating? He certainly now knows that I'm not naturally blonde these days.

Horrified, looking to somehow explain my embarrassing mishap, I told Danny at Dowerin that it must have been a blonde moment. Nice work Kate, just in case he didn't already think you had a few screws loose.

Although, it's possible that Danny read enough of my diary to suspect that I may well have had an attack of so called baby brain.

Unable to have a stiff drink to overcome my embarrassment, I think I'll have to buy Danny one when I'm in Dowerin for the Field Days in August.

A Live Debate (mach 2)

Like most people having their two bobs worth on the issue at the moment, I am no expert on the live trade. I have, however spent a number of years working in pastoral areas of  Western Australia as a rural journalist, and along the way I have formed an opinion or two. I am also married to a live exporter and my in-laws farm beef.

I have been trying to bite my tongue and ignore the comments by both friends and strangers calling for a total ban on live export since Four Corners broadcast A Bloody Business on Monday night.

But remaining balanced and without an opinion at work is one thing. It's the right thing, and I respect my position and would never and have never expressed a view or opinion about anything other than my football team.

But it doesn't stop me wanting to defend the livelihood of my family and friends "out of hours."

The footage on Four Corners on Monday night was disgraceful. Two days on I still haven't been able to watch the entire program. (Although it should be said I'm a bit soft when it comes to seeing roos shot and chooks beheaded too.)

The subsequent decision by the federal government to block trade to 11 abattoirs was the right decision. However I totally disagree with calls to completely banning the export of cattle from Australia to Indonesia.

Why? Because banning the live trade will do NOTHING to address animal cruelty in Indonesia. Surely those of you calling for a ban on the live trade are concerned about the plight of animals of every race and religion? Not just Australian animals?

If Australia stops exporting to Indonesia, that country will simply source live cattle elsewhere. This week the the Indonesian government has confirmed it is not interested in taking any more chilled boxed meat from Australia.

The only impact a total ban on live trade will have, will be to decimate the Australian cattle industry (not just those involved in live export) and the many thousands of people, families and communities that make a living from farming cattle.

I personally feel that Livecorp and MLA have a massive case to answer. There job is to prevent cruelty to Australian animals in Indonesia. They have failed. There needs to be a total overhaul of management, auditing and inspection of all facilities in Indonesia.

And those that don’t comply need to be shut out of the Australian market immediately. Without question.

However I believe that what was broadcast on Four Corners this week is a minority practice in Indonesia. It’s a minority practice because Australia has been working there for years teaching Indonesians how to kill cattle in a way that is acceptable to those of us living in the Western world.


It's simply not newsworthy to broadcast images of the clean abattoirs where they kill animals using Western methods and meet Western standards.

Without Australians working in Indonesia, chipping away slowly but surely with education and resources, the cruelty towards animals will NEVER end.

It is a very difficult task and one that Australia has a moral obligation to continue.

Have you been to Bali for a holiday? When you see how the Indonesians treat their own people, you can see how hard it is to change their mindset in regard to animals. But terrific work is being done and real, measurable progress has been made.

You call the Live Trade shameful? I believe to simply walk away from Indonesia and wash our hands of their animal welfare issues would be shameful.

And it’s worth making the distinction- live exporting, putting animals on boats to Indonesia is not the problem. The problem lies in some abattoirs, not the actual process of exporting the cattle.

I feel that it would be a complete disaster if the atrocious actions of a minority were to result in the whole industry being wiped out. We don’t sack entire police forces because of a handful of corrupt coppers; we don’t ban the entire church because of a handful of perverted priests.

Oh and one more thing. Those of you who have now given up eating meat because of what you saw on Four Corners? You’re simply depriving yourselves of one of the joys in life. The only thing that forgoing that juicy steak will impact is your protein level. You won’t influence the live trade or the Indonesian industry in any way shape or form.