- The Prime Minister made an awkward comment about live exports
- He gave a speech at a gala in Canberra with 600 farmers
Farmers are ‘outraged to the core’ after Anthony Albanese joked about eating live export produce at a farm awards dinner.
The prime minister made the bizarre statement while addressing around 600 people at the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award gala in Parliament House on Tuesday evening.
Referring to a meal he shared with Indonesian President-elect Prabowo, Mr Albanese said: “We ate, beautiful Australian beef – not the live export beef, we made sure it was dead.”
Earlier this year, Labor announced it would phase out live sheep exports over four years, ending completely by May 2028. The decision was widely criticised by farmers who said the ban would decimate their businesses.
A guest at the gala said that there was an “audible murmur of dissatisfaction in the room” at X when Mr Albanese made the joke.
On Wednesday, Nationals leader David Littleproud said he had been approached by farmers who saw the comment as a mockery of their sector.
Pictured: Farmers and farm workers who attended the dinner on Tuesday evening
“Why the Prime Minister would choose the AgriFutures Awards – an evening to celebrate our farming sector – to ridicule our industries is beyond me,” Mr Littleproud said.
He said farmers were planning to hold a demonstration in front of the parliament building on September 10 to protest the ban on live animal exports, and that more people were now likely to join the demonstration.
Farmers also criticized the prime minister via social media.
“Seriously???,” wrote one X user.
‘How could Anthony Albanese, on the night that the extraordinary contribution of rural women was being celebrated, be so out of touch with reality as to make a joke about [live export] is going to land.
‘I wonder if he will lead the #FarmyArmy on September 10th?’
Another said: ‘If this isn’t a reason to stand shoulder to shoulder at the National Ag Rally in Canberra on September 10, I don’t know what is.’
The function was an awards ceremony for women in agriculture (photo)
A third user wrote: ‘Wow. I literally can’t read the room. What a disgusting comment.’
Ben Sutherland, chairman of WA Livestock and Rural Transporters and spokesman for Keep the Sheep, said he felt betrayed and hurt.
“It disgusts me to the depths of my soul,” he said.
“Labor is throwing rural communities to the wind and laughing about it. It’s not a joke, in my eyes it’s pretty scary to have a government that doesn’t care about regional Australia.”
He accused the Albanian government of taking the position of farmers for granted and destroying their livelihoods.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Albanese for comment.
