LIVEXchange 2021
Venue and Accommodation
2019: It's a wrap!
Speaker Presentations 2019
Program & Presentations 2017
LIVEXforum 2016
Program & speakers 2013
Click here to download the full 2013 conference program.
The following are two presentations from the conference which can be viewed online.
Dr Leisha Hewitt: Guidelines to standards – the challenges
A video recording of the presentation can be viewed here on YouTube and the presentation slides can be viewed or downloaded here.
Dr Derek Belton: Animal welfare in a livestock export context – benchmarking Australia against the rest of the world
The LIVEXchange conference opened on Wednesday 30 October with a session designed specifically for Australian sheep, cattle and goat producers.
Key players from Meat &Livestock Association (MLA) chaired the session to help representatives of the export chain gain a deeper understanding of ESCAS.
The producer session was followed by an informal 'Sun Downer' BBQ sponsored by National Australia Bank (NAB) and Queensland Livestock Exporters' Association (QLEA)
Don Heatley, Cattle Producer: Master of Ceremonies
With his down to earth and realistic approach to industry issues, Don is perfectly positioned to be the official MC throughout LIVEXchange. He is a North Queensland cattle producer supplying cattle to the livestock export markets and former Chairman of the Board at Meat & Livestock Australia.
Dr Raoul (Roly) Nieper A.M
Dr Nieper is the current LiveCorp Chairman and a former Chairman of Animal Health Australia and Director General of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries. Dr Nieper has considerable board expertise and extensive experience at the interface between government and industry. He is a veterinarian with a demonstrated commitment to animal welfare issues and has a strong understanding of the live export industry.
The Hon Barnaby Joyce MP, Minister for Agriculture
Joyce was announced as the Minister for Agriculture in the Abbott Ministry, and was sworn in on 18 September 2013. He delivered the opening key note address at LIVEXchange and used the opportunity to discuss livestock export, which he has sees as an issue "on the immediate horizon" for the Department of Agriculture.
Vyanne Lai, Agribusiness Economist, National Australia Bank
At NAB, Vyanne is responsible for formulating the bank's views on domestic and global market developments for agricultural and energy commodities, working closely in conjunction with the Agribusiness division within the bank.
Her role involves analysing and reporting on trends in key markets and providing strategic insights into the linkages between macroeconomic conditions, financial and commodity markets.
Vyanne regularly presents to stakeholders of the bank on the state of the economy and agriculture sectors, with her views often quoted in the media.
Vyanne joined NAB at the beginning of 2013 after spending four years in the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF) as a macroeconomic and tax forecaster. In her time in DTF, she was heavily involved in the forecasting of the indicators of the household sector, prices and the amount of Goods and Services Tax (GST) that gets distributed to the state. She also participated actively in the preparation of the annual state publications such as the Budget papers and the Annual Financial Report.
Dr. John Ackerman, Regional Manager, MLA, Indonesia
Dr John Ackerman is the Regional Manager for Meat &Livestock Australia in Indonesia. Dr Ackerman has held this position since March 2011.
Prior to this he served with the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), joining the Department in late 2004 and seconded to the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) in early 2005 to be based in Bangkok and Aceh to assist tsunami affected countries with the rehabilitation of their aquaculture sector.
His work during those 5 months was acknowledged with an Australian Day Achievement Award in 2007. He was posted to the Australian Embassy to Indonesia in 2006 to establish the DAFF office as the Agriculture Counsellor to Jakarta, with an initial focus of working with Indonesia to reduce illegal fishing in the region. Dr Ackerman has a background in Biology, obtaining his PhD in 2004 from JamesCookUniversity.
He participated in a discussion with LIVEXchange MC, Don Heatley, regarding an Indonesian Market Focus on Thursday morning.
Tim Kelf – Consultant, Prime Advice Consulting
Through his experience in the livestock and meat industries, Tim has developed a wide knowledge of all aspects of the international red meat supply chain from paddock to plate. His long experience in business development and marketing into the emerging countries of Asia including Mainland China has placed him in an ideal position to provide a comprehensive insight into the developments in these markets.
Prior to retiring in July 2013 Tim worked with MLA and its predecessor organization, the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation (AMLC) from 1979 – 2013. A major part of his role was development and managing the industry's co-funded international marketing program in the form of MLA's Global Industry Collaborative Agreements (ICA) program.
Dr. Richard Trivett, Chairman, Austrex
Richard studied Veterinary Science at the University of Queensland and worked in private practice until he oversaw the development of AUSTREX into the global livestock export company it is today. Richard is a member and Chairman of the Livestock Export Research and Development Committee (LERDAC). Richard also chairs the Australian Rural Export Animal Welfare committee.
Allister Lugsdin, MLA Asia Pacific livestock services manager
Allister Lugsdin, who is Meat &Livestock Australia's manager of livestock services in South East Asia Pacific for the Live Export program, works closely with Indonesian livestock producers and government.
Dr Derek Belton, Head, International Trade Department, OIE
Dr Derek Belton's mission is to promote the OIE's new mandates for animal welfare and animal production food safety. His role is to utilise OIE experts to develop new standards, guidelines and recommendations in the Codes or to revise existing standards, guidelines and recommendations based on the latest scientific information.
He presented a key note address to the conference following lunch on Thursday 31 October regarding animal welfare in the livestock export context.
Peter Schuster, Schuster Consulting
Peter Schuster has been directly involved with R&D programs designed specifically to improve animal welfare and support best practice in the livestock export trade, as well as other primary production sectors, since the inception of Schuster Consulting Group in 2004. This involvement has included experience in Australia's major export markets and throughout the supply chain; experience which has recently been brought to bear in the development of a comprehensive report exploring the role that formal QA may play in underpinning animal welfare and securing the future of the livestock export trade.
Tony Brightling – Veterinary Services and Export Operations, Hassad Australia
Tony Brightling is an Australian veterinarian whose career spans private practice, state veterinary service, high-level industry consulting and corporate senior management. He joined Hassad Australia in 2013 as company veterinarian and manager of Hassad Australia's veterinary services and export operations.
Tony holds a Masters of Veterinary Studies degree in agricultural animal production and is an AQIS-accredited livestock export veterinarian. He has worked closely with the live export trade since 1990, when he was the first Australian industry veterinarian posted to the Middle East to provide downstream technical support to importers of Australian livestock, feedlots and abattoirs in the region.
Over the years Tony has completed numerous international consultancy assignments for the live export industry, including investigating veterinary problems, overseeing infrastructure changes, setting up standard operating procedures and training staff.
Tony spoke at the Coopers Industry Breakfast on the final day of LIVEXchange 2013.
Katherine Teh-White, Director, Futureye
Katherine Teh-White's pioneering social licence to operate methodology and problem-solving approach can make organisations more successful in this current era of fast-changing community expectations.
Her approach integrates public policy, public affairs, risk communication, foresight, a strong grounding in change management and an appreciation of science.
Katherine has led projects that have resulted in organisations recovering their regulatory or social licence to operate. She has successfully created a social licence for projects ranging from $40 million to $40 billion dollars eliminating regulatory and political threats through effective planning, engagement and capacity-building. She has also guided organisations on how to navigate new policy environments such as corporate responsibility, business and human rights, the impact of air emissions on health, climate change, transparency and accountability.
Trent Thorne, Senior Associate, McCullough Robertson Lawyers
Trent Thorne has more than 10 years' experience advising major Australian and foreign owned corporations, private enterprises, high net worth individuals, government and financial institutions.
His primary focus is in the food and agribusiness sector and he is a strong advocate for industry participants affected by the 2011 live export suspension. Trent is a former jackaroo in the Northern Territory and has family members with deep ties to the live export industry.
Trent participated in a panel on Friday morning focusing on perceptions of the livestock export industry.
Stephanie Coombes, Editor, AusAgventures
Stephanie is the editor of the Ausagventures website (www.ausagventures.com). She is a passionate young person involved in the agricultural industry. She has a strong interest in the areas of livestock health, welfare and behavior, systems auditing and risk analysis, data collection, analysis and interpretation, advocacy and consumer engagement.
In 2012 she was awarded the national winner of the 2013 NAB Agribusiness & Cattle Council Rising Champion competition.
Ann Britton, Beef Producer
Ann Britton is a beef producer, rural photographer and active industry blogger. She has lived for the past 25 years with her husband, Rick on the family property "Goodwood" near Boulia, 360kms west of Winton and 300km south of Mount Isa.
Michael Trant, Sheep Producer
Michael and his wife Gemma run Damara and Damara-Dorper cross sheep on their properties at Geraldton, Walkaway and Gabyon station near Yalgoo, with Gemma's parents Michael and Helen.
In August 2011, a story aired on the ABC's Landline program about Advocates for Agriculture – an American husband and wife farming team who are fifth generation ranchers and passionate about spreading positive stories about agriculture.
With live export hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2011, Michael was inspired by Advocates for Agriculture and decided to start telling his own story through his blog which has an international audience.
Kylie Stretton, Owner, Northern Livestock Services
Kylie is the Art4Agriculture Young Farming Champion for Beef, Co Founder of Ask An Aussie Farmer and Social Media coordinator of Queensland Rural, Regional and Remote Women's Network.