Australian mining magnates Gina Rinehart and Andrew “Twiggy” Forest have become the latest billionaires to back the Australian beef cattle industry through investment in cattle stations and abattoirs.

Word must be getting around in the top end of town that Meat Processors are making a killing!

Free trade deals have recently been completed under the Abbott government offering Australian Beef exporters massive export increases into South Korean and Japanese markets, a deal with China appears imminent. Many farmers and industry figures have reported that the lucrative deals gained by meat exporters appear to have been done at the expense of other industries.

It is clear that Meat Processors and Exporters stand to make profits as never before over the coming years. So why is it that many of the companies who clearly stand to make these gains are hell bent on driving workers to accept sub-standard workplace agreements and unrealistic productivity gains, and even threatening plant closures?

Maybe they, like Gina and Twiggy, know that the market is about to explode and are hoping the workers can be conned. If these Meat Processors lead workers to believe that times are tough (the few years of volatility experienced when the Aussie dollar was high, export markets were flat and drought was affecting parts of the country), it might buy them concessions from workers at the bargaining table.

Don’t buy their spin! Even during these ‘tough times’ many Meat processors were able to get their names high on the lists of most profitable Companies around the country.

Check out these links for more info on the mining magnates and their recent entry into the meat industry. Forest Buys Harvey Beef For $40 million , Gina Rinehart invests in Kimberley Cattle Sations.