Bert Kelly, The Bulletin, August 10, 1982, p. 108.

Recently I was asked to give evidence to the Royal Commission into the Australian Meat Industry. They wanted to know what I had told Primary Industry Minister Peter Nixon when I handed over, as chairman, the report of the Committee of Inquiry into Meat Inspection on February 11, 1980, about 18 months before the meat scandal hit the fan.

I quoted from my diary of that date:

Went to Melbourne for the day to present the report to the minister, Peter Nixon. It was worth doing because it gave me the chance to tell him a few of the things we could not put in the report, such as the bribery and corruption which is so prevalent in the meat inspection game. Poor Peter has now to see what can be done … I told Nixon that (we) would be prepared to help him get something done.

When I was asked by one of the lawyers why I did not follow this matter up, I said that first I was not asked to do so and, anyway, I was very busy on other matters.

I then explained to his Honor, who, I guess, lives a very sheltered life, that I was, and am, engaged in a bitter battle to get our trade barriers lowered. I then foolishly tried to be funny and explained that, when the PM was overseas, he was a powerful ally of mine in this cause because he then made stirring statements about the evils of protection. However, he was home quite a lot and then I was very busy indeed, because he seemed to spend most of his time at home making sure that our trade barriers were not lowered.

I hoped that this sally would draw at least a snigger from the crowded court room but it went down like a lead balloon. Evidently, it is regarded as the natural way to behave for politicians to talk eloquently about the evils of protectionism while overseas while doing their damnedest to keep up our trade barriers while at home.

The PM is easily out in front in this regard, so much so that when he set out a few months ago to set the world right about the evils of protectionism, no one took him seriously.

Indeed, I doubt if he took himself seriously either. Certainly there was a loud horse-laugh when he left our shores this time, singing the same old tune, only louder.

It is regarded as natural for the PM to run with the protectionist hare and hunt with the anti-protectionist hounds but his ministers are not too bad at it either.

I have just bee reading a fine speech made by Sir Phillip Lynch when he was in Singapore recently and, really, Eccles could not have done better himself. But, of course, no one believed him; I doubt if he did either.

Tony Street used to be a brave battler for lower trade barriers. Indeed, he and I used to fight the tariff battle alone. I hoped that, when he became Minister for Foreign Affairs and became more aware of the damage our tariff policies were doing to our international relations, he would again stand and fight as he used to years ago. But he, too, now says one thing and does another, which is par for the tariff course.

The Country Party ministers, of course, are experts at speaking with forked tongues about tariffs. They ought to be — they have been practising for years.

I notice that, at the NSW Country Party Conference held at Wagga, when grass-roots resentment surfaced about the way farmers had been sold down the tariff river, Ian Sinclair explained that he and other Country Party ministers were in favour of tariff reductions but they were forced to give in the the Liberals, who evidently lead them by the nose along the high tariff road. Of course, no one believed this.

But at least the Country Party have had the grace to delete the word “country” from the NSW title. Having clobbered us farmers with the tariff stick for so long, it is pleasing to have them recognise that they are no longer to be regarded as a farmers’ party. From now on they will call themselves the National Party and will be able to forget quickly all the statements they used to make about their dedication to the low protection cause. They never really believed them anyway.

David Trebeck, of the National Farmers Federation, once said sourly that everyone seemed in favour of tariff reductions so long as they did not actually happen.

Because the farmers were bitterly aware that most politicians, particularly ministers, speak with a forked tongue about tariffs, it was no real surprise to us to find that the government had done the dirty on us once again and refused to follow the IAC recommendation about a gradual reduction in our trade barriers. This, too, is par for the tariff course.