Delay in compensation for 2011 export ban costs taxpayers more than $1 million

Members of a successful class action against the suspension of live cattle exports to Indonesia in 2011 are still waiting for compensation and the delay is costing taxpayers more than $1 million a week.

It has been more than two years since the Federal Court ruled in favor of the cattle industry, but only the lead claimants, the Brett Cattle Company, have received a payout.

Claimants received a letter from law firm Minter Ellison this month, providing an update, which indicated that proceedings were about halfway in a 10 step process.

The NT Cattlemen's Association's chief executive, Will Evans, says the ongoing delays are disappointing.

He said that this is now a moral obligation on the government to get this done.

We're more than two years old from a court case that determined the action in 2011 was illegal and we're still waiting for compensation and that's too long. The final settlement sum is estimated to be around $1.2 billion, but it is the accumulating interest payments that are set to cost government and taxpayers dearly.

The interest on the claim sum is now more than $1 million a week, putting the total bill over $2 billion, according to lawyers.

We're looking for a quick, prompt resolution to this, and a commitment from government that there will be resources in this next federal budget to help in getting this done. Mr Evans said that it raised serious questions following an ABC Rural article this week, which revealed the prime minister's senior agriculture adviser previously campaigned against the trading of live exports.

One of the people who are likely to formulate the government's response to these kinds of inquiries was a leader in the lobbying effort to ban the trade in 2011, he said.

Livestock Australia's live cattle export trade contributes $1.4 billion to the national economy and employs 6,573 people, with more than 80 per cent of the direct value being contributed by northern Australia, according to a report released by LiveCorp and Meat and Livestock Australia.