ANY hopes that the moratorium on live exports to Indonesia would bring truckloads of cheap beef to Toowoomba are misplaced.

Local butchers say the south-east will not benefit from the plight of northern graziers, despite the loss of a key export market.

“It hasn’t affected our sales whatsoever, and it won’t affect us,” Toni’s Super Meats manager Russell Butler said.

“All the exporters are up in northern Australia anyway and there’s no way they would cart their cattle this far south.

“We’re not going to see an influx of cattle and we’re not going to see cheaper prices come out of this.

“It’s a bad decision that won’t benefit anyone.”

Owner Toni Oberman called the government’s six-month ban on live exports to Indonesia “completely stupid”.

He said there were “too many greenies” leading the government who had little concept of the reality of the global beef industry.

“They’ve been killing cattle like this for 4000 years; they’re not going to change,” he said.

“Argentina is already trying to move in and take over. If we don’t sell to them, someone else will.”

Mr Oberman said the prospect of cheap beef was nothing more than a fairytale.

“Transport costs a fortune. They’d have to pay about $90 a steer to bring them to Toowoomba,” he said.

“This ban won’t affect us at all.”