Angus Australia 2025 Neogen World Angus Forum

Minister for Primary Industries, the Honourable Anthony Perrett MP; Chief Executive Officer, The Angus Society of Australia, Mr Scott Wright; Managing Director, Meat & Livestock Australia, Mr Michael Crowley; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbal and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to any First Nations people here this morning.

As Governor of Queensland, I was delighted to receive the invitation to officially open the 2025 Neogen World Angus Forum, especially when the planned Forum in Brisbane four years ago had to pivot to a virtual Technical Meeting because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s a great credit to the tenacity and resilience of Angus advocates — and to the global importance of this magnificent breed — that organisers have now been able to bring the international, interstate and local Angus family together, face-to-face, for the first time since 2017 – and back to Australia for the first time in almost three decades.

Australia today is home to almost 27 million people – and close to 29 million head of cattle. That national herd is vital to the Australian economy and the Angus breed has now been playing a major role in shaping the beef industry here for over two hundred years.

Today, one in four cattle registered in Australia are Angus. That dominance will come as no surprise to those who are advocates for the highly adaptable Angus. The prolific breeding capacity and longevity of the ‘doddie’ have been the stuff of legend since the days of the extraordinary cow, Old Grannie. She not only has pride of place as number one in the Angus Herd Book, but produced no fewer than 25 calves before her death from old age at 36.

Today, it is also the fact that Angus cattle mature early and produce well-marbled, tender beef of exceptional quality with very little waste that has enabled the breed to win hearts and palates around the world.

Australian beef is now exported to no fewer than 104 countries with a record-breaking 1.34 million tonnes leaving our shores in 2024. Our top three markets are the USA, China and Japan and last year I was privileged to see, first-hand, just how highly valued our beef is for its quality, consistency and safety when I joined a Queensland government mission to the Taste of Queensland Beef and Wine Showcase in Shanghai.

Next month, I will be taking part in another Taste of Queensland mission, this time to our third largest market, Japan, during Expo 2025.

Export successes of this kind have been made possible in part through the continuous improvement of the Angus herd. Genetic evaluation and research have been central to ensuring that the industry continues to produce meat of the highest quality, and I congratulate Angus Australia on the excellent work it does to engage producers and provide them with the tools and information they need to do this efficiently, profitably and sustainably.

This Forum, every four years, is a vital part of that service, and I again congratulate Angus Australia on convening this year’s Forum and thank Neogen for their partnership and generous support.

I know that the AngusTREK pre-conference tour has already introduced some of you to Australia’s prime Angus-producing regions, but I hope just as many will be able to join the post-conference tour to experience the cattle industry in operation in the vast outback, or take some time to discover more of Australia’s Sunshine State.

Until then, in officially opening the 2025 Forum, I wish everyone in the Angus family well for two days of stimulating presentations and conversations, and leave you with this marvellous comment from an Australian Angus breeder 85 years ago:

“Aberdeen Angus cattle have suffered somewhat in reputation because bulls of the breed were joined to mongrel dairy cattle and the progeny were very hard to fatten – the Aberdeen Angus bulls cannot be blamed for that!”

Thank you.