It has been 11 years since the federal government's snap ban on live cattle exports devastated the northern pastoral industry, and those fighting for compensation remain up to $2 billion out of pocket.
A class action against the Commonwealth has submitted its final analysis of the financial impact of the ban, pinning the damage at $1.2 billion, with a further $800 million in interest.
Previous estimates had put the cost at $600 million, which increased to $800 million as claimants rose in 2021.
Class action facilitator, Tracey Hayes, said the process had been a long and frustrating experience for claimants, who were still paying the price.
"I think about it like rust in their balance sheet; they have existing and compounding levels of debts that shouldn't be there, that is there as a result of this illegal decision by government," she said.
"The important piece for us is to get the compensation out the door and returned to people that were devastated and had their businesses impacted.
The class action's analysis was submitted to the Department of Finance six weeks ago, and members are awaiting a response.
Only the lead claimant in the class action had been paid — the Brett Cattle Company.
The Department of Finance confirmed it was progressing the claims but was unable to provide further comment.
Ms Hayes said the upcoming federal election should not cause further delays to the finalisation of the class action.
Pastoralists went broke waiting
Gilnockie Station's John Armstrong said the Federal Court ruling was a relief at the time, but the delay in compensation had cost many of his friends in the industry their livelihoods.
"But a lot of people also went broke because the compensation usually in terrible events ... is generally fairly quickly derived, but now we're looking at 12 years nearly, and we're still waiting.
"As a result, many of our friends and many people have gone broke in the meantime because they just couldn't bear the financial imposition of it."
In addition to the direct financial impact, Mr Armstrong said the ban also impacted production and property maintenance.
"[It caused] considerably great problems for many of us because we didn't do our maintenance that we should have on our fences, and we didn't buy probably the right bulls that we should have, and we didn't put supplement into the cattle we should have so, therefore, our calving percentages went down.
In Western Australia's Pilbara region, livestock export depot owner Paul Brown expressed his frustration at the length of time compensation was taking.
He said the lengthy process had been a factor in the decision to sell his business.
"Certainly, for us at the feedlot it's been hard," Mr Brown said.
Mr Brown said ongoing uncertainty had been concerning for the wider industry and impacted further investment.
"It's very frustrating that we're 11 years since the suspension, two years since the [court] decision, and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel in relation to the finalisation of this action so that we can all move on," he said.
"Money's locked up that we don't have access to, and it means it's very hard to invest in other things when you don't know what you're going to be getting at the end of it. If you're going to get anything at all."
'Hopefully' worth the wait, for those holding on
More than 10 years on from the original decision by then-agriculture minister Joe Ludwig, the increasing compensation payout made the delay "worth the wait" according to John Armstrong.
"In 2011 we thought we were going to set up a five-year [retirement] plan ... well, we're still trying to formulate a five-year plan.
"It could've been handled much quicker, and the federal government of the day could've put in place initiatives to handle it better."
