Settlement talks between the Albanese government and farmers have finally begun years after a court found a ban on live cattle exports to Indonesia was capricious, irrational and unreasonable.
On Friday, the Federal Court heard negotiations were underway between lawyers for the Commonwealth and a class action brought by farmers who lost money as a result of the ban.
The talks, which commenced on December 8, come around two-and-a-half years after Justice Steven Rares found the June 2011 ban made by then Labor agriculture minister Joe Ludwig suspending exports was invalid.
The six-month prohibition followed an ABC Four Corners report showing cattle being inhumanely slaughtered in Indonesian abattoirs.
There was "no rational or reasonable justification" for the minister to indiscriminately block cattle from being exported which had no reasonable chance of being mistreated once in Indonesia, the judge found.
"The omission of any power in it to allow the issue of an export permit where the Minister was satisfied that there was no real chance that the exporter would expose livestock to such mistreatment up to the point of their slaughter ... was capricious, irrational and unreasonable," he wrote.
An additional 88,000 head of live cattle would have been sent to Indonesia in 2011 if the minister had acted properly, the court found.
Only the lead applicant in the class action, the Northern Territory-based Brett Cattle Company, has received a payout of $3 million as a result of the court's decision.
The ongoing settlement talks concern the claims of remaining farmers blocked from sending cattle overseas who signed up for the lawsuit.
On Friday, lawyers for the class action and the government secured an extension of time for mediation talks until July next year.
"It is hoped that process is fruitful," said class action barrister David Sulan SC.
While the parties are negotiating, they will also be considering how the case will proceed if settlement talks break down, including which issues the court will have to determine so that a compensation scheme can then be conducted efficiently.
Not-for-profit Australian Farmers' Fighting Fund is financially backing the class action.
