Australian government ordered to pay NT company $3m damages over live cattle ban

Then agriculture minister ruled to have acted recklessly and committed misfeasance in public office over 2011 ban

The federal government has been ordered to pay almost $3m in damages to a Northern Territory company after the previous Labor government's decision to ban live cattle exports was found to be invalid.

Justice Steven Rares on 2 June ruled that the then agriculture minister, Joe Ludwig, acted recklessly and committed misfeasance in public office when he banned farmers from exporting live cattle to Indonesia for six months in 2011.