As if Australia's primary producers don't have enough problems with AWB, there has been shock and horror this week as Meat and Livestock Australia was rocked by a computer hacking scandal.

The head of the MLA's Livestock Investigation Unit has been forced to resign after... wait for it... a poll on the Rural Press Farmonline website was tampered with by users of computers on two IP addresses owned by MLA.

The ABC first reported the scandal on August 24, telling us:

The Rural Press poll asked readers to rate the performance of the system to trace animals from birth to death.

Early poll results showed more than 60 per cent of voters described NLIS as poor or terrible.

But a day later, after tampering by MLA staff, the poll showed 70 per cent believed the system was good or excellent.

It was not until yesterday that the MLA made a statement about the events. There's an update on ABC Online, and a report from Rural Press.

All of which begs the question... how good is the National Livestock Information System?