Groups cautiously welcome Nats' policy

Pastoralists and Graziers Association president Tony Seabrook welcomed a new funding commitment but believed injecting $277 million into the initiative was largely a "vote-buying exercise".

"Will this make farmers richer, only time will tell?" Mr Seabrook said.

"We need more details and most of all we need action.

"When these initiatives are put in place we hope they will deliver real monetary benefits to primary producers in WA.

"And when these programs appear on farmers' balance sheets we will know they are working - until then it's only rhetoric.

"But so far it hasn't had a big impact on my farm, or any of my farming associates."

Mr Seabrook said he was grateful for the funding pledge but remained sceptical.

"If an industry is profitable, vibrant and successful it shouldn't need subsidising," he said.

"I welcome what The Nationals have offered, but I can't help feeling a little bit sceptical."

Mr Seabrook said serious action was needed to address the continual rise in production costs.

"With regards to the Water for Food program, I have serious concerns," he said.

"Where is the food? We have invested a lot of money, and I would like to see a detailed report on what has been delivered to date?

"They said they will invest $63m into lime routes, well the PGA has been pushing this for four years, no more talk, let's start doing it."

With lengthy discussions over pastoral land tenure during this term of government, Mr Seabrook was bitterly disappointed by "the failure to put in place workable legislation that was acceptable to industry".

WAFarmers president Tony York welcomed the announcement but agreed more detail was needed.

"Broadly speaking, we are supportive of the commitments outlined by The Nationals WA in their State election platform," Mr York said.

"We think the Seizing the Opportunity initiative is a good commitment for WA agriculture, and their platform has touched on many issues that we are concerned about as an organisation, whether they are included in our own policy platform or not.

"The Water for Food initiative, the funding towards the improvement of priority lime routes, the strategy to attract students to study agriculture at Muresk - these are all issues on the WAFarmers' radar and we welcome their inclusion in The Nationals WA platform.

"In particular, we applaud their acknowledgement of our concerns regarding multi-peril crop insurance uptake and their commitment to exempting multi-peril crop insurance policies from insurance duty for a three-year period.

"We are hopeful that, if elected, their commitment towards this will result in a greater uptake of multi-peril crop insurance policies."

Mr York said WAFarmers recognised that biosecurity was critical to WA agriculture and welcomed plans to review the Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act.

"One of our policy priorities for this election is to support an independent review of biosecurity processes to determine accountability and financing responsibilities, so this will ensure that the State and industry are seeing the best return on levies paid to government," he said.

"Finally, the establishment of an Animal Research Institute is on the same wavelength as our wish list item regarding the development and on-going funding of a livestock and pasture research institute, but we believe they should extend their commitment to include pasture research.

"We would request The Nationals WA release further details regarding funding for and implementation of their commitments so that voters can make informed decisions come election day."

Mr York said there had been a lot of discussion about funding directly to grower groups, independent of the Department of Agriculture and Food, which had resulted in tension between the coalition parties.

"Agriculture has been a bit of a tension point between the alliance parties over the years, though there have been significant wins for industry through programs such as Royalties for Regions," he said.

"We appreciate the funding through Royalties for Regions and the Seizing the Opportunity initiative, and we are seeing that the process with The Nationals WA and Royalties for Regions is filling gaps in DAFWA, so we would be a lot happier if a lot of those programs could be incorporated into DAFWA to capitalise on current traction."

Mr York said The Nationals WA's agriculture promises could hold them in good stead for the election.

He said WAFarmers would be interested to see how the commitments compared to those of the other parties.