COULD Colin Barnett be WA's next Agriculture and Food Minister?
Amid calls from the farming sector for both Federal and State governments to take a greater interest in agriculture, Farm Weekly believes the Premier has been provided with a proposal that, if he decides to act on it, would effectively see him take an unprecedented, hands-on role in the agriculture portfolio.
The proposal would see the State split into three regions with three executives looking after those regions and reporting directly to the Premier.
At a press conference last Sunday, the morning after the Liberal/National Government's stunning win in the State election, Mr Barnett alluded to a possible move, saying he intended "to take a very direct interest in agriculture as a Premier" and would "personally play a direct role in agriculture".
"It is an industry which has been the backbone of WA for a long time, there are great opportunities in food security among developing nations and our capacity is there to grow and expand and to broaden our agriculture, but right now there is a big section of the Wheatbelt area that is under huge stress," Mr Barnett said.
"Governments can't save that (with handouts), but I will personally play a direct role in agriculture."
He also said that Royalties for Regions spending could be focused more on infrastructure and fundamental services.
"While Royalties for Regions has been a huge boost for country WA, including building many main street projects, sporting and community facilities, the focus now will be on spending it on basic services, country roads, rail upgrades, power distribution and more fundamental services," he said.
Having the Premier as Agriculture Minister would certainly be a unique situation, but given the significant contribution agriculture makes to the WA and Australian economies, growers feel the sector is grossly undervalued both at a Federal and State level.
Mr Barnett's move, if it took place, would be a massive show of faith in the industry from the Premier and the WA Government.
And with the agricultural industry currently at the crossroads, due to a high Australian dollar, tough seasons and increasing debt levels, the profitability of farming is being pushed to all-time lows and the time could be right for a new approach.
Ever-increasing inputs costs combined with commodity prices similar to those being received 20 years ago have not given farmers much heart in recent years.
In addition recent campaigns by large supermarket chains using the discounting of farm produce prices to get customers through their doors have also reflected badly on farmgate prices.
The combination of these factors has meant strategic planning for farmers is now carried out on a year-to-year basis, or in some cases day-to-day, rather than farmers having confidence in the sector to put sustainable, long-term plans in place.
In recent months there has been plenty of discussion about the issues facing eastern Wheatbelt farmers and in the past month crisis meetings have been held in Kulin and Muntadgin.
If the Premier does consider taking up this proposal it would also send a strong message to the leaders of other States and the Federal Government that Australian agriculture should not be neglected.
It would also provide strong signals to WA's trading partners and potential trading partners, that the State Government is extremely confident about agriculture's long-term future and opportunities.
And what better way to raise the profile of agriculture in metropolitan areas, a long-time frustration of the industry, than by having the Premier of the State responsible for the portfolio?
No announcement on portfolio changes is expected until the end of this week at least.
"There will be no decisions made about any portfolio until we work out how many Liberal Ministers there will be and how many National Ministers there will be and who they will be," Mr Barnett said last Sunday.
"That is an important issue for the State and government but we won't be getting to that stage for several days yet."
