THE South West Saleyard Action Group (SWSAG) believes feedback given at public workshops on the future of the Boyanup saleyards was not a true representation of the views of key stakeholders in the South West beef industry.
Two public workshops were held at the Boyanup Hall a fortnight ago as part of the State government’s $100,000 budget commitment into a feasibility study for a new livestock precinct to replace the saleyards at Boyanup.
Deloitte Access Economics conducted the workshops after being commissioned to undertake the study on behalf of the Western Australian Meat Industry Authority (WAMIA).
SWSAG member and cattle producer Rodney Galati has criticised the decision to hold both of the meetings at Boyanup, saying other parts of the South West needed to be consulted to obtain an accurate consensus of what the cattle industry needed.
“Basically there was no representation from outside the Boyanup area,” Mr Galati said.
“They could have had meetings at Busselton, Collie, Harvey, Waroona, Pinjarra or even Serpentine and had a very different response.”
Mr Galati said although invitations to the workshop were sent to 200 users of the saleyards, many people who would be significantly affected by the future of the facility were unaware of the meetings, or unable to attend.
Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the meeting was part of the feasibility study and other stakeholders were being consulted.
“One on one interviews have been conducted with a wide range of industry participants,” Ms MacTiernan said.
“In addition, public sessions were advertised and held in the South West to give the opportunity to anyone with an interest to contribute.
“The top 200 users of Boyanup were sent specific invites, but there was no cap on the number of attendees to the sessions and any interested parties were welcome to attend.”
Five questions were asked of producers, livestock agents, carriers and processors who attended the meetings, including what a new facility would look like, where it should be located and whether a new facility was necessary?
The ageing saleyards are in Boyanup on land owned by the Capel Shire that has been earmarked for residential development.
The Western Australian Livestock Salesmen’s Association (WALSA) lease of the land is set to expire in 2022.
Several locations have been proposed as appropriate replacement sites, including land close to the current facility at Gwindinup, and a site further north at Kemerton.
Mr Galati said although a large proportion of those at the meeting were in favour of the replacement facility being located at Gwindinup as reported in last week’s Farm Weekly, many important stakeholders believed the Kemerton site was more appropriate.
He said relocating the saleyards to Kemerton was a more practical option for cattle buyers and producers in the region.
“Though we all know the current zoning for Kemerton doesn’t include cattle yards or similar, people are being falsely led to believe it’s some kind of Chernobyl,” Mr Galati said.
“The government owns it already, the majority of road infrastructure has already been done with road train access.
“It has four abattoirs close by and all the road network to both Bunbury and Fremantle ports for any future live or frozen exports and water, power and its own buffer are already there.”
Contract buyer Kevin Armstrong, who also attended the meeting, said given the State government’s financial predicament, moving the saleyards to Kemerton made economic sense.
“The government really don’t have the money, if we want to get a saleyard across the line it’s got to be so that the government can build it as cheap as possible, they already own the land and the road infrastructure,” Mr Armstrong said.
“It’s also about putting a saleyard in the best possible place to attract buyers to get the most competition for your cattle.
“We’ve got to be thinking 20 or 30 years ahead.”
Mr Galati said the SWSAG’s main concern was that the government would not replace the facility before lease arrangements expired in 2022.
Results from the feasibility study will be reported to Ms MacTiernan by Wednesday, November 1, 2017.
Ms MacTiernan said the State government would wait until the report was complete before deciding its next course of action.