FEDERAL Agriculture and Water Resources Minister David Littleproud was in WA last week for face-to-face discussions with exporters, farmers and industry representatives, but there was no allocated time for discussion with his State counterpart Alannah MacTiernan.
Ms MacTiernan has claimed in the past to have been trying to communicate with the minister on a range of topics, but had little response if any.
Mr Littleproud was invited by his Nationals colleagues but also highlighted the election mode the government had slipped into.
He was quick to mention he visited WA three times in his 10 months as minister, although it was the first time that he had met with live animal exporters, face-to-face, to get a feel for their concerns about the McCarthy and Moss recommendations which he has accepted and started implementing.
WAFarmers president Tony York and Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA president Tony Seabrook have been calling on Mr Littleproud to visit WA since April, but it wasn’t until a recent trip to Canberra by The Nationals WA MPs Colin de Grussa and Peter Rundle that he took up the offer.
While visiting State Parliament last week Mr Littleproud engaged in a roundtable discussion hosted by The Nationals WA and attended by more than 20 industry stakeholders.
The Nationals WA leader Mia Davies said Mr Littleproud’s visit was a chance for farmers, business owners, stock agents and local government representatives to speak with him.
“In recent days our team has joined the minister for a series of visits into the Wheatbelt, hosted by WAFarmers, brought together stakeholders for a dinner and hosted a roundtable forum,” Ms Davies said.
“I am pleased he has met with farmers and industry representatives in-person and on-farm.
“Mr Littleproud was forthright when answering questions on live export, saying he was determined to put the industry on a sustainable footing to ensure it survives.”
The Nationals WA Agriculture spokesman Colin de Grussa said issues raised at the forum included the need for certainty and consistency in the live sheep industry and associated sectors such as feed production, shearing and transport.
“The feedback was that greater information sharing between the Federal Agriculture Department and industry was needed when it comes to independent observers being placed on live export boats, as well as other conditions from the Moss and ASEL reviews,” Mr de Grussa said.
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Other issues raised were the importance of protecting the livestock industry from wild dogs, greater harmonisation of State and Federal laws to promote irrigated agriculture in WA’s north and addressing the growing country-city divide.
“Education was also raised as one of the strategies needed to improve community understanding of the sector,” Mr de Grussa said.
“There was feedback that we need to invest more heavily in training our farmers to be more resilient through tough times and to build their business credentials in order to withstand unforeseen shocks.
“There’s also a thirst among the industry to celebrate and promote the successes of agriculture to ensure all Western Australians are keenly aware of how important the sector is to the State’s economy.”
Mr Littleproud left WA with a few freebies from CBH, as well as from the Green Shirts Movement WA, including green Uniting Ag ear tags and a green T-shirt.
