WAFARMERS will represent the agricultural industry in a State Recovery Advisory Group to provide key advice and inform and support Western Australia's recovery effort from COVID-19.
Meeting today for a workshop, the group which includes local and State government representatives, leaders from business, industry, the not-for-profit sector and UnionsWA will also meet for a series of ministerial roundtables to be held over the next two weeks.
WAFarmers president Rhys Turton, who will engage in discussions with Regional Development, Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan and Housing, Fisheries and Asian Engagement Minister Peter Tinley said it was a great opportunity to get things moving for the sector.
"Some of the themes from WAFarmers will continue to be telecommunications, which is always the bug bear for WA's regional and rural areas, mental health issues in the regions, which have increased due to the economic impact of COVID-19 and isolation in rural areas as well as transport and logistics, particularly around grain," Mr Turton said.
Pre-covid WAFarmers had been pushing the State government to bring forward some of its funding for local road projects.
"By addressing the state of disrepair of many of our local government roads that need reforming or redesigning in some way - that will create more jobs for the State," Mr Turton said.
"We need to get local road projects completed, as many of our regional roads weren't designed for the 90 tonne trucks we are running on them now.
"The local governments have slowly been losing the battle on their local roads - the spend has been very deficient.
"But if we can roll a boost for agriculture and regional communities into one together with co-operation around transport - we will be on to a winner."
With the agricultural industry left reeling from the recent trade blows of China's barley tariffs and live export issues, Mr Turton said it was also important for the State government to garner support for the export side of the industry.
"Live export and the barley tariffs are Australia-wide issues but they impact WA infinitely more, so it's vital the State government continues to work on them," he said.
"Australia's reliance and dependency on overseas industries such as manufacturing has also been highlighted by COVID, so that's another area we can improve upon, to help keep our food security safe."
Taking place at key points in the recovery planning process, information from the facilitated workshops and each ministerial roundtable will be incorporated into a final impact statement and the development of the State Recovery Plan.
"It's important to give the regions a boost, whether that's through new industry opportunities or recentering government departments to the regions," Mr Turton said.
"I think if you can help develop regional communities there's going to be a benefit for agriculture as a spin off and vice versa."
