FEDERAL Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said "State governments are becoming less and less relevant in a modern Australia as they continue to delve into churlish politics rather than practical action".
His comment came after WA Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan joined the New South Wales government in calling for urgent Federal action on biosecurity, despite a recent Federal budget increase to help tackle the national issues.
Ms MacTiernan backed comments made by NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall, from the National Party, who expressed concern that the Federal government was putting the agriculture industry at risk by abrogating its responsibility for protecting Australia from international plant and animal pests.
Ms MacTiernan said WA had been required to respond to a number of international biosecurity threats over the past four years, which had largely arrived through ports - and were the responsibility of the Federal government, including the tomato potato psyllid, the brown marmorated stink bug, red imported fire ant and fall armyworm.
She said "plant and animal pest incursions are a major threat to our agricultural industry, putting the livelihood of our farmers - who primarily rely on exports - at risk".
"While the State is responsible for interstate biosecurity at our domestic airports and land borders, biosecurity at our international ports and airports is the responsibility of the Federal government - and they have dropped the ball," she said.
"We are seeing regular and potentially devastating outbreaks of pests across the country, most of which are arriving via our ports.
"The Federal government abandoned the onshore biosecurity levy and has failed to invest in strengthening our borders against biosecurity threats, leaving WA farmers the victims."
Ms MacTiernan joined her State and Territory counterparts to prosecute this issue with the Federal government at the Agriculture Ministers' Meeting, held last week.
Mr Littleproud's office said the issues, which were raised prior to the meeting, were actually part of the agenda, which Ms MacTiernan should have been aware of before making a public statement.
He said it was "galling of the WA Agriculture Minister to attack the Federal government over biosecurity when their own budget papers show the WA government cut their biosecurity funding from $86m to $83m this year".
"The Federal government has lifted our biosecurity funding from $762m to $874m over the same period in response to increased threats," he said.
Despite the funding there continues to be biosecurity issues for the agricultural industry that need constant attention, including African swine fever, which can only be stopped at the border by the Federal government.
