WHILE there has been much speculation that Jackie Jarvis is a likely chance to replace outgoing Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan in cabinet, the Labor MP for the South West Region is keeping hush on the topic.
Last week Ms Jarvis declined to comment to Farm Weekly, despite the Agriculture and Food Minister's parliamentary secretary Darren West openly declaring his interest in the role following Ms MacTiernan's announcement that she will be retiring from politics next month.
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While it will be up to the caucus and Premier Mark McGowan to decide who joins Labor's ministerial ranks, if the rumour mills in parliament are anything to go by, Ms Jarvis is the frontrunner, satisfying the likely prerequisites of being from the regions and filling the void Ms MacTiernan will leave in terms of female representation in cabinet.
Some noses could be put out of joint if that's the way things go, as Ms Jarvis is still serving her first political term as an Upper House MP, so she could be seen as jumping the queue of some of her more-experienced colleagues.
Ms Jarvis relocated from Perth to Margaret River in 1996 where she founded Jarvis Estate Vineyard with her husband, Matt, who now manages the vineyard.
Speaking to Farm Weekly in October last year, she said like other farmers, they had experienced years where they lost crops and had to deal with uncertainty.
"Our years in farming have taught us resilience and how to adapt to change," Ms Jarvis said at the time.
With a background in the banking industry, after the youngest of their three children began school, Ms Jarvis forged a career in workforce development for the agricultural sector, connecting farmers to mainly backpacker workers through the Commonwealth government funded Harvest Trail program.
"I had been managing our onfarm HR and understood the challenges of managing a seasonal workforce for many years and I was able to successfully apply that experience to a new career," Ms Jarvis said.
She worked for what was formerly the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) from August 2016 and after the State election in March 2017 was seconded to the office of Ms MacTiernan, serving as her policy adviser for nine months.
She left that role to join the RRR Women's Network of WA as its chief executive.
In August 2019 Ms Jarvis was offered a position with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) in the agribusiness development team and stepped down from that role in December 2020 when she was preselected as an election candidate and formally resigned immediately after the March 2021 State election.
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Ms Jarvis first joined the WA Labor Party in 2005 and contested the seat of Forrest in the 2010 Federal election but was defeated by Liberal MP Nola Marino.
Mr West, Labor's Agricultural Region MLC, has served as the parliamentary secretary to Ms MacTiernan since March 2017.
A Jennacubbine farmer, Mr West was the former chairman of the Wheatbelt Development Commission before he was elected to parliament in March 2013 and retained his seat in the 2017 and 2021 State elections.
Ms MacTiernan refused to comment on who she thinks her successor should be.
"There is no shortage of capable people in the Labor team," Ms MacTiernan said.
"We have a process for deciding these things and I will not pre-empt it."
