Munda station's Michael Thompson sets up livestock fighting campaign

Mundabullangana (Munda) station owner Michael Thompson, Port Hedland, wants to make the producer's voice heard loud and clear.

"I don't know what it is with farmers, but we seem to have lost any sort of support from any of the political parties," Mr Thompson said.

"The fact that most people live in the cities, leaves the rural voice unheard diplomatically.

"It is unfair those whose livelihoods provide food domestically and internationally get left out of the decision-making process and their viewpoint is not taken into consideration at all."

Following the Federal Labor government's announcement to phase-out live sheep exports from Australia, there has been outcry from farmers, industry and businesses that will be severely affected by the cessation of the trade.

In 2011 the Federal government's ban of live cattle exports to Indonesia had a huge and devastating effect on the live cattle export industry and while the cattle and sheep export industries are different - past experience has many producers Australia wide nervous.

Mr Thompson knows first-hand the lasting effects a decision like banning the trade can have and how no one ever fully recovers.

"People lost their properties, homes, everything, others had to rebuild and struggle still, I was by no means affected as badly as some and it was all because of knee jerk incompetent decision making by politicians," he said.

For farmers in WA, and nationwide, the problem lies in the fact that they are a minority voice and through no fault of their own their representative bodies are lacking the funding to provide the level of support required to bring the government to task.

Mr Thompson said farmers needed a unified approach to their problems and to achieve this they needed to all be on the same page in the way they tackled the issues faced by their industry.

"Live export is just one part of the overall issue and it is the tip of the iceberg," he said.

"In my opinion we have until the next election to align ourselves and create a powerful voice to fight for farmers and rural communities on all fronts."

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Mr Thompson registered the business Farming Communities Australia and set out to raise money as a fighting fund for the cause.

"My idea was to have $15 per breeding cow, $2 per breeding ewe and $10 per cropable hectare as a guide to raise funds of about $100 million that would be used to fight for farmers," he said.

"We need to establish something like this, in my opinion.

"In the wild west they had hired guns to fight for and protect communities and towns, the equivalent for us today is hiring lawyers and garnering media attention and this requires money and a common purpose."

Although initially speaking out on his own, Mr Thompson this week met with a group of WA farming organisations and producer and industry representatives to talk about the best way forward.

"The meeting was not about my opinions or ideas, it was not about PGA (Pastoralists and Graziers' Association of WA) or WAFarmers or individuals, it was about the future and what can be done," he said.

"It was about establishing a powerful voice that gets heard, for a change, a united voice, one that can help give farmers a fighting chance again."

Mr Thompson said it was about doing the due diligence and starting the process, getting a feasibility study underway and creating the correct model to handle the logistics of funding, accountability and legality.

With the phase-out panel having their first meetings in WA this week, there has been industry concern over the rushed timeframe between group first contact and meetings with industry.

WAFarmers president John Hassell agreed the industry was being unfairly targeted and the arguments from the Federal government were not based on any science or facts, but rather political decisions.

"It is a very slippery slope and once it starts, where does it stop?" Mr Hassell said.

He said the problem was that once the government gained traction on one policy, it had paved the way for the next to be implemented even more quickly and effectively than its predecessor, whether it is based on sound factual evidence or not.

The Livestock Collective representative and Corrigin farmer Steven Bolt agreed there needed to be a united front from agriculture to fight the unjust decision of the Federal government to phase-out the trade and was open to being a part of the group that met to discuss the way forward.

This meeting has started the process and while it won't happen overnight there is a definitive agreement to move forward and find a way to get the farmers and industries voice to the forefront.