Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has dumped a bombshell on the Western Australian sheep industry and the reverberations will be felt nationwide.
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This arrogant weekend announcement to close the Australian live sheep trade by May 2028 shows complete disregard and disrespect for Western Australian farmers and the entire livestock industry and the regional communities that depend on it.
Australian Livestock & Property Agents Association Ltd (ALPA) stands shoulder-to-shoulder with industry in its condemnation of this disgraceful decision.
Livestock agents are an integral link in the supply chain across Australia.
Any unwanted and unnecessary political intervention into a livestock market will have profound reverberations across the entire rural landscape and will not be strictly limited to farmgate prices as it will impact all spectrums of the food supply chain from producers, wool classers, shearers, contract labour, transporters, merchandise suppliers, agents, fuel operators, veterinarians, shearing contractors, wool store employees, saleyard operators to name just a few.
WA accounts for approximately 20 per cent of Australian wool production value and volume.
A transition from a wool producing Merino flock towards a focus on composites or crossbreds and meat production will diminish the wool clip.
The importance of the WA wool industry is underscored by Elders recent substantial $25 million investment in a wool business headquarters, show floor and wool store at East Rockingham.
What happens to the wool industry in WA?
What happens to the wool industry in Australia?
What happens to wool firms including AWN, Elders, Nutrien Ag Solutions, Schute Bell Badgery Lumby?
For a country that was founded on the sheep's back, it is deeply disappointing that no consideration has been given to the significance of this industry and the subsequent ramifications.
The basic principles of economics provide that removing any sales avenue from the market place either dilutes or dissipates competitive tension resulting in price reductions for producers.
This exact scenario played out in the Australian cattle market during the 2011 live export ban (an unconscionable and unnecessary political intervention), when southern cattle prices saw a dramatic drop on the back of northern cattle flooding the domestic market.
A sharp decline in sheep prices has already been experienced since the government's announcement last year.
This grim state of affairs for the wool and pastoral sector is compounded by the driest period WA producers have experienced in more than 30 years.
The government's complete apathy to the hardship already being endured and its ignorance of the long-term detrimental impacts the decision will have on the sheep industry and the regional communities that depend on it, to announce a measly package of just over $25 million per year for four years (the government wasted $6 million on producing the report!) for producers and the industry to adjust is a slap in the face and shows absolute contempt.
With the announcement of this package, the government has legitimised extreme animal activism at the cost of farmers and their families.
It demonstrates that no amount of reform in an industry will protect it from ideology if it is worth votes.
This means no agricultural industry is safe and Australia's exports are at risk across the board.
This decision is precedent-setting and no matter what scientific evidence can be shown, it demonstrates that no agricultural industry is truly safe from ideology-driven policies if it means scoring political points.
This decision is not about animal welfare, it's about votes.
