Murray Watt stands by live sheep ban timeline

Mr Watt said he recognised many farmers in Western Australia were doing it tough because of the drought but they were following the recommendation of the independent panel appointed to create a roadmap for the transition.

"I know there are people who want the phase out to happen over a longer period," he said.

"There are people who want it to happen today.

"We think this strikes the right balance, especially seeing that that was the recommendation from the panel."

Mr Watt also said the live cattle export industry would not see a similar ban come its way.

Mr Watt made the comments while in Toowoomba, Queensland, for the Sustainable Agriculture Summit on Thursday.

Market analysis service Episode 3 was contracted to provide economic analysis to assist the phase out panel, suggesting eight to 12 years would provide enough time for a successful transition, but the phase out panel chose to recommend that the transition away from the trade by finished by May 2028.

Episode 3 market analyst Matt Dalgleish said it was frustrating because the outlook for Australian boxed sheepmeat was robust and promising.

"The Western Australian sector, with the right kind of timeframe and the right kind of help, they could adjust and become a robust, viable, economically sustainable model without live sheep," he said.

"That can happen, it just needs more time than May 2028 and it needs more money than $107 million."

While the independent panel recommended that a 2026 review should be carried out to see if processing capacity and markets are on track to manage WA sheep turn-off by the proposed 2028 end date with the possibility of extending the timeline, the government has said it will remain firm on the end date.

But Mr Watt said the earlier the transition starts, the better it will go in the long run and that certainty around the date would encourage people to make the change.

"Of course we'll see how this going, if there are adjustments that need to be made to what we're funding, how much we're funding, what we're focusing on, of course we'll do that but the date is the bit we're not going to be reviewing," he said.

Mr Watt said the live sheep industry had been in decline for 20 years.

"The numbers coming from WA are plummeting," he said.

"Every other state has phased out live exports and their sheep industries are going gangbusters and that's because we are exporting $4.5 billion worth of sheepmeat processed here in Australia at the moment, this year.

"Processors are confident we can do this, there's going to be investment there to help them expand their capacity.

"I'm confident that we can get WA into a similar situation that we're seeing from other states where they're actually getting their fair share of the sheepmeat exports that are increasingly dominating this industry."

Mr Watt said the Albanese government supports the live cattle industry and had made efforts to boost and preserve it.

"What I have said before is we see these two industries as fundamentally different," he said.

"Cattle are much hardier species that tend to travel much shorter journeys... you're talking in some cases a two or three day journey to Indonesia versus a very long journey to the Middle East from a much less hardy species.

"We also see economics of it very differently.

"The live cattle industry is a backbone industry for Northern Australia.

"The live sheep export industry is less than one per cent of Western Australia's agricultural industry."

Meanwhile the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has said further details of the $107 million transition support package will be made available in the third quarter of 2024.

A spokeswoman said "early action is being encouraged by the provision of funding now".

"The government wants to ensure those affected by the phase out have the opportunity to be well-positioned, and ready when the trade ends in 2028," she said.

"Implementation planning for the phase out transition support is now underway.

"Legislation will be introduced to set the end date for live sheep exports by sea in law in this term of government.

"The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry will continue to regulate the exports of live sheep by sea, and trade may continue without caps or quotas until May 1 2028."