Grower group ASHEEP & BEEF has written to Federal Minister for Agriculture Hon Julie Collins MP in the wake of the announcement of a funding increase to the Government’s live sheep export by sea phase out transition package.
ASHEEP & BEEF Chair David Vandenberghe reiterated the group’s opposition to the phase out and urged the Federal Government to reverse its ill-considered and needless attack on Western Australian businesses and communities.
“The announcement of an additional $32.7 million funding does not abate our concerns,” said David. “The Federal Government has failed to genuinely engage with industry or try to understand the current state of the live export trade. The 1-page transition plan and associated funding package is not appropriate and instils no confidence. It demonstrates that the Government is not taking due care and is continuing to treat WA agricultural businesses with contempt.”
“It has been an ongoing frustration to be told that the Federal Government is ‘listening’ to farmers, when the only consultation had predetermined outcomes for the future of the trade, and the phase out plan is reckless and already causing damage to the WA sheep and wool industries,” said David.
“We have written to Minister Collins to urge her to reverse the Government’s decision to phase out the trade. We also raised several of many issues with the Government’s transition plan.”
“As stakeholders, we are not getting any information from Government on the specifics of the transition plan. It’s a 1-page document. We are unaware of the detail around when and how funding is being released, how it is being decided, or with what specific breakdown. They said they would appoint a ‘transition advocate’, and we’ve had no information on the process or timeline for that to occur either, despite requesting it.”
“One of the issues we raised with the Minister is that there is no information on how Government will address the problems they are creating by reducing market competition. The Federal Government has been running an inquiry into the challenges caused by lack of competition in the supermarket sector, and yet at the same time interferes with the WA sheep sector to remove competition. There is a serious double standard there. Their plan to put funding into developing markets and capacity for existing onshore processors does not solve the issue.”
Other matters raised by ASHEEP & BEEF included the lack of support for the wool industry, and whether the Government will seek to resolve the existing limitations around accessing sufficient air freight capacity at competitive rates to enable their plan to export more chilled meat.