News

Exporters decline Minister's visit request, saying 'too little, too late'

Tomorrow, the Hon Julie Collins will tour Western Australia and is likely to announce grants as part of the Albanese Government’s grossly inadequate $107 million transition package – of which only $60million is slated to be delivered on the ground over the next four years.

Minister Collins approached WA sheep exporters to visit the Kuwaiti owned Peel Feedlot, operated by Emanuel Exports Pty Ltd. Emanuel and the Kuwaiti owners politely declined this offer.

“We appreciated the fact that Minister Collins is new in the portfolio and is making efforts to meet the supply chain in WA and face famers affected by the ban” said ALEC CEO Mark Harvey-Sutton. “We also do not begrudge other parts of the supply chain meeting with the Minister this week to use the opportunity to highlight the damage the policy is causing.”

“However, at the nub of it, we simply asked ourselves what is the point of permitting the visit to the feedlot? The industry has already spent years explaining the reforms it has undertaken, its animal welfare achievements and the implications of the ban to farmers and our trading partners.”

“The Government has made its intentions clear with its approach to date by making deliberately misleading statements that the transition package is adequate and that the ban will create opportunities. We also cannot forget the fact the legislation was jammed through via a sham House of Representatives Inquiry and that the Government guillotined debate in the Senate.”

“The Albanese Government has wilfully ignored all evidence presented to date about the damage this ban will do and has shunned industry through its behaviour. To undertake this visit now under the pretence of coming to listen and understand how the industry works presents as a vain effort to tick a box on engagement and is a half-hearted attempt to stave off the massive drop in confidence the ban has caused in WA. Our industry will not be patronised in such a manner.”

“ALEC will always work with governments, but working together is a two-way street. Given the appalling behaviour of the Albanese Government to date, why would it start listening now?”

MEDIA

0491 276 036   media@livexcouncil.com.au


Background:

The two sheep export facilities in WA are the largest of their kind in the southern hemisphere with the ability to quarantine 200,000 sheep at any one time. These feedlots are owned by Middle Eastern (Jordanian and Kuwaiti) companies focused on food security. Operators of these facilities engage 20-30 stockpeople, 20 in the shearing shed and over 20 truck drivers on a typical day at these facilities.

Both exporters politely declined the offer of the Minister’s visit.

DPIRD estimates seen by ALEC show that the WA sheep flock is estimated to have dropped to 9.5million – a drop of 3 million alone this year.