Minister opposed to live sheep export ban but wants Federal transitional funds ‘sooner rather than later’

WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis reaffirmed her position against transitioning out of the live export “at this point in time” last week, but said she would like transitional funds made available to WA from the Federal Government “sooner rather than later”. Ms Jarvis made the comments in Mt Barker while announcing that extra funding for biosecurity measures will be included in the upcoming State Budget. She said she had repeatedly made her position on the proposed live export ban known from her first day as Agriculture Minister in December and the industry knew “exactly where I stand”. The live export ban became front-page news again recently when a series of consultation sessions with the panel set to advise Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt on its phasing out of the practice attracted more than 1000 concerned industry stakeholders. Ms Jarvis said she did not attend any of the sessions because they “were about farmers making their voices known to that expert panel”. She said she was “acutely aware” of the issues and had discussed the matter with Mr Watt on “many, many occasions”. “What we’ve got is a short-term issue where we’ve got a lot of farmers carrying livestock that would normally have gone east or to an abattoir or to live export,” she said. “It’s really hard to have those discussions in the mid or long-term around live export if you’re still dealing with an immediate short-term issue. “... We’re kind of in a perfect storm where the panel came to talk about what was going to happen in the mid-term, but in the middle of a short-term crisis.” There has been no end point for live export announced other than Mr Watt saying it would happen sometime after the next Federal election in 2025. Ms Jarvis said she understood some in the industry would be pushing for the transition to happen over a period of up to 10 years, but she did not know what the final decision would be. “I certainly would like any transition funding the Federal Government might be putting up to be coming through sooner rather than later,” she said. “There has not been a date yet; one of the issues moving forward is the risk the markets will move before Government makes that move. “While the number of live export ships hasn’t changed this year, it could potentially change in future years.” She said she did not want to preempt any of the recommendations to be made by the panel, but considered more processing facilities, more feedlots and establishing new markets would be considered for funding. The panel will submit its final report and recommendations to Senator Watt in late September.