Hon. Julie Freeman questions the Minister for Agriculture and Food regarding support for agricultural education in schools, the failure of the PRIMED project, and future funding for industry-led initiatives. The Minister acknowledges the project's failure but highlights remaining resources and future funding considerations.

AnsweredQoN 976Legislative Council
Asked
23 October 2025
Portfolio
Agriculture and Food

QuestionView source ↗

Schools—Agricultural studies
976. Hon Julie Freeman to
the Minister for Agriculture and Food:
I refer to
school-based agricultural studies and note that agriculture is the state's
second-largest economic contributor after mining.
(1) What support is the Department of Primary
Industries and Regional Development providing to school-based agricultural
education and is the government actively promoting the new ATAR agricultural
courses in schools?
(2) Following the failure to attract industry
investment in the PRIMED project, will the government commit to funding an
industry-led agricultural education initiative?
(3) Will the minister table the PRIMED evaluation
report and outline why industry partners declined to participate, including
DPIRD's role in developing project's business plan and funding approach?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the
honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1)–(3) The PRIMED project was a $5 million
education initiative designed to be a collaboration with industry to attract
secondary students to future careers in primary industries. Industry partners
ultimately decided not to participate in the project and the project has now
concluded. The PRIMED project did, however, create resources that continue to
support agricultural education in WA schools. Any future funding decisions for
industry-led agricultural education initiatives will be considered on a
case-by-case basis.

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more