Question regarding the WA Minister for Agriculture's advocacy against the federal ban on live sheep exports. The Premier's answer deflects blame to the Liberal Party and focuses on supporting WA farmers through processing and value-adding.

AnsweredQoN 652Legislative Assembly
Asked
19 September 2024
Portfolio
Premier

QuestionView source ↗

LIVE EXPORT — FEDERAL GOVERNMENT POLICY — MINISTERIAL
REPRESENTATIONS
652. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question.
Can the Premier confirm whether the state Minister for Agriculture and Food has
requested that the federal minister reverse this disgraceful decision during the
meeting; and, if not, why not?

AnswerView source ↗

The reason the minister will not be
requesting that is that the federal Parliament has made a decision by passing
legislation that outlaws live sheep exports. I wonder to what extent the
federal government relied upon the draft that
would have been provided by Sussan Ley, the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party,
when she brought the same legislation into the Parliament some time ago,
which really kicked off this whole debate. This whole debate was spearheaded by the Liberal Party. The member
for Central Wheatbelt should perhaps look to her right for an explanation
of how this debate caught on on the east coast. We know that it is Sussan Ley
who has been spearheading the push to legislate against live sheep exports.
The
laws have passed through the Parliament. We now expect the federal government,
now that the Parliament has spoken,
to come forward with a package that assists Western Australian farmers as part
of this transition. Obviously, an important part of that is continuing
to make sure that we have the capacity in our industry to process sheep as part
of adding value and adding WA jobs to our agriculture industry through the
processing of those sheep, rather than simply exporting them.
The Minister for Agriculture will
continue to support Western Australian farmers, the way she has done all along.
She will continue to make sure that Western Australian farmers' voices
are heard in Canberra.

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