A WA parliamentary question probes the Minister for Agriculture and Food regarding the potential abolition of the Potato Marketing Board, grower consultation, and timeline. The Minister's response indicates a new board has been appointed to review the industry, with no deregulation planned before 2017.

AnsweredQoN 693Legislative Council
Asked
17 June 2015
Portfolio
Agriculture and Food

QuestionView source ↗

POTATO
MARKETING BOARD
693. Hon ADELE FARINA to the
Minister for Agriculture and Food:
(1) Has the minister determined to abolish the Potato
Marketing Board?
(2) If yes to (1) —
(a) has cabinet approved the
abolition of the Potato Marketing Board;
(b) what consultation,
if any, has the minister or the department undertaken with potato growers; and
(c) when does
the minister expect the board to be abolished?
(3) Given the
strong opposition by potato growers, will the minister reconsider the decision
to abolish the Potato Marketing Board?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the honourable member for the question.
(1)–(3)
I have only just reappointed a new board, and that board, I believe, has only
just met. It is up to that board to look at the potato industry and promote it
and get back to me eventually. Nothing will actually be deregulated until 2017,
and I have always gone along with that and stuck with that, and the Premier has
actually said that as well. So, the Potato Marketing Board is still there. It
is a new board, and it has a new chairperson who was on the board before. It
will deal with the potato industry as we go, bearing in mind that I am
interested to see the stance taken. I know that we have had discussions. The
opposition's thing is to deregulate the board.

Explore WA Government Data

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

Explore more