Shire of Capel backs Boyanup Saleyards lease extension

The exclusive group of livestock agents operating the Boyanup Saleyards are a step closer to securing a 10-year stranglehold on the property after Shire of Capel councillors officially threw their support behind the group's request for a new lease. But it could mark the final chapter for the ageing facility, with Capel Council declaring the move a chance to buy time to develop its “vision” for an alternative saleyard. Capel Council voted unanimously last Wednesday to publicly advertise its intention to renew the Shire’s lease with the WA Livestock Salesmen’s Association (WALSA) for 10-years plus an optional 10-year “mutual agreement extension”. Shire president Doug Kitchen declared an indirect financial interest in the item and did not vote. Livestock agents and members of the public have until January 5 to make submissions, with councillors to then vote on whether to grant the lease later that month. Councillor Keiran Noonan said the Council ought to find a new location for the yard, which was built in the 1960s and is situated in the middle of town. “It gives us time to start looking now for alternative sites and for people in Boyanup to make their views known on that,” he said. “(But) I would like to think that this will be the last 10-year plus 10 lease going to the Boyanup Saleyard in its current position.” Cr Noonan said the opportunity to redevelop the site when the lease expired would be a “game changer for Boyanup”. “It would reinvigorate and rejuvenate that town and provide it with enormous opportunities for its future development,” he said. The McGowan Government promised to build a new saleyard in the South West in the lead-up to the 2017 election, but has since abandoned the idea in favour of renewing WALSA’s lease. Cr Christine Terrantroy dismissed WA Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan’s repeated claims the saleyard could become obsolete in the next decade, as online sales grow in popularity. “I believe farmers will still want to, in 20 years, see the cattle they buy to ascertain their health, especially for expensive breeding stock,” she said. “Hopefully this 10 plus 10-year plan will give us time to find an appropriate new location.” The only facility of its kind in the South West, Boyanup Saleyards lies on crown land vested in the Shire of Capel and leased to WALSA as a joint venture between Nutrien and Elders. WALSA has had a monopoly on the South West cattle trade for the past 20 years because it owns the yard infrastructure and has the power to exclude independent agents. Earlier this year, independent agents filed a complaint about the “anti-competitive” arrangement, however an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found it did not breach competition law. Capel deputy Shire president Sebastian Schiano said the Council had “done its due diligence” by waiting for the investigation to conclude, and it was now “vital” that a decision be made. “(The saleyard) is a vital part of Boyanup and a vital part of the entire industry throughout the South West,” he said. “This 10-years is really the time that we take to build a vision on what the future of the Boyanup Saleyards will look like. “There’s a lot of options in front of us and were in the early stages of considering what all those options are, but for now, I support renewing the lease.” WAFarmers has called for a new saleyard to be built, with former Livestock Council chair Mike Norton saying renewing the existing lease would be an “absolute disaster”. “That saleyard site does not conform with the animal welfare codes of practice for Australian saleyards, and it doesn’t matter how much money you throw at that site, it’s just not going to comply,” Mr Norton said. “Most of the councillors and people in Boyanup want it moved — not necessarily out of the Shire, but from that site — but nobody knows how to do it. That’s part of the problem.” Mr Norton — who is former chair of WAFarmers and now sits on its Dairy Council — is calling on the State Government to offer a 30-year low interest loan to the industry to pay for a new saleyard. “They could loan that money to either a cooperative or a corporate structure, and develop a share base where you sell off the shares to the stock agents and the farmers,” he said. “The farmers would buy their shares back through yard fees, and you'd pay the loan off with a yard fee.” Rather than a 10-year lease, Mr Norton said Capel Shire should offer WALSA a one-year extension with an annual review. “Somebody’s got to pick this issue up by the scruff of the neck and drive it, and all the previous ministers on both sides of government haven’t done it,” he said. “The ball is very much within the Capel Shire’s court – and the industry, and the Minister – to drive it and, for Christ’s sake, get an outcome, because this has been going on for 15 years. “The first thing they’ve got to do is buy some land real quick, because land is getting gobbled up down here like there’s no tomorrow, and land values are going up. “You need a bit of land — preferably around Boyanup somewhere — that’s got a reasonable buffer around that you can rezone for noxious industries.”