Jackie Jarvis reveals last minute ‘pitch’ ahead of Cabinet reshuffle to retain role as WA Agriculture Minister

Jackie Jarvis has revealed she made a last-minute pitch to new Premier Roger Cook ahead of the recent Cabinet reshuffle to list the reasons why she should retain the role she “loves” as WA Agriculture Minister.

Ms Jarvis — a winemaker appointed to the role in January — replaced State and Federal government stalwart Alannah MacTiernan when she retired from State Government and quickly set about meeting farmers across WA.

After the reshuffle, Ms Jarvis revealed she had phoned Mr Cook a few days prior to highlight how much she enjoyed the portfolio, which is one of three she holds alongside Forestry and Small Business.

“I gave him a pitch as to why I should remain,” she said.

“I am fairly new to this game, I just said ‘I don’t know what the process is and you have a lot of decisions to make, but I want to let you know I love being the Agriculture Minister’.

“I told him I would really love to stay as the Agriculture Minister.

“His response was that ‘we have a great team’ and he wanted to ‘retain stability’.”

When asked what interest the WA Premier had in agriculture — an industry worth $11 billion to the State’s economy — Ms Jarvis said he was a “born and bred Western Australian” and recently sent her a text message to ask if rain had helped farmers.

“He was on the way to Government House to become sworn in as WA Premier, and he texted me to say ‘hey Jackie, has this rain reached the Wheatbelt’,” she said.

“When we spoke, he said the Agriculture portfolio was an iconic portfolio and we would do great work together.”

When asked if there were any other portfolios she had in mind, Ms Jarvis said she “wasn’t after anyone’s job”.

“I love the portfolios I have,” she said.

“I always say to people ‘I don’t know everything about agriculture’ ... but it is so exciting because you are feeding people.

“I have been involved in agribusiness for 20 years, and people are always going to have to eat.”

Mr Cook’s first big job as Premier was to negotiate a Cabinet reshuffle that would set Labor up to fight the next election without his predecessor Mark McGowan.

Mr Cook has elected to take on a much lighter portfolio workload than Mr McGowan, allowing him to redistribute his former responsibilities and create a two-tiered Cabinet.

Key ministers have been entrusted with juggling major multiple portfolios, with Rita Saffioti adding the role of Treasurer and Tourism Minister to her existing Transport workload.

Balcatta MP David Michael took on Local Government, Ports and Road Safety, while Perth MP John Carey added Planning alongside his Lands, Housing and Homelessness portfolios.

Meanwhile, Police Minister Paul Papalia was handed Corrective Services and Upper House MP Stephen Dawson took on Science — fitting alongside his existing responsibilities for innovation and medical research.