Live export: Agriculture Minister silent as WA farm lobby groups call for phase-out report to be made public

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt is refusing to say whether an upcoming report by Federal Labor’s live sheep export phase-out panel will be made public, amid mounting calls for transparency. The question was put to Mr Watt when he met the State’s peak farm lobby groups during a visit to Perth earlier this month. Representatives from WAFarmers, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA and the WA Livestock Exporters’ Association were at the meeting. WAFarmers vice-president Steve McGuire said when pressed on the matter, Senator Watt replied that he “hadn’t decided yet” whether to release the report publicly. Countryman put the same question to Senator Watt’s office twice in the past week and received no response. PGA vice-president Digby Stretch, who was at the meeting, said everyone affected by the upcoming ban “deserves to see the report” after it was handed down on September 30. “We are pushing for the report, when it comes out, to be made public and I think it’d be great if there was a whole-of-industry push,” he told Countryman. “We all deserve to see what the result of the submissions are and the input that we all had into this thing. “It’ll also be of interest to see just how many people spoke in favour of the ban with no skin in the game.” Senator Watt appointed the four-person panel to lead community and stakeholder consultation in the wake of Labor’s bungled policy announcement during the lead up to last year’s Federal election. The panel began its work in March, with its final report set to include recommendations on how and when to implement the phase-out of live sheep exports by sea. As well as providing a blueprint for the transition, the wide-ranging report will look at how negative impacts on farmers can be mitigated and the myriad flow-on effects expected to hit regional communities. Speaking after a public consultation session in Perth last month, panel chair Phillip Glyde admitted the group — which has about 4100 public submissions to trawl through — faced a “real challenge” in meeting the deadline. “We have certainly got a lot to go through and we are heavily involved in reading those submissions,” he said. “It’s a real challenge for us to get through all of that, but we think we can make the deadline.” Senator Watt echoed Mr Glyde’s comments when asked whether the panel had been given enough time at a July 12 press conference in Perth. “I actually was briefed again by the panel last week, just to get an update on where they’re up to, and that was very useful,” he said. “I know it is a relatively short time frame but I’m confident that they can meet it. “It’s going to be a lot of hard work for the panel, but I think they’re up for the task.”