WA’s new Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis promises to ‘listen to farmers’

WA’s new Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis has broken her silence almost a week after being sworn into Mark McGowan’s Cabinet, vowing to “listen to farmers” and work constructively with lobby groups.

In her first interview with Countryman, Mrs Jarvis — who took over the agriculture portfolio from Alannah MacTiernan on December 14 — said she wanted to work with the industry leaders her predecessor often traded barbs with.

Among them is WAFarmers president John Hassell, who’s Pingelly farm Mrs Jarvis visited at the weekend ahead of her first ministerial briefings on December 20.

“It was really a sort of casual meet and greet and we had a chat about what’s happening in the industry,” she said.

“There were some quite specific issues John and (WAFarmers chief executive) Trevor (Whittington) raised about bottlenecks in the supply chain, on the grain-on-rail system, and access to ports.

“We have a massive grain harvest coming up for the second year in a row and I think this is going to be the norm, so we talked about some specific issues where I hope to work constructively with the Transport Minister (Rita Saffioti).

“We talked about access to farm labour, which is a recurring theme at the moment and has been since COVID, and had a quick chat about farm safety in light of some stuff that’s been happening there.

“WAFarmers are an important advocacy group, as are the PGA (Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA), the Grower Group Alliance and lots of others.”

On December 21, Mrs Jarvis will visit PGA president Tony Seabrook’s farm near York.

She said she hoped to have “a really respectful relationship” with Mr Seabrook, who was one of Ms MacTiernan’s most outspoken critics.

“I really want to see people where they live and farm so I can get a bit of an understanding of where they’re coming from,” Mrs Jarvis said.

“I know Tony Seabrook’s always frank with his advice … I’m sure there’ll be times over the next couple of years where we don’t agree.

“But we’re going in there with goodwill, and tomorrow is all about listening to what they (the PGA) want to achieve for the industry.”

Asked what kind of Agriculture Minister she wants to be, Mrs Jarvis’ response was brief and to the point.

“One that listens,” she replied.

Her comments are likely to reassure Mr Hassell, Mr Seabrook and WA Grains Group president Alistair Falconer, all of whom called for “a minister that listens” during recent interviews with Countryman.

Mr Hassell, who frequently criticised Ms MacTiernan for what he and others considered a lack of focus on “mainstream agriculture”, said his meeting with Mrs Jarvis went well.

“She gave us a bit of history about where she’s coming from and how she’d like to deal with things, and so I think it was a good all round two-way discussion, really,” Mr Hassell said.

“We had a discussion around the PALM (Pacific Australia Labour Mobility) scheme, and certainly around live export and her position in the Labor Party, and her ability to influence the party’s policy at Federal level.”

Mrs Jarvis revealed her stance on live sheep exports within hours of joining Cabinet, saying she “absolutely” supported the embattled $136-million-a-year industry.

Mr Hassell said they also discussed the importance of continued research into the role livestock can play in sustainable farming systems.

“The whole climate change narrative has been a really big challenge for us and the Department (of Primary Industries and Regional Development) has done some really good research, which culminated in the Meaty Matters conference last week,” he said.

“I’ve encouraged the minister to keep pursuing that line of thought to stop demonising farmers.

“Trevor talked a lot about the role she plays as an Ag Minister in terms of listening to her department, rather than coming in with ideological ideas, which I think she’s open to.”

Mrs Jarvis secured a seat in the March 2021 State election after being ranked third on WA Labor’s South West Region ticket, behind existing Labor MPs Sally Talbot and Ms MacTiernan.

As a first-term Upper House MLC, her elevation to the Cabinet — which also saw her take over the forestry and small business portfolios from Dave Kelly and Don Punch respectively — was unusual despite being widely predicted by political analysts.

Mrs Jarvis, whose husband Matt runs the family’s Margaret River-based Jarvis Estate winery, described the promotion as “an absolutely huge privilege”.

“I’m one of 17 lucky people in the State who is a Cabinet Minister, but I do have 25 years’ agribusiness experience, so whilst I’m new to Parliament, I’m certainly not new to the sector that I’m going to be the minister for,” she said.

“I’m really looking forward to it; it’s an enormous privilege and I’m very thankful to my caucus colleagues and the Premier.”

With a background in banking, Mrs Jarvis later worked full time stints at DPIRD and its predecessor, the Department of Agriculture and Food WA, before entering politics.

Described by Mr Seabrook as “the candidate with the best agriculture credentials”, she spent nine months working as Alannah MacTiernan’s agricultural policy adviser during Ms MacTiernan’s first term as WA Agriculture Minister.

Mrs Jarvis — who insisted there was “no succession plan” for her taking over Ms MacTiernan’s portfolio — said she learnt a lot while under the former Agriculture Minister’s wing.

“I went into Alannah’s office basically within the first week of her getting elected and being made minister,” she said.

“Alannah was obviously a force of nature. She’s really dynamic, incredibly intelligent, she read everything and she took advice from a broad range of people, so I think probably the lesson was to do your research, be inquisitive and ask a lot of questions.”

Mrs Jarvis, whose electorate office is in Margaret River, said her first focus as Agriculture Minister would be “getting through summer” and ensuring biosecurity preparedness.

“Biosecurity is an ever-present threat and, particularly over the summer break, we’ve got DPIRD teams working on biosecurity preparedness,” she said.

“But DPIRD also plays an important emergency management role over the bushfire season, with responsibility for animal welfare. In the new year, we can sit down and sort of allocate some priorities.”

As for her other ministerial portfolios, Mrs Jarvis said she was confident she had the necessary experience, having helped run the family winery as well as serving several stints on the WA Government’s Forest Products Commission between 2015 and 2019.

Mrs Jarvis defended WA Labor’s policy to end commercial native timber logging by 2024, despite living close to and representing communities affected by the decision.

“It’s obviously a really difficult time for some communities at the moment, as we transition out of native timber, but I think we’ve made the right decision,” she said.

Mrs Jarvis and her husband moved to Margaret River from Perth in 1996, where they purchased a 20ha property and planted their first grape vines the following year.

Their three daughters were born and raised in the popular South West tourist town, where they have lived for the past 26 years.