Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt confirms live export phase-out panel’s report to be made public

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has promised to publicly release the recommendations handed down this week by the consultation panel investigating how and when to end WA’s live sheep export trade. It comes after Senator Watt reportedly told WA farm lobby groups he had yet to make a decision during a July visit to Perth, and then failed to respond to subsequent enquiries from Countryman. A Federal Government spokesman this week confirmed the report would be made public but would not say when. “Once the report is received, government will consider the independent panel’s recommendations and formulate an appropriate response,” the spokesman told Countryman. “Following this careful consideration, the report will then be made public.” Nationals leader and shadow agriculture minister David Littleproud called for the report to be released without delay, accusing Labor of “destroying the livelihoods of 3000 people” employed in an industry worth $85 million. “Minister Watt should have the courage of his convictions and immediately release the scientific and economic modelling behind his decision,” Mr Littleproud said. “He didn’t have the courage to travel with the panel and look farmers in the eye himself to say he was stopping the trade — so the least he can do is release the report.” The four-person panel was appointed in March and was due to hand down its report on October 25 after holding four months of talks with stakeholders and town hall-style meetings across regional WA. The report was initially due to be submitted on September 30 but Senator Watt granted an extension after the panel received more than 4000 public submissions. His decision to make the report public has been welcomed by industry leaders including Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council chief executive Mark Harvey-Sutton. “I think it’s very important in the interest of transparency that the report is made public,” he said. “But at the end of the day, our position is clear: we will only accept a reversal of the policy, and that’s an agriculture sector-wide position.” Representatives from WAFarmers and the Pastoralists and Graziers Association previously requested the report be released during a face-to-face meeting with Senator Watt in Perth in July. But WAFarmers president John Hassell this week said he would not be satisfied until Labor scrapped the policy. “My preferred position would be that he (Senator Watt) gets his act together, changes his mind, admits that the policy is based on a preference deal with the Animal Justice Party, and gets on with the job of actually supporting agriculture,” Mr Hassell said. “He’s selling the country out and putting every animal industry at risk.” PGA president Tony Seabrook said he expected nothing less than the public release of the report. “It’s not right for any government to commission a report with the amount of money that’s been spent, and then think they have some right to keep it a secret,” he said. “But the only thing of any benefit to the industry would be for them, on the back of this report, to decide that it’s not wise to shut it down forthwith, and that it will require a lot more time.” A timeframe for the phase-out has yet to be established but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has repeatedly said it would not happen during the current term of government. HOW THE CONSULTATION PROCESS UNFOLDED Farmers’ worst fears were confirmed in early May last year after the Australian Alliance of Animals revealed Federal Labor’s policy to shut down the trade if it won the May 21 election. Labor unsuccessfully took the policy to the 2019 election, but refused to reveal its stance for weeks in the lead-up to the 2022 election, despite sustained pressure from farmers. The policy prompted an internal split in the party, with then WA Premier Mark McGowan refusing to back his Federal colleagues. In March, Senator Watt announced the appointment of a four-person consultation panel tasked with determining how and when to phase-out the industry. Former Murray Darling Basin Authority CEO Phillip Glyde would chair the panel, which also included prominent WA farmer Sue Middleton, retired Northern Territory Labor MP Warren Snowdon, and former RSPCA chief executive Heather Neil. But industry leaders, including WAFarmers president John Hassell, were scathing of the inclusion of Ms Neil. “One would hope that with people like Sue Middleton and Warren Snowden, we’ll get actual outcomes for regional people, but the RSPCA, well, I give them zero bloody credibility, they’re just an activist group,” Mr Hassell told Countryman at the time. Mr Seabrook said he was “bitterly disappointed”. “I don’t acknowledge that the panel should even be there,” he said. “I’m not going to participate in any way in his execution of this trade; I’m not going to acknowledge (Senator Watt’s) process, or in any way get dumbed down into selling our trade down the drain.” The panel met for first time in Perth on March 27 before holding five days of talks with stakeholders including live exporters, industry bodies and the RSPCA. LOBBYING INCREASES That same day, WA’s peak farm lobby groups sent a joint letter to Mr McGowan and Ms Jarvis urging them to take the fight to Canberra. The letter — which was also signed by the heads of 28 farm lobby groups and businesses from across Australia — praised Mr McGowan for refusing to bow to his Federal colleagues, but called for more decisive action. “Make no mistake, if live sheep exports fall, (animal activists) will be coming after the cattle and wool industries next,” it stated. “As a sector we will never support legitimate industries being shut down due to vague notions of social licence or for political expediency.” During the panel’s visit, Mr Glyde admitted the phase-out policy would “adversely affect” WA farmers. Though he declined to reveal his own opinion on the ban, describing it as “irrelevant”, Mr Glyde said he wanted to help farmers “make the best of it”. “We’re trying to meet with as people as we can, and to cover the whole of the supply chain and all of those who have a view on the phase-out,” he said. “I’m keen to try and find a good solution to the future of the sheep and associated industries in WA.” FARMERS BLINDSIDED Farmers were left fuming in mid-May after the panel made an unadvertised visit to regional WA, blindsiding sheep producers anxious to have their say. A series of low-key “targeted gatherings of producers and stakeholders” were planned in Moora, Narrogin, Wagin, Katanning and Cranbrook. These were opened to the public after details were leaked on social media just days before the visit, with hundreds of farmers downing tools in the middle of seeding to storm the meetings. “It was handled very badly. . . It should have been publicised,” Mr Seabrook said at the time. “The panel responded well to what turned up, which was a bunch of very, very angry livestock producers.” Ms Jarvis, who was not invited to the meetings, expressed her “disappointment” with Senator Watt. Mr Glyde later apologised for how the visit was handled, saying the panel “got it wrong”. COUNTING THE COST In early May, it was revealed in the 2023-24 Federal Budget that the consultation panel’s work would cost taxpayers $5m over two years. The panel flew to WA on June 19 for its third and final round of public meetings, visiting Geraldton, Merredin, Kondinin, Lake Grace, Darkan and Perth. About 170 people attended the Perth workshop, with some breaking into tears as they laid bare the impact shutting down the industry would have on their livelihoods. “The decision has been made but we are all still hoping we can help change the decision,” Boddington farmer Simon Kelsall said. After five days of meetings, the panel began pouring over about 4100 submissions and survey responses. Among them was a 16-page submission from the WA Government, warning the phase-out would cost the State’s agriculture industry $123 million a year and put nearly 400 people out of work.