Renegade senator implores new agricultural minister to meet sheep farmers in Western Australia

Published 2024년 8월 16일

Tridge summary

Former Labor senator Fatima Payman has raised concerns over the $107 million government package to support regional communities in Western Australia affected by the live export ban, stating it does not go far enough. The package, which includes funding for business plans, expansion of domestic abattoir capacity, and mental health support, has been deemed adequate by former Agriculture Minister Murray Watt, but new Agriculture Minister Julie Collins has indicated she will discuss the package with industry and consider increasing the funding envelope. An independent report suggests that a well-planned phase-out of the live sheep export industry over eight to 12 years could result in a more diverse and sustainable sheep and wool industry in Western Australia.

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Original content

Former Labor senator Fatima Payman has raised concerns over government support for regional communities in her home state of Western Australia impacted by the live export ban, "imploring" new Agriculture Minister Julie Collins to join her in meeting with sheep farmers. Senator Payman, who severed ties with the ALP in July over her push against party lines for recognition of a Palestinian State, has used one of her first speeches as an independent to raise the government's controversial new law that will end the trade in May 2028. The first-term senator said she spent some of parliament's recent winter break visiting a dozen regional WA towns where community members and sheep farmers expressed a worry that the $107 million industry phase-out package approved by former Agriculture Minister Murray Watt "does not go far enough". In a question without notice to the Senate on Thursday, Senator Payman likened the importance of sheep farming to some regions of WA to what coal mining is to ...

Source: Farmweekly