LIVE EXPORT —
DOMESTIC PROCESSING
1167. Hon ROBIN SCOTT to the Minister for Agriculture and Food:
(1) Given the
government's reluctance to support the live export industry, whether
for sheep, goats, cattle or other livestock, what is the government doing to
reduce bureaucracy, red tape and additional costs on primary producers as an
incentive to encourage onshore processing, preferably in Western Australia?
(2) What is the
WA government doing to attract cross-border primary producers to process their
livestock in WA rather than export live from their home state or territory?
(3) What
incentive is there for an exporter to send livestock for processing at Broome
or any other location in WA from either South Australia, Queensland or the
Northern Territory?
Hon DARREN
WEST replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question. I provide the following answer of behalf of the
Minister for Agriculture and Food.
(1) The premise
of the question is incorrect. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional
Development has established a live export reference group, consisting of
farmers, a meat industry expert, a representative of Sheep Producers Australia
and a stock agent. This group has begun to provide advice and direction on the
planning of DPIRD projects to explore the strategic challenges and
opportunities within the sheep industry because of changes in the live export
industry. The state government supports the reduction of red tape to improve
small business. Export abattoirs operate under the jurisdiction of the
Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, so are a commonwealth
responsibility.
(2) The first
priority of the state government is to preserve the biosecurity status of the
livestock industries of this state. This is to avoid entry of diseases such as
liver fluke and bovine Johne's disease, the establishment of which
would cause severe economic loss. However, there are provisions for anyone to
apply for variances to the conditions of entry. This occurred in the past to
allow local abattoirs to source vast numbers of stock from interstate. However,
there have been no applications for such approvals recently. There is currently
excess processing capacity and an undersupply of slaughter stock in the eastern
states. East coast processors are looking to purchase stock in Western Australia
and there is little demand to process stock in WA from elsewhere. Sheep
traditionally move from the west coast to eastern processors in the spring,
when processing capacity is limited in WA, and there is evidence of this
occurring this year.
(3) Processing is
a commercial decision that producers have to make. The issue is not only
processing capacity but also markets and the type of animals available. With
the current undersupply on the east coast, due to drought and excess processor
capacity, and the large road distances involved, there would be little reason
to provide incentive to send stock for processing in WA from other states when
this could compromise the biosecurity of the local industry.