ANIMAL WELFARE RISK
ASSESSMENT — PASTORAL LEASES
1269. Hon KEN BASTON to the Minister for Agriculture and Food:
I refer to the answers to question
without notice 571, which was asked on 5 June 2019, regarding the animal
welfare risk assessment of all Western Australian pastoral leases.
(1) Has the risk assessment been
completed?
(2) If yes, how
many pastoral leases were found to be at risk of animal welfare breaches such
as those reported in 2019 at Yandeyarra and Noonkanbah and in what capacity is
the department providing support to the pastoral leases identified as at risk?
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN
replied:
I thank the member for the question.
(1)–(2) Yes.
The risk assessment has been completed. In the first instance, the risk
assessment was a desktop exercise that looked at known data points, including
rainfall data, history and experience of management and the management of stock
numbers to inform a risk profile for each pastoral lease, which was used to
prioritise property visits and assessments. There have been difficult circumstances
right across the pastoral area. The department is working with a small number
of properties around livestock management measures, given the season. The
properties identified have been prioritised for further assessment. We have
managed to do 120 since July. We have been working with pastoralists on their
watering points, destocking and agistment. We have held forums in the
Kimberley, the Pilbara and the Gascoyne to really help them gain the
information and technical skills they need to deal with climate and weather,
forage budgeting and decision dates to help them with the proper management of
stock.