ANIMAL WELFARE — CATTLE DEATHS —
YANDEYARRA RESERVE
1454. Hon JIM CHOWN to the Minister for Agriculture and Food:
I refer to the minister's
statement that an agreement has been settled on with the Yandeyarra
leaseholders to repay the $500 000 of public
money spent on rectifying watering points and euthanasing over 1 000 cattle
that were dying of thirst.
(1) Has the
repayment process, as stated by the minister, been formalised in writing; and,
if not, why not?
(2) If a formal
arrangement is in place, who were the signatories on behalf of the leaseholders
on Yandeyarra reserve?
(3) If a formal
arrangement is in place in regard to the payment of the stated public moneys
through the sale of cattle, will the minister table this arrangement; and, if
not, why not?
(4) As stated on
the GWN7 News by the minister, a significant muster was undertaken on
Yandeyarra. How many cattle were mustered on the leasehold?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
I again ask myself the question: what does the member think that we should have
done? We went in and promptly intervened, which I would have thought was a very
positive thing, so I am not quite sure what his criticism is unless, as I said —
Hon Jim Chown: I've
only asked the question. I haven't made any criticism yet. I'm
waiting for the answer.
The PRESIDENT: Order!
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN: The
member has made lots of allegations about this.
(1) Yes. The document has been
formalised in writing.
(2) The signatories are
office-bearers of Mugarinya Community Association Inc.
(3) I have sought
advice from the department, which will check with the counterparties to ensure
that any third party commercial-in-confidence concerns are taken into account
before tabling the agreement.
(4) Based on
trucking information from the national vendor declaration system, the total
number of cattle transported from the property during the recent muster period
was 8 007 head.