CAGED EGG PRODUCTION
737. Hon COLIN de GRUSSA to the Minister for Agriculture and
Food:
I note the minister's
commitment to phase out caged egg production within 10 years, as reported by
the ABC on 29 August 2022.
(1) Will the
minister guarantee consumers will not pay more for eggs or products
manufactured with eggs as a result of the cessation of caged egg production?
(2) Will the
minister guarantee that the supply of Western Australian eggs will not be
reduced as a result?
(3) Will the
minister commit to financial assistance for egg farmers to transition; and, if
so, when will this be announced?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
(1)–(3) I
thank the member for the question. The premise of the member's question
is not correct.
In
light of some of the public statements he has made, talking about all those
businesses that have just bought new cages and are still paying them
off, I want to set a bit of context for the member. Under the new national standards and guidelines, anyone whose
cages were purchased before 2011 will be required to have them
decommissioned by 2032. That is the proposed national standard.
Hon Darren West: That's
too quick for the National Party.
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN: That
is right.
In 2032, any cages purchased before
2011 will need to be decommissioned and will no longer be able to be used for
caged egg production. Of the approximately 64 egg producers in Western Australia,
only eight are actually still using conventional cages. As far as we
understand, seven of that eight—we will have this clarified by next
week—are using cages purchased well before 2011. The sum total of
persons the member is referring to is one or possibly two. I urge the member to
get across the facts here. We have met with the Commercial Egg Producers
Association of Western Australia and, as I said, we are doing a complete
mapping of the industry. I am hopeful that by the end of next week we will have
that complete so we can all talk factually about the industry.