Colin de Grussa: Premier ‘playing politics’ while WA farmers suffer crippling drought

A week, it seems, is a long time in politics. On April 18, Premier Roger Cook’s complete lack of understanding of the current devastating circumstances playing out in our State’s livestock industry was on full display. In response to Opposition Deputy Leader Peter Rundle’s motion in Parliament calling for financial assistance to assist our farmers with accessing water, fodder and freight, all the Premier could offer up was his usual political bile and vitriol. It was almost as if we were back in those dark days leading into the Premier’s infamous backflip on the doomed Aboriginal cultural heritage laws, where his only response to the legitimate issues being raised was to label the Opposition “dog whistlers”. The Premier went to great pains to explain to the Opposition that there was absolutely no correlation between the situation currently being faced by farmers — including the prospect of having to euthanise sheep — and the live sheep export ban, and that the Opposition was simply using the issue to score political points. The fact the Premier spent more time attacking the Opposition for “political point scoring” rather than addressing the substantive points raised by the Opposition speaks volumes. What is also interesting is that every single member of the Cook Labor Government voted against the Opposition’s request to provide the necessary financial assistance. In any event, the following week, after months of impassioned pleas from the Opposition, industry groups and farmers in significant distress, the State Government finally relented and took the small but welcome action to provide a financial support package totalling $8.6m. The fact that the State Government has finally recognised the current set of circumstances warrant affirmative action is a good thing; the fact that it took this long to recognise action is required is an absolute disgrace. The inconvenient truth is that the Opposition and industry groups have been raising the issue of increased stocking rates and the impending risk of insufficient availability of feed with the State Government for almost a year. Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of how the livestock industry works understood there was a potential issue coming as a consequence of the Albanese Government’s proposed ban on live exports due to increased stock carryover and plummeting prices. We all knew the forecast dry spring, summer and autumn would make things much worse and would start impacting cattle producers as well. I raised this issue directly with the Minister for Agriculture in Parliament in May, June, August and November last year, and again in March this year. I know Peter Rundle has done the same on numerous occasions. So why did it take until April 15 this year for the Cook Labor Government to convene the Dry Season Taskforce, and why has it taken until April 29 for the Government to provide its underwhelming financial assistance package? The answers lay in the Premier’s contempt for and complete ignorance of the agricultural sector and his bizarre perception that this is all just a political game. As a direct consequence of this, the Cook Government failed in its responsibility to listen and work proactively with the industry towards pragmatic solutions to assist farmers, well ahead of the situation becoming critical. Colin de Grussa is a Nationals MLC and the WA shadow agriculture minister.