WAFarmers has welcomed the State Government’s response to the Beef Stocktake Report, and believes that the formation of the WA Beef Council, under the direction of Tony Hiscock, and the Producers Round Table, is a step in the right direction.
WAFarmers Meat Section president, Jeff Murray, industry participants were looking forward to seeing a release of the final Beef Stocktake Report, and the opportunity to have their views heard through the Producers Round Table.
"WAFarmers is, however, disappointed that the Minister for Agriculture and Food, the Honorable Terry Redman, is not contributing significant Government funding towards the programs," Mr Hiscock said.
"The Minister for Agriculture has allocated $500,000 towards the establishment of the WA Beef Council; however this money will be taken from the Cattle Industry Compensation Fund (CICF), which was initially set up for emergency disease control."
The CICF is made up of residual money from disease control programs, and from the compulsory $0.20 per head levy on all cattle sold in Western Australia.
"As the CICF is largely made up of producer funds, WAFarmers believe that the industry should be able to choose where these funds are allocated," he said.
"WAFarmers requests that the State Government consult fully with industry on the use of these fund allocations, as has been done in the past."
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