Bart the giant ram stands tall over Wagin, 230 kilometres south-east of Perth, in honour of the sheep industry that has built the historic town.
But among locals, concern is growing that the sector is on its last legs.
Dotting roads across Western Australia’s Wheatbelt and Great Southern are Keep the Sheep signs, part of a campaign to overturn the federal government’s plan to phase out live sheep exports by 2028.
While WA Labor and Premier Roger Cook have distanced themselves from the decision of their federal counterparts, producers say rural voters will express their frustration at next month’s state election.
And as Mr Cook and his ministers crisscross the state in a bid to shore up record levels of regional representation won in 2021, the live export issue comes on top of a string of policy decisions — contentious gun law reform, Aboriginal heritage issues and the phasing out of native timber — that have landed with a thud in regional communities.
Phillip Blight says locals are angry about the coming live sheep export ban. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)
Wagin Shire president Phillip Blight said Labor should expect to lose regional seats off the back of live exports alone.
“The sentiment is absolute frustration that an industry can be treated in such a manner,”
he said.
“The government does not seem to value the industry, and has no respect for the jobs that those people do.”
Wagin is in the heart of WA’s sheep producing regions. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)
Industry feeling impact
Nigel Goodchild works at a sheep tagging business in Wagin.
“There used to be 10 shearing teams in this town now there’s two,” he said.
“It’s a really big drop — a huge amount work that’s not here anymore.”
Wagin Swingatags, owned by Charlie Piesse and Nigel Goodchild, has laid off workers. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)
Mr Goodchild said Perth voters had not grasped the ways it would impact them too in the long run, including increased lamb prices at the supermarket.
“I don’t think they (Perth residents) understand the downturn in the rural sector is going to affect them severely,”
he said.
“They’re not going to see it straight away but when it comes, it’s gonna hurt the hip pocket.”
While the banning of live exports does not begin for another three years, a survey by industry body Meat and Livestock Australia shows 67 per cent of producers plan to cut back their flocks.
South Stirling sheep producer Derek Curwen said the industry expectation was for sheep numbers to fall by 2.4 million in WA by the end of next year.
Derek Curwen says many sheep farmers are exiting the industry. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)
“My [shearing] contractor has lost 60,000 sheep this year off his shearing run because of farmers moving out of sheep,” he said.
“Perhaps people need to start thinking about what it’s going to be in the next several years because farmers are leaving the sheep industry in droves.”
Mr Curwen said Labor should expect pain at the state and federal ballot boxes.
He said the phase-out of live exports and a lack of profitability were hurting farmers.
Shearers are also concerned by the looming ban on live exports. (ABC News: Jon Daly)
Hard to get a job
Forecast wool production is also down almost 20 per cent this year to WA’s lowest level in a century — a situation that could jeopardise the jobs of hundreds of shearers, shed hands and wool classers.
Shearer Tuhoe Lingham said there was growing concern among shearers about work and whether they should consider other industries.
“They are all a bit frustrated too as they don’t know when the work is going to stop,” he said.
“[It is] pretty hard to get a job now that the sheep numbers have dropped.”
Live sheep exports by sea are due to be phased out by 2028. (ABC News: Jon Daly)
Speaking in Albany on Friday, the premier said Labor had stood up for regional WA, including fighting for a better deal from the federal government on the phase-out of live sheep exports.
“I think people know that I … oppose the live export ban proposed by the federal government, we oppose it, we fought it,” he said.
“We continue to have great policies right across our great state.
“We want to govern for everyone in Western Australia.”
