Alannah MacTiernan proud of record as Agriculture Minister as opposition doubles down on calls for resignation

Calls for Alannah MacTiernan to resign from her position as WA’s Agriculture Minister were debated in the Upper House on Thursday after fellow South West MLC Steve Thomas tabled a motion critiquing her performance. The motion called for the house to note Ms MacTiernan had lost the confidence of WA’s agriculture sector due to her “inability to adequately perform the role ... and her inability to be across the issues impacting the industry”. It then called on Ms MacTiernan to relinquish the portfolio and for Premier Mark McGowan to remove her from the role if she refused. Dr Thomas, who is the leader of the Opposition in the Upper House, said during the debate that the motion was not solely related to Ms MacTiernan’s performance in regards to foot-and-mouth disease but rather “a long-term discontent with the performance of the minister”. He said he agreed with Ms MacTiernan’s call for calm regarding FMD, but she had alienated the agricultural sector with subsequent comments about how it could reduce the price of meat and milk. “That set of circumstances would also mean major devastation for farmers as part of the process,” he said. “This is the issue that the Opposition has with this Minister for Agriculture and Food: her focus, which was given away by her comments, is her social engineering agenda to purely look after consumers and not the agriculture industry.” He said Ms MacTiernan’s comments were a reflection of contempt for the agriculture sector, for which she had “form”. “This minister is so focused on imposing her direction on agriculture that she has forgotten to look after the industry, particularly the traditional, more old-stream section of the industry,” he said. “These are the sectors that the minister has shown contempt for, and meat and milk production is just the latest example of that.” Speaking to Parliament during the debate, Ms MacTiernan said she was proud of her record since being given control of a department which had undergone a significant reduction in staff between 2008 and 2017. She acknowledged her support for farmers wanting to build biological systems “hankering for investment in carbon farming” had “ruffled some feathers”, but said it was making agricultural projects on the southern rangelands more viable. “I understand that there are farmers who do not want us to go down that path,” she said. “I say to them: we are doing two things. “We are doing the traditional stuff — and we are doing it better, because we are putting money into research and development and biosecurity — but at the same time, we are setting up new capabilities in the agency through our climate resilience fund and land restoration fund,” she said. “My job is not just going out there and wanting to be loved, my job is to try to identify what the future threats and challenges are in this industry, and to work to offer opportunities and ways to build that resilience.” “I am very proud of that work.” The motion, which lapsed pursuant to standing orders, is the latest in several calls for Ms MacTiernan’s resignation since her comments about FMD were published in The West Australian on July 22. Liberal O’Connor MHR Rick Wilson, Opposition Leader Mia Davies and shadow agriculture minister Colin de Grussa all called her to be removed within a week of the comments. WAFarmers president John Hassell and the body’s CEO Trevor JU Whittington have also called for her to resign from the role. Mr McGowan said Ms MacTiernam “went a bit far and made a mistake” with her FMD comments, but he has repeatedly backed his “very hardworking minister” in the face of the resignation calls. Earlier this month, Denmark cattle farmer Steve Birkbeck also came to the defence of the under-siege minister. Speaking to the Advertiser, Mr Birkbeck said Ms MacTiernan had been a great ambassador for the region, and that “enough is enough” after she had been “put through the wringer”.