Livestock

The PGA holds firm on levy integrity. We oppose any new levies as demonstrated by our resistance to the abortive Biosecurity Protection Levy; and insist that existing levies be collected on a percentage basis to account for fluctuations in commodity prices.

The PGA does not support further RDCs transitioning to Industry Owned Companies. IOCs are companies limited by guarantee with no shares and therefore no genuine owners and critically, as statutory authorities of the Australian Government, they are prevented from engaging in generic marketing.

The PGA supports the prudent collection and allocation of the Declared Pest Rate to local Recognised Biosecurity Groups, with matching State Government funding. Declared pest species do not respect property boundaries. Control is a legal obligation for all landholders, and funding arrangements should reflect this shared responsibility, including native title holders. We continue to oppose new blanket levies like the Biosecurity Protection Levy that do not follow these principles.

Following sustained advocacy from 2019 to 2023, the PGA successfully secured an exemption for dehorning, cattle spaying in the pastoral region, and lay pregnancy testing from classification as acts of veterinary medicine; preserving the ability of producers to perform these practices without requiring a veterinarian. On mulesing, the PGA supports access to pain relief to preserve the practice for those who need it, and advocates for pain relief to be available over the counter and engineered for use across different animal species.

Livestock producers require privileged access to firearms for two essential purposes: vermin control and the humane destruction of livestock. The PGA supports maintaining and protecting this access, and opposes regulatory changes that would unreasonably restrict it for working producers.

The PGA wants WoolPoll to directly poll levy payers on the percentage of funding allocated to generic marketing, rather than having this set by the AWI Board. We support retaining a 0% levy voting option to preserves the ability of levy payers to wind up AWI if they choose. Polling should shift from every three years to every five years, retaining the preferential voting system.

The PGA does not support State Government ownership of livestock exchange facilities, preferring a more efficient private model. On Property Identification Codes, we support the use of one PIC across multiple properties, and the ability for livestock owners to hold more than one PIC where required.