June 2019

The Pastoralists and Graziers Association recently launched a campaign to have the full cost of private schooling fees for regional students made fully tax deductable.  On the surface it makes sense when rural families are being forced to make the hard decision to either fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars on private school boarding expenses or split the family and move one parent to the city. We know that the cost of education has

Adam Smith, the famous 18th Century Scottish economist, was the first to recognise that improvements in agriculture is one of the founding drivers of economic growth. His theories which he outlined in The Wealth of Nations around self-interest, specialisation, trade and the invisible hand of the market, have been key to understanding the way the economic world works. This view was rejected by another notable economist Carl Marx, who was also particularly interested in agriculture. 

WAFarmers welcomes the growing interest by the state government in attracting students to work in the primary industry sector via their recently launched Project Primed. The project aims to raise the profile of careers in fisheries, forestry and agriculture, because for too long students have seen these sectors through the prism of men working outdoors offering nothing but low pay and hard work. Our industry has failed to build a picture of a modern workplace

The Senate results from the last election sees nine Greens joining the 26 ALP senators which matches the coalitions 35 seats, leaving the cross benches with two One Nation, two Centre Alliance, one Australian Conservative Cory Bernardi and one Tasmanian independent Jacqui Lambie. With memories of the influence that the Greens had over the Gillard government and the ongoing need of the ALP to cultivate their members in the senate it’s time to take a