Opinion Articles

How the Housing Boom Broke the Lucky Country

Like every parent watching their adult kids edge toward the real estate market, I look at the numbers with growing alarm. In 25 years, Perth house prices have jumped from roughly $200,000 to close to $900,000 — a three-to-fivefold increase — while wages have barely doubled from $50,000 to $100,000. That’s not a generational squeeze; it’s a structural impossibility. Unless the next generation marries a doctor, a diesel mechanic, a FIFO worker, wins Lotto, or

Trevor Whittington December 11, 2025

Opinion Articles

The parallels between the Roaring 1920s and the Turbulent 2020s

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Mark Twain A century divides the Roaring Twenties from today’s so-called Turbulent Twenties, yet the distance feels strangely compressed. As we limp toward the midpoint of our own decade, the parallels grow sharper and harder to ignore — reminders that our present upheavals are rarely as unique as we like to believe. Historians are rightly suspicious of neat analogies, but here the similarities are too blunt to

Trevor Whittington December 4, 2025

Legal

Victorian Supreme Court dismisses “busybody” animal activist case

WAFarmers has welcomed the decision of Victorian Supreme Court Justice Andrew Keogh to dismiss the claims of an animal activist group that an abattoir in Benalla operated by CA Sinclair Pty Ltd (Sinclair) should be banned from using Carbon Dioxide (CO2) to stun pigs before termination. Justice Keogh remarked that Animals Australia took the civil action against Sinclair despite having “no relevant ties to the area or the community” and because it, “has demonstrated

Darren Brown December 3, 2025

Opinion Articles

How Science and Technology Are Helping Farmers Adapt to a Drying Climate

Agriculture has always been a battle between biology and the elements, but in Western Australia it has long been an exercise in outsmarting the climate itself. As the world warms and dries, much of the public conversation has focused on what farmers will lose. The real story — the one told in labs, field trials, machine sheds and paddocks — is what farmers have already gained. Science, not slogans, is the reason Western Australia remains

Trevor Whittington December 2, 2025

York farmer and PGA president Tony Seabrook in the yards with some of the cross-bred lambs which would normally be bound for live export. Pictured at Tony's property near York. 24 JUNE 2018 Picture: Danella Bevis The West Australian

News Clippings

The Countryman/ABC: York farmer Tony Seabrook steps down after 11 years as Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA president

WAFarmers offers its sincere gratitude to Tony Seabrook for his enormous contribution to Western Australia’s agriculture sector as he steps down after 11 years as President of the Pastoral and Grazier’s Association of WA (PGA). We wish Tony and his family all the very best for the next chapter in his life – which, from what he says in the interviews below, looks likely to be anything but a traditional “retirement” – in true Seabrook

Darren Brown December 2, 2025

Opinion Articles

Canberra’s Bureaucratic Bubble Just Got Fluffier

When a body like Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) — a public-sector institution charged with grappling Australia’s economic malaise — declares its staff now get eight “wellbeing days” a year without needing a reason, you know you’ve left the realm of public service and wandered into courtier-class delusion. This gem emerged as part of the latest enterprise agreement signed off by the Fair Work Commission: staff earning up to about $101,800 get their usual 18-day

Trevor Whittington December 2, 2025

Government News

‘Right to Repair’ to be extended to agricultural machinery

Australia’s state and territory Treasurers met on Friday, after which Federal Treasurer Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP announced: The Commonwealth will also… Extend our ‘Right to Repair’ reforms to agricultural machinery The agreement means the Federal Government can now amend Competition and Consumer legislation as part of its ongoing work on reforms to improve productivity and competition across a range of sectors. Dr Chalmers said agreements in the area of National Competition Policy reforms also included

Darren Brown December 1, 2025

Opinion Articles

Buried Alive by the Pastoral Award

The Pastoral Award helpfully tells farmers that: “The average ordinary working hours for a farm and livestock hand will be fixed by agreement … but will not exceed an average of 38 hours per week over a 4-week period,” and then repeats the same rule in a different way: “The ordinary hours of work … will not exceed 152 hours in any consecutive period of 4 weeks.” The University Award contains its own classics, including

Trevor Whittington November 27, 2025

General News

WAFarmers Dairy President Ian Noakes elected to ADF Board

WAFarmers congratulates our Dairy Section President, Ian Noakes, for his election to the Board of Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF). See ADF media statement below: ADF welcomes new board director Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) held its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, which included the announcement of election results for one vacant Board Director position. The position was contested by two candidates, Western Australian dairy farmer Ian Noakes and Gippsland dairy farmer Paul Mumford. Mr Noakes was

Darren Brown November 26, 2025

Submissions

Advocacy success: Government abandons push to lower country speed limits

A quietly posted “Communique for Infrastructure and Transport Ministers’ Meeting” confirmed a win for common sense – and the value of advocacy from WAFarmers and the other individuals and groups that made a submission opposing the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts’ proposal to reduce open road default speed limits. The very last item on the 8 issue meeting report simply said: National Road Safety Strategy – Default Speed Limits

Darren Brown November 25, 2025