Media Releases

WAFarmers backs mandated pain relief for mulesing as flystrike threat remains front and centre

WAFarmers has welcomed the Minister for Agriculture’s confirmation in Parliament that Western Australia will mandate the use of pain relief for mulesing under the nationally agreed Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for sheep, noting the move is squarely in line with existing WAFarmers policy. WAFarmers Livestock Council supports that effective pain relief should be mandatory for mulesing and has consistently supported continued research into practical alternatives to surgical mulesing. Geoff Pearson, President of the

Darren Brown November 20, 2025

Research and Reports

Auditor General report finds serious issues in Maintaining Regional Local Roads

Western Australia’s Auditor General has tabled the Maintaining Regional Local Roads report in Parliament which highlighted a number of problematic issues including: The condition of Western Australia’s Local Government (LG) road network is largely unknown because it is neither measured nor consistently reported. This lack of data undermines maintenance planning, prevents accurate assessment of maintenance effectiveness, and obscures the true scale and cost of the maintenance backlog. The inconsistency of asset management across LGs increases

Darren Brown November 13, 2025

Media Releases

Firearms Act report ‘states the bleeding obvious’

Firearms Act report ‘states the bleeding obvious’ The peak body for Western Australian farmers has criticized a Parliamentary Committee report into the Firearms Act 2024 for not addressing the big issues. WAFarmers President Steve McGuire said the report’s findings confirm many of concerns the organization has with the legislation but fails to recommend significant improvements. “We know the Act was rushed through Parliament prior to the last election mostly for political reasons,” Mr. McGuire said. “There

Darren Brown October 16, 2025