Trevor Whittington, CEO WAFarmers

What would it cost? And what is the carbon footprint of the physical effort to remove the footing of one of the many 200m tall wind turbine towers soon to be seen scattered across the Wheatbelt? ... I wonder how many of the Greenpeace activist types have watched the doco Thrown to the Wind about the whale deaths off the East Coast of the United States?

The recent talk in the media of the plan by the WA National Party to trade the leadership of the Opposition for a guaranteed third winnable seat in the upper house was a sign of a political party that was in deep trouble ... If the Nat’s want to survive, they need to take some big policy risks and be more than Robin Hood and Father Christmas wandering around with the Royalty for Regions chequebook that requires the Liberal Treasurer to cash them.

It’s time for the progressive left and the Yes supporters to give up on the Marxist dream of collectivization and redistribution and instead encourage indigenous Australia to accept that the gap is based on a lack of the opportunities that come with private enterprise, individual enterprise, strong families and less government, not more.

What would focus the minds of farmers to be more drought resilient is if the State and Federal governments come out together and simply say to all Australia's farmers that 'you are on your own, we are no longer handing out grants when the rains fail'   ... If they are going to continue with the Drought Fund, then they should focus on funding some big game-changing projects, not the rats and mice ones that won’t move the dial.

Good captains can read not only the shifting winds of the seas and the state of the ship but also the mood of the crew and, when they hit land, have the people skills to mix it with the local population. It begs the question, are our Cook and Buti the modern-day equivalents of Captain Cook and Bligh?

WAFarmers met with the Western Australian Minister for Heritage recently. We had an interesting discussion on the roll out of the State's new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Laws. The Minister clearly believes that the new laws won't impact farmers the way our lawyers tell us it will; in his view the roll out is smooth and all it needs is some tweaking ... Minister, some more advice.

John Hassell, President WAFarmers. Sheep farmers in Western Australia have been told by the Federal Labor Government that we have lost our social licence for live exports ... If it was a rash decision then it's time to reverse it and accept that the industry has done everything it has been asked for by the Government and should be allowed to continue.   If not then this decision marks the end of agriculture in Australia as we know it and the Government should tell us.

Try finding out what the true cost is of undertaking an Aboriginal Heritage survey in Western Australia and you will be confronted by a conspiracy of silence ... with no examples of the amount it has cost explorers, councils and main roads to get heritage clearances so that farmers can have a realistic idea of what their LACHS are likely to charge them, I’m limited to telling you my latest journey down the mad rabbit hole of aboriginal cultural heritage.

The new WA Aboriginal Cultural Heritage laws will have far reaching consequences to the farming community, many of which are only just coming to light as the WA Department of Heritage workshops the changes across the State. This is how WAFarmers responded to one of the workshops in the central Wheatbelt.        

A diligent Minister who had applied himself to the detail would have recognised the risks of running with a system that was overly complex and open to abuse. A competent Minister would have delayed the start date when they recognised that neither his department, the IT system, the LACHS or the industry was ready. But Buti did neither.