Press Release

Western Australia’s leading agricultural lobby group, the Pastoralists and Graziers Association (PGA) met yesterday with members of the Reserve Bank of Australia to discuss the economic impact of the Bank’s actions on primary producers in Western Australia.

“This was a tremendous opportunity for the Reserve Bank to hear directly from the coal face how their decisions are affecting the future of agribusiness in Western Australia,” PGA President Tony Seabrook said.

“The over stimulation of the economy by using borrowed money has allowed the Reserve Bank to hold interest rates at amongst the highest in the world in order to curb inflation and the high costs of borrowing and the inflow of capital is still holding the Australian dollar at levels damaging to exporters.”

“The high costs of production have impacted on Australia’s ability to compete at a profitable level on the international stage, especially our industrial relations system which has priced Australian labour at uncompetitive levels.  This has led to the demise of manufacturing in Australia and primary producers are not immune.”

“Our current rigid and inflexible wage system is creating some of the highest wages for farm labour in the world, beyond what most primary producers are able to afford and forcing them to rely on backpackers who are often unqualified, inexperienced and transient,” he said.

“What is needed is a better system that will allow producers to source experienced labour from overseas because our current 457 Visa program is simply not working.”