PASTORALISTS have accused Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Regional Development and Lands, Wendy Duncan of being out of touch after comments made in last week's Farm Weekly.
The comments came in response to an article concerning the recent pastoral rents increase.
In the article, Ms Duncan said pastoralists needed to keep in mind that the average rent being charged in WA, equated to 5.3 cents a hectare or an average of 40 cents per DSE.
"Per cattle unit it equates to about $2.80," Ms Duncan said.
"If you cannot pay $2.80 per beast per year, for the use of the State Government's land then your business probably isn't viable."
Rex Ward, Millrose station, said he was outraged by the comments and believes the government didn't seem to understand and was certainly out of sync with what pastoralists were up against.
"There are a lot more costs than just that and they all add up," Mr Ward said.
Mr Ward said he, like most pastoralists, faced a huge number of costs such as NILS tags, freight costs, fuel costs from running generators, increased labour costs and insurance, just to name a few.
"It costs us $9 before we even get out of bed when we want to truck cattle because of the NILS tag and the beef levy," he said.
"It also costs us about $57 a head in freight costs to get the beast to the saleyards in Muchea.
"Along with these costs and the rent increase, last year the government introduced the need to have 36 monitoring sites put in across our property, all of which are at an added cost to us.
"The pastoral industry is very switched on and we are not behind the eight ball like Ms Duncan seems to think we are.
"She needs to get out of her office and take a look around before she opens her mouth and makes those sorts of comments."
Joe De Pledge, Mandora station, believes the current State Government is doing nothing for pastoralists.
"We are in the shire of Broome and shire rates went up $2000 last year," he said.
"The Broome shire does nothing for us, they don't even grade our access roads, they tell us we can use the library and swimming pool,
"I live out on a station, I don't even know where the library and swimming pool are.
"All of this just adds up to what becomes a huge significant factor in your budget and just shows how out of touch with pastoralists the government really is."
In response to the comments Ms Duncan said she didn't agree and said the Pastoral Lands Board did liaise with the Valuer General.
"Because of the talks between the two, the Valuer General reduced the percentage of the unimproved capital value and took into account the economic circumstances and the drought the industry faced, when choosing to increase rents," she said.
"With the question of the comparative value of rents to other states, I'm still waiting on up to date information from that, as the information I have is from 2008.
"However looking at it from 2008 most of the other states' rents are comparable to what WA is charging, however some of them are particularly low and others use a different method of calculation.
"In terms of the Northern Territory, it is made up predominantly by the pastoral industry, and I guess that is reflected in its parliament."
Ms Duncan didn't agree that in WA the pastoral industry took a back seat to the mining industry and that perhaps the government was out of touch with what was beneficial for the pastoral industry.
"I think in some of the other states the industries are being subsidised, but in WA the current government believes in free enterprise and industries not being subsidised," she said.
"In my travels I've seen some very profitable and innovative pastoral businesses and I've seem some very diverse businesses where people are successful.
"Unfortunately like any industry, small business or mining, there is a spectrum of people.
"Some are successful and some aren't, and it's not for the State Government to pick up and support the tail."
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