Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell has called for ongoing, secure funding for the Cattle Underpass Scheme.
Ms Britnell said the program ceased in July last year and the Andrews Labor Government has so far not announce any further funding.
She raised the matter in parliament this week after being contacted from dairy farmers across the south-west and said the program had wide ranging benefits including improved safety for motorists and farmers.
“The Government’s own report into the scheme showed that underpasses dramatically improved road and workplace safety,” she said.
“It also improves productivity and economic output, with farmers reporting that installing an underpass saved them about 6 hours of labour a week, made their heard easier to manage and enabled them to use their land more productively.
“The report also found farmers who installed an underpass on average increased their herd size from 299 to 340 head.”
Ms Britnell said the funding program needed to be ongoing and not sporadic in order to have more underpasses installed – especially on busy roads.
“One local farmer said to me as land becomes available to purchase and farms expand, farmers should have the opportunity to access this funding when they need it,” she said.
“The Minister for Agriculture must see the wide-ranging benefits of this program and must see the sense in reinstating this important funding program long term.”
