Will WA buck the national approach to phasing out caged eggs? 

WA Agriculture Minister, Alannah MacTiernan has responded to the claim made by John Hassell, President of WA Farmers on Perth Live that her comments are a “slap in the teeth to the industry.”

“Look can I give some facts. We’ve got about 68-70 egg growers in WA, of them only about 8 are still doing caged eggs,” she told Oliver Peterson on Perth Live.

“Just to be clear about the national standards that have been published, what they say is for any growers who had their cages commissioned before 2012, the phase out date is 2032. So the phase out date that we mentioned, 2032, is actually there in the national standards.”

Ms MacTiernan further stated that 90% or more of the few growers who still are doing caged eggs are already captured by that 2032 cut-off.

In response to John Hassell’s comments on Monday’s Perth Live show, Oly asked Ms MacTiernan whether she was after the industry.

“Absolutely not. We are working with the industry because they understand where things are headed. They understand under the new national guidelines, they will be required to cease caged eggs by 2032,” she said.

Press PLAY to hear more on what we can expect for WA’s egg industry