A bitter war of words has broken out across WA’s vast north, with farmers claiming political correctness is silencing debate and outrage over the mass deaths of cattle on indigenous-owned pastoral leases.

As authorities confirm the number of dead has now passed 1000 head, WA’s peak farming group has called on Aboriginal groups, the media and “broader society” to have an honest discussion about the failure of some indigenouscommunities to manage pastoral leases.

“What’s happened here is no different from the (sheep carrier) Awassi Express, yet where is the outrage from governments and animal rights groups,” new WAFarmers chief executive Trevor Whittington told The Sunday Times.

But Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan and indigenous leaders have hit back hard, saying the issue was far more complex than “racist” throwaway lines, while the RSPCA said it welcomed any initiatives to head off any more animal welfare “disasters”.

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development livestock compliance unit officers will remain in the Pilbara as they liaise with local community leaders about how best to manage those cattle that are still alive.

They are busy re-establishing water troughs while stock are being gathered and moved to areas where feed and water is available.

It’s paternalism at its worst, and someone has got to call it out — governments just keep throwing money at the problem, and that isolates them from the realities of the modern world, and how to run a business.

The department confirmed that in the Kimberley, 85 head were “humanely destroyed” in late December on one Aboriginal-owned enterprise and “several hundred” had died on the same station “over a period of time”.

On the massive two million hectare lease further south in the Pilbara, authorities have shot 935 head of cattle since January 21. They will be there for some time as they try to action management plans with the local communities.

Mr Whittington, who has just taken over the WAFarmers chief executive role after working with indigenous groups in the Kimberley, said some stations were “run really well”.

But there were 41 station leases across the Pilbara and Kimberley now owned by native title holders or Aboriginal corporations and, according to a recent report to government, a quarter of those were “completely dysfunctional”.

“It’s paternalism at its worst, and someone has got to call it out — governments just keep throwing money at the problem, and that isolates them from the realities of the modern world, and how to run a business,” he said.

“Both sides of politics have refused to go and look at the fundamental drivers of why these indigenous operations have not been working as well as their private or corporate-run neighbours.

“We are now coming into the second generation of indigenous pastoral stations, that’s coming up to 40 years, so are we going to let this go on for another 20 years, another 40?”

He believes the legal structure around Aboriginal corporations meant they were set up to fail — but not go broke.

“They come under an amazing level of scrutiny (through the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations) but there is no system in place to clean them out like there is in corporate Australia,” he said.

The good ones should be allowed to grow and prosper, and the bad ones should be allowed to fail, just like everyone else.

Mr Whittington, pictured, said native title holders should be allowed to turn their leases into freehold property, “put them under a normal shareholder structure, and give everyone shares”.

That would give communities some true “skin in the game” and “just like Wheatbelt families do all the time, there would be benefits for those who want out and those who want to stay in the business”.

“It would increase the level of governance, because at the moment there is no clear level of responsibility because of the ownership structure,” he argued.

“The good ones should be allowed to grow and prosper, and the bad ones should be allowed to fail, just like everyone else.”

But Ms MacTiernan described Mr Whittington’s suggestion the Government was guilty of double standards as “utter rubbish”.

“This racist claptrap is so far from the truth — we have made it abundantly clear that we will not be lowering any standards for Aboriginal people who run stations,” she said.

“What we are attempting to do is change some of the inappropriate governance structures that dictate how some of these operations work.

“I’ve been talking about this for the last year. Look at KAPCO (the indigenous-owned Kimberley Agriculture and Pastoral Company) and you can see how with a little creativity and imagination, these things can get off the ground.”

Camera Icon WA Farmers CEO Trevor Whittington. Credit: The Sunday Times, Justin Benson-Cooper.

Craig Somerville, a Martu man from Beyondi Station in the Pilbara and a former adviser to the Lawrence Labor government who now sits on the Prisoners Review Board, said Mr Whittington’s comments were “a flashback to the s--- the old pastoralists used to spruik”.

To have a proper debate about the issue, parties needed to move away from the blame game.

“We have to acknowledge that back in the day, our only business was pastoral, but since towns have developed and people have moved off country, everything’s changed and the industry has become very high-tech,” he said. “No one rides around on horses any more.”

Back then, the Agricultural Protection Board “knew every pastoral lease in WA” and there were support structures in place for Aboriginal station managers and management plans.

Many Aboriginal communities preferred to use their resources for other purposes such as tourism and roadhouses to create wealth and training opportunities. The Aboriginal Lands Trust, which oversees many leases across WA, should also have some responsibility over how the leases evolve, he said.

He also called for more engagement between government and indigenous corporations and native title holders whose operations involve the running of cattle.

“I think there probably needs to be more monitoring of these operations, and some support and services,” he said.

The passing of legendary Aboriginal stockmen such as Dickie Cox and Peter Coppin who “came straight off mustering and into station manager roles” had left a big hole in the industry.

“They were carrying on with best practice, but as they’ve passed on, the younger ones have gone into mining industry, or moved away to town, and those skills have been lost,” he said.

I think there probably needs to be more monitoring of these operations, and some support and services.

Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen’s Association’s Emma White said that while there was “a lot of soul-searching going on”, suggestions that political correctness was stifling urgent action and discussion around the issue were “not really helpful”.

Last week’s ministerial round table to figure out how best to support indigenous stations had been a welcome development, but clearly there were issues with governance and the management of stations across the Pilbara and Kimberley, she said.

“We want to work with DPIRD on rolling out a Queensland model that provides support that increases standards, helps with monitoring and compliance issues around indigenous pastoral stations which will help them to lift standards,” she said.

That said, it was incumbent on pastoralists to provide water and feed and properly look after their stock. She expected charges to be laid under the Animal Welfare Act.

The RSPCA has welcomed the McGowan Government’s round table, but “believes a fully resourced, open and transparent government inquiry was necessary to properly investigate the level and nature of the risks posed and what can be done to prevent further incidents in the future”.