A BAN on live sheep exports is the tip of the iceberg and The Nationals WA Agricultural Region MLC Colin de Grussa said animal activists would not stop there.
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Mr de Grussa criticised Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt's comments last Friday, labelling them "a shameless attack" on WA's agriculture industry.
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He said having just one Western Australian on the four-person consultation panel was "absolutely ridiculous" and a "slap in the face to farmers".
"Let's not forget this is our State's second biggest industry, in particular, the live sheep sector of that, which supports more than 3000 livelihoods.
"It is not a simple case of closing down this industry, there will be huge repercussions in other industries when it comes to our export markets and overseas customers.
"Untold damage will be caused just from this announcement, let alone the transition."
As a world leader in animal welfare, Mr de Grussa said shutting down the trade would result in worse outcomes for sheep in WA and abroad.
And onshore processing was not a simple solution to fill the live export void.
He said animals sent for live export were not the same as those sent for local processing.
"To transition out of that means changing breeding and changing the way farmers manage those livestock on their farms - who's going to pay for that?" Mr de Grussa asked.
"Who's going to pay for farmers to change the livestock they are producing?
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"Let's also not forget - we can't find people to work in our abattoirs, they are already working at capacity and they can't take anymore animals - so what's going to happen?
"How are we going to process the extra animals created by this stupid decision made by the Labor Party?"
Mr de Grussa called on people to sign a petition, which called on the Federal government to back science and overturn its ideological opposition to live export.
He said it was a chance to support local jobs, particularly in an industry that underwrites regional economies across WA and accounts for 97 per cent of national livestock exports.
