00:00This handpiece is all Paul Collins has known for the last 25 years.
00:09Now his future is in doubt.
00:11It's bloody scary, you know, because I don't want to do anything else.
00:15The wool industry is forecasting the state's flock will shrink by millions because of the
00:20looming ban on live sheep exports.
00:22That's because Merino sheep, prized for their wool, will be swapped for better meat-producing
00:27breeds.
00:28But the shearing industry predicts that will see its workforce halve, losing 800 jobs.
00:34It's going to be the demise of a lot of towns.
00:37The Federal Government says its $107 million transition package will expand domestic meat
00:42processing.
00:43The meat industry claims it will create up to 800 new jobs.
00:47But that's little comfort in towns like Lake Grace, where there's no abattoir and shearing
00:52is the biggest employer.
00:53I've heard on TV, like, the politicians saying that, ah, be alright, just go and get another
00:59job.
01:00But, you know, the industry's us.
01:01This is who we are.
01:03Local governments across Western Australia's Great Southern and Wheatbelt regions have
01:06written to the Parliamentary Inquiry looking at the ban on live export, warning it could
01:11jeopardise the future of towns already struggling to maintain a viable population as it is.
01:20Local businesses in these communities say the ripple effects of the ban are being ignored.
01:26Sort of the elephant in the room they're not talking about at the moment.
01:28The bigger consequences is what it's going to do to our little towns and our sustainability
01:32moving forward as well.
01:33The Federal Government says its transition package will support community wellbeing and
01:37financial counsellors.
01:39Died-in-the-wool sheep towns don't believe that's enough.
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