Murray Watt says no more caged egg farming after 2036

The announcement was made after a joint meeting of the nation's agriculture ministers in Perth on Thursday, the first face-to-face meeting of the ministers in more than three years.

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said following "intense consultation" from industry, the ministers endorsed new animal welfare standards which will eventually see battery cages banned.

The implementation of the new welfare standards will be decided by each state government, which includes the timeframe and the circumstances of which these standards are introduced.

At the meeting, WA Agriculture and Food Minister Jackie Jarvis believed WA could phase-out caged eggs by 2032.

Cages may still be used in egg production, however Mr Watt said they must provide "additional space and environmental enrichment".

"We actually obtained modelling which shows that even as a result of these changed standards, the average egg consumer will be paying about $1.51 more per year," Mr Watt said.

"We're not talking about $15 boxes of eggs, those figures have no credibility and the politicians who are out there sprouting them are just trying to scare people."

Mr Watt also announced a national traceability system and strategy, which are electronic systems which track the movements of animals, from farms to transport and abattoirs.

The traceability scheme aims to offer more information about where food comes from and the circumstances in which that food has been produced, and aims to provide a faster response to biosecurity outbreaks.

"If a biosecurity out break were to occur, we can work out where they have been and which other animals they have infected, and allow for a much quicker response," Mr Watt said.

In Queensland, Egg Farmers of Australia chief executive officer Melinda Hashimoto said Australia can learn from New Zealand.

"The reasoning around 2046 was based on the fact that many farmers take out 30 year loans with their banks and so in order to pay off their whole egg business, they do need such time to be able to pay that off," Ms Hashimoto said.

"We can certainly look across at the situation in New Zealand where they've phased out their cages, and then we've seen a huge increase in the price of eggs.

"They've moved from originally in 2021, from around $4.88 right through until this year, up around that $8- $9 for a dozen eggs so we can see the impacts to customers across the ditch and certainly, we would predict that there would be a egg price rises here in Australia as well."

Ms Hashimoto said the industry had come a long way.

"If you have the opportunity to go to a cage farm you can understand how different the cages are now compared to many years ago," she said.

"I think quite often Australia is quick to jump on the bandwagon as to what other places are doing and the phase out in Europe we've seen has created problems where they've had disease impacts, and they've had to move hens from outside back inside into barn systems."

The minister also shared the announcement of Australia's first ever national statement on climate and agriculture.

"We've needed for a very long time to have a harmonised approach, between different levels of government to deal with this challenge the agriculture sector faces," he said.

"We've obviously emerged from 10 years of denial of climate change at a Federal government level."

"It's an opportunity for our sector to build on the good work that they've already been doing, become more climate resilient, demonstrate their sustainability standards to consumers and international markets.

"What that means is that farmers have the opportunity to be even more profitable, more productive if they've got governments working with them.

"At last in this country we have a set of governments that are prepared to work with the sector to continue to build on that good work."

Mr Watt declared that the population growth of red fire ants was "under control" and announced a proposal for a Queensland-led national eradication program.

"All ministers understand the importance of maintaining momentum in the fight against this spread," he said.

"In the meantime, most jurisdictions have agreed to bring forward future funding that they have allocated to combat red imported fire ants."

Ms Watt said this funding would be brought into the current financial year.

"Once we get through the remaining jurisdictions to go through their budget processes, we expect to be spending up to $60 million dollars, just in this financial year to keep up the momentum on that fight," he said.

It follows $400m of spending from all levels of government on the eradication of red imported fire ants.

The Australian Government's plan to end the live sheep trade by sea in the next term of government was also a talking point at the meeting.

Mr Watt said he was "really confident" about the future of the sheep industry in WA, sticking to an election commitment to end the live sheep trade.

He said that he had spoken to Ms Jarvis on a "regular basis" and that he understood WA "held a different position" regarding the phase-out.

"I'm very confident that we can continue working with the sector to open new export markets that allow for more on-shore processing," Mr Watt said.

"I'm certainly conscious that we don't have the processing capability in Western Australia to cope with an influx of more sheep right now.