Sheep and Goat Electronic Identification

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Primary Industries a question on the sheep and goat electronic identification rollout.

Leave granted.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: Back in September 2023, I asked a question of the minister in this place about the use of ultra high frequency RFID tags and whether the minister or her department had sought advice from industry on the use of ultra high frequency electronic ID tags in the rollout of the mandatory sheep and goat eID program. The minister in her response suggested that, so long as they were an NLIS-approved device and tag, the subsidy would exist.

Farmers from around the state have contacted the opposition about their concern about the use of so-called old technology or low frequency tags and what that will mean for the future. It is important to note that the wool industry utilise ultra high frequency tags on every bale of wool now to trace all bales in storage. My questions to the minister are:

1. Can the minister confirm that ultra high frequency RFID tags are an approved device as per the national livestock identification scheme?

2. Can the minister confirm that the associated infrastructure and equipment used to read the high frequency tags is the same as currently used for low frequency tags?

3. Can the minister confirm that ultra high frequency tags are available to be used as part of the sheep and goat electronic ID rollout and are subsidised to the same cost as low frequency tags here in South Australia?

4. If not, will the minister, as the leader of this mandated program in South Australia, provide the chamber with an undertaking that she will go away and bring back a reply and in doing so ensure she investigates the use of ultra high frequency in mandatory electronic identification?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:26): I thank the honourable member for her question. I am advised that UHF is an alternative technology used in some livestock industries around the world and has been found to have some benefits in the livestock industry, including the ability to read groups of animals at speed, read individual animals at close range, as well as having data storage capabilities. I am advised that there are instances of UHF tags being used by producers in Australia, but that they are being used for other management purposes and are not NLIS accredited, so they would not be recorded or tracked by the NLIS database. Given that the NLIS database is a national database, that is where they would need to be accredited for use.