A WA agricultural lobby group has condemned the outcome of an animal cruelty case against a Kimberley Aboriginal corporation, alleging a lack of consistency in the penalties handed to Indigenous and non-Indigenous property owners.
Yungngora Association Incorporated (YAI) was handed a $250,000 suspended fine in the Broome Magistrates Court last week after pleading guilty to 11 animal cruelty charges over an incident at Noonkanbah station in 2018.
Close to 100 cattle are believed to have died at the property, located about 170 kilometres from Fitzroy Crossing, with an investigation finding unseasonably hot weather and inadequate infrastructure contributed to the deaths.
YAI will not have to pay the $250,000 fine unless it commits further offences within the next two years.
Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia (PGA) president Tony Seabrook said a suspended fine was an inadequate penalty for an incident of its scale and severity.
"The animals perished in an appalling way," he said.
"To say that a fine was levied and it might not be made to be paid in any great hurry, it's a punishment with a feather duster.
"I think that the courts have been exceptionally light in the punishment that they delivered."
Mr Seabrook said far harsher penalties had been levelled against non-Indigenous organisations involved in similar animal cruelty cases, and livestock owners across the state were increasingly frustrated by a lack of consistency demonstrated by the courts and state government.
He pointed to the government's harsh scrutiny of the live export trade and other hefty penalties handed down to producers in the south of the state.
"If it hadn't been an Indigenous property, I think that the punishment would have been considerably more," he said.
"You can't have justice for one group of people that is different than justice for another group of people, and that's what appears to have happened here."
Minister defends sentence
YAI has spent $700,000 improving infrastructure at Noonkanbah since 2018 and issued a statement last week highlighting its remorse over the situation.
The ABC has contacted YAI for comment.
Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan defended the sentence handed to the corporation, describing it as an appropriate "wake-up call".
"It recognises the financial constraints of the organisation, it recognises that the organisation pleaded guilty," she said.
"I believe it also recognises that there have been very significant steps taken to rectify the situation."
Ms MacTiernan refuted claims of a double standard.
"I think there was some quiet mindless scepticism about the department's preparedness to prosecute an Aboriginal corporation that has been obviously proved to not be true," she said.
"Certainly, under our administration and the culture that we've endeavoured to imbue within the department, these things, animal welfare prosecutions, are done without fear or favour.
"We are very focused on getting a good outcome."
Support to redress failures
YAI is not the only Indigenous-run pastoral property in WA's north under scrutiny over animal welfare issues, with legal proceedings underway against Mugarinya Community Association Incorporated over the alleged mass death of cattle at Yandeyarra Reserve in the Pilbara.
The two cases have brought to light the challenges faced by Indigenous organisations transitioning into the management of pastoral properties and has sparked debate over whether the state government has provided enough support.
"It's a necessary thing that these properties exist, and one would hope that they're properly managed by oversight to make certain that these sorts of events do not occur," Mr Seabrook said.
Ms MacTiernan said the government was working with numerous Indigenous-run pastoral properties, including YAI, to address some of the complex structural issues that contributed to animal welfare failures.
"I think most of the good pastors out there, people of goodwill, they understand the challenges that Aboriginal corporations have," she said.
"Part of the work that we are doing with Aboriginal and pastoral stations is to ensure that we've got a governance structure that can separate out the responsibilities of running a pastoral business from the responsibilities of running a community of a couple of hundred people."
