#KEEPTHESHEEP Stadium launched

The home ground of Albany’s Railways Football and Sporting Club was today renamed #KEEPTHESHEEP Stadium thanks to a Katanning businessman who knows the value of the live exports trade to his home community.

“Alan McFarland could have named the stadium after himself, or his business, after winning Railways’ raffle to rename their home ground,” Federal Member for O’Connor Rick Wilson said today.

“But Alan knows that country towns in the Great Southern and Wheatbelt regions of the state rely heavily on agriculture, including live sheep exports that fill a vital niche in the Western Australian industry.

“I applaud his decision to name the ground #KEEPTHESHEEP Stadium, and Railways for coming up with a unique fundraising initiative that captured the imagination of sports lovers throughout Albany and beyond.”

The raffle earned Railways Football and Sporting Club $61,000, which will largely be put toward refurbishing and extending its ageing club facilities on Lockyer Avenue in Centennial Park.

“Today’s naming of #KEEPTHESHEEP Stadium is the latest evidence that Labor’s live exports ban is not only a grave concern among farmers, but also more widely among regional communities whose local economies stand to suffer from the ALP’s ideological and non-scientific approach to animal welfare,” Mr Wilson said.

 “The WA Liberals and I will not rest until Prime Minister Albanese’s ban on live exports is overturned.

“The ban unfairly targets WA whose farmers produce by far the most sheep for export.”

Media contact: Chris Thomson, (08) 9842 2777; [email protected]