‘Deep sadness’: Wagin Woolorama’s 50th celebration cancelled due to State Government’s Level 2 restrictions

Mark McGowan’s snap COVID-19 restrictions have mothballed WA’s biggest sheep show just 10 days before its 50th anniversary celebrations in a devastating blow to the State’s agricultural community. The Wagin Woolorama committee issued a statement on Tuesday that said the State Government’s Level 2 COVID-19 restrictions meant the event — planned for March 11 and 12 — would be cancelled with “deep sadness”. It came less than 24 hours after the WA Premier announced the Level 2 restrictions — timed timed to coincide with the fall of the hard border – despite just 11 people battling COVID in hospital on Monday. The statement, issued by Wagin Woolorama’s new president Paul Powell, said the committee explored “multiple avenues” to bring the 50th event to the community, patrons and attendees but the restrictions determined that the event was “not safe”. He thanked Woolorama patron and The Nationals Roe MP Peter Rundle and the business Event Health Management — which helped prepare Woolorama’s COVID-19 plan — for their “advocacy and support leading into the show and especially in the past 24 hours”. “Over the past 24 hours we have explored multiple avenues to bring the 50th event to our community, patrons and attendees,” Mr Powell said. “The event management team has invested significant resources to take every precaution to look after patrons, exhibitors, staff and volunteer health.” Mr Powell said he felt enormous pride in the hard work, dedication and courage of all of those involved in the preparations for the 50th Wagin Woolorama and its cancellation was “no reflection” on their efforts. “The fact that we were unable to deliver our 50th Wagin Woolorama next weekend is no reflection on the efforts of our staff, volunteers, competitors and committee,” he said. “I would like to thank the stewards, sponsors, exhibitors, staff, volunteers and patrons for your hard work and ongoing commitment and support. “We will be back in 2023 to celebrate our 50th Wagin Woolorama as the premier regional agricultural show of WA celebrating agricultural excellence and rural living.” The cancellation of the event — which attracts about 20,000 people to the town each year — would have far-reaching implications for the community and sheep industry, Mr Powell said. Woolorama is the ninth agricultural show cancelled in WA due to COVID-19 this year. “Our local businesses, community groups and the region’s agricultural industry rely on this annual event and the economic boost that it brings with it,” Mr Powell said. “We encourage the WA events industry and agricultural societies who are planning to run in 2022 to continue despite the challenging restrictions. “The benefits these shows provide the community far outweigh the additional workload associated with COVID-19 Event Safety management.” Mr Powell said Woolorama’s cancellation policy meant all exhibitors and competitors, sponsors and tickets would be refunded but asked for patience as the team worked through refunds during the next week. Stud Merino Breeders Association president Allan Hobley said the cancellation was “extremely disappointing” for the sheep producers and event organisers who had put in so much work. “I’m feeling for the Wagin Woolorama organisers more than anything because it’s their 50th year, and I think everyone was hoping this year would be different, with events going ahead and less restrictions,” he said. “It feels like they’ve done more promotion than ever for this year, and to have the rug ripped out at the last minute would be pretty disappointing.” Member for Roe and event patron Peter Rundle said he had tried in vain to provide advice to organisers as the situation changed on Tuesday. “They’ve got a site which is 200,000 square metres, so even running at 50 per cent they’d still be able to, under normal circumstances, run the event safely,” he said. “The hard thing to quantify is when you’ve got a large outdoor public setting like that with 200,000 square metres, compared to 30,000 people in Optus Stadium, how does that compare?” Mr Rundle called on the State Government to compensate Woolorama for “the massive amount of work and expense the committee has undertaken”. Mr McGowan flagged support for businesses would be announced “in coming days”. More than 63 per cent of West Australians over the age of 16 have also now received a booster shot but Mr McGowan insisted the new public health measures were required to avoid a dramatic spike in hospitalisations in coming days and weeks. He said the plan was for Level 2 restrictions “to stay in place for the next month” – even if hospitalisations remained low. “The latest advice is we should now expect WA to reach the peak of cases in the next two to three weeks or so. That is how fast we expect Omicron to spread,” the Premier said. “Therefore, if we want a set of measures to be effective, they need to come in sooner rather than later.”