WA behind on live animal transport laws

Western Australia is the only state or territory in the nation that has not signed up to laws regulating how animals are treated when transported on land, the RSPCA says.

With WA playing a key role in the nation's livestock trade, Premier Colin Barnett this week named agriculture as an industry that must grow for the state, with the mining boom now over.

He also appointed Dean Nalder to take over the portfolio from Ken Baston, who RSPCA WA president Lynne Bradshaw said she hoped would be independent of the extreme end of the pastoral lobby and take a stronger stance on animal transport standards.

"The government is out of step with public opinion on animal welfare," Ms Bradshaw told AAP.

"Most codes of practice around livestock have not been updated for more than a decade.

"We are the only state not to have put in place the Australian Land Transport Standards for Livestock."

Ms Bradshaw said she would seek a meeting with Mr Nalder to discuss the matter.