AN UNWAVERING Australian Wool Innovation chairman Wal Merriman stood firm on the AWI election process in the face of criticism from Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who has called for the body to be scrapped altogether.
While he would not be drawn to comment on the senators calls for abolishment, Mr Merriman reiterated his stance that he would not remove the “democratic right” of woolgrowers to determine their own industry leadership and representation.
“To suggest the current AWI board members were elected on anything other than their demonstrated skill in business, marketing, wool growing, wool processing, research and governance ignores not only their significant accomplishments in these fields but woolgrowers’ ability to acknowledge and value these skills,” he said.
“As part of the AWI AGM this year, woolgrowers have the opportunity to vote for a change to the AWI constitution and change the frequency of board elections from an annual process to every two years,” Mr Merriman said.
But executive director of the peak wool grower organisation, WoolProducers, Greg Weller, has called the proposed election rotation an ignorant move.
He has urged AWI to disclose its director salaries as it had in previous annual reviews. (See separate story).
In a letter to Rural Press this week, Victorian wool grower and former chairman Australian Wool Corporation, Hugh Beggs, also outlined the need for a new wool body.
“An industry structure beyond the farm gate is essential. However, the organisation set up to do this have not succeeded satisfactorily in recent times,” he said.
He also recommended that board of directors should be ministerial appointments – not elected.
Given AWI's statutory standing, change must be driven by the Government.
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