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GIFFARD WEST farmer Steve Harrison has been announced president of WoolProducers Australia. Mr Harrison will be joined by Stacey Lugsdin as vice president. The announcement follows WoolProducers’ annual meeting held in Sydney on Thursday, November 10, where immediate past president, Ed Storey, stood down after completing his maximum four-year term. Mr Harrison thanked Mr Storey for his service to WoolProducers and the wider wool industry “Ed has contributed immensely to the wool industry over his tenure and oversaw a number of essential policy decisions and industry good programmes to take the industry forward,” he said. “Some of these issues include the development of the Trust in Australian Wool Campaign and the Sheep Sustainability Framework, both livestock and wool traceability reform, the end of a restrictive approach to OJD management and industry structural reform.” Mr Storey was farewelled at an industry dinner, with representatives from every sector of the domestic supply chain and all industry service providers from around the country, which is reflective of the high regard in which he is held. The election of both Mr Harrison and Mrs Lugsdin set a number of new precedents for the organisation, with Mr Harrison being the first independent director of WoolProducers to be elected president, the first time the president and vice president have both been independent directors, and Mrs Lugsdin being the first female vice president. Mr Harrison said he looked forward to working with Mrs Lugsdin, the WoolProducers Board, and staff to continue advocating in the interests of all Australian woolgrowers. A key priority of WoolProducers remains ensuring that all wool industry service providers are working together to serve the industry in the most efficient and effective manner possible. An example of this collaboration is the establishment by WoolProducers of the Wool Traceability Working Group, which has been convened to oversee the implementation of the recommendations from the 2021 Wool Traceability Report ,and has already seen tangible outcomes from collaboration between service providers in the traceability space. “I look forward to positively contributing to industry decisions and representing growers in key discussions with industry and other stakeholders,” Mr Harrison said.
Newly-appointed WoolProducers Australia president Steve Harrison.
Photo: File
Calls for dedicated rural fund, not empty slogan
RURAL Councils Victoria has called for a dedicated rural ‘Build Back Better’ fund in the wake of the ongoing floods crisis across the state. Rural Councils Victoria chair, Cr Mary-Ann Brown, said ‘Build Back Better’ should be more than just an empty slogan. “Following the state election, we need the next state government to establish a betterment fund to ensure that roads and other assets are repaired or replaced to a standard that can withstand future natural disasters,” she said. “Rural councils across the state - many of which have borne the brunt of the floods - are still assessing the damage, but repairs to the required standard are likely to total billions of dollars. “Each rural council is responsible for thousands of kilometres of local roads, but don’t have the rate base to be able to afford adequate road repairs, even in normal times. “Victoria’s food producers, manufacturers, transport operators and residents need a dedicated fund to ensure that roads are constructed, repaired or reconstructed to a standard that can withstand
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frequent natural disasters. This means genuine long-term thinking.” Cr Brown said that investing up front could lower, and in some cases eliminate, repair costs after future natural disasters. “Poor and damaged rural roads cost everyone in the state. They slow down and damage farm and transport vehicles, pushing up the cost of labour and repairs - all of which is paid for with higher prices for food and other items at the supermarket and elsewhere,” she said. “Road users in rural Victoria are over four times more likely to die on our roads than those in Melbourne. With flooding continuing to wash away and damage roads, it is time that a Victoria-wide roads emergency is declared.” The investment in urgent repairs and the betterment fund are additional to the roadfunding requests in RCV’s State Election Platform - launched before the floods - which calls for: -The reinstatement of the Fixing Country Roads program ($200 million over four years; -An additional $200 million per year over four
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