Board nominations open as Cattle Australia launch nears

Board nominations for the grass-fed cattle industry’s new peak body Cattle Australia are now open, with elections set to start this month. The new body will replace the Cattle Council of Australia, which will be dissolved at its December 12 annual general meeting after 43 years. The transition was approved on October 4 when CCA members — including six of its eight founding State farming organisations — voted to endorse Cattle Australia’s draft constitution. The new constitution allows Cattle Australia members to nominate candidates or throw their own hats in the ring, and to vote in board elections. It removes the right of State farming organisations to each appoint their own directors to the Cattle Australia board, as they did under CCA. A Cattle Australia spokesman said in a newsletter this week the nomination process, which opened on November 4, gave members the chance to “be part of history”. “For the first time, producers across the country can nominate and elect those producers they consider will best represent their interests,” the spokesman said. He said producers could now “influence the direction” of their peak body to ensure their “businesses, families and communities are supported in the long term”. The new model would also “help lead the cattle industry to a stronger, more sustainable future by being a collective voice for grass-fed cattle producers”. Cattle Australia will have a nine-person board of directors, seven of whom will be democratically elected from three separate regions. They include three directors from the North Australia Beef Research Council, three from the Southern Australia Livestock Research Council, and one from the WA Livestock Research Council. Democratically elected directors will appoint a further two skills-based directors, with the board to determine its chair. Of Australia’s eight State farming organisations — including WAFarmers — only the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA and NSW Farmers voted against the Cattle Australia constitution last month. PGA Meat and Livestock Committee chair Chris Patmore said at the time he was concerned the new body had “very little prospect of gaining sufficient funding to operate as expected”. NSW Farmers labelled Cattle Australia “undemocratic”, with president Xavier Martin saying bigger producers would have an unfair voting advantage. Nominations close at 2pm (Australian Western Standard Time) on Friday, November 11. The voting period will run from November 14-December 5, with the Cattle Australia board to be announced on December 12. Visit cattleaustralia.com.au/cattle-australia-board-election-process/ for more information and to nominate.