Barnaby Joyce silent on AWI chairman Wal Merriman
AGRICULTURE Minister Barnaby Joyce has refused to address the current controversy surrounding Australian Wool Innovation chairman Wal Merriman.
AGRICULTURE Minister Barnaby Joyce has refused to address the current controversy surrounding Australian Wool Innovation chairman Wal Merriman.
AWI, which receives millions of dollars in woolgrower levy funds and matching government payments each year, has come under fire this week following an incident where Mr Merriman last week told a journalist questioning him on industry issues last week to “f--- off”.
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The clash — which AWI described as “unfortunate” but has not apologised for — occurred at a wool industry event in South Australia last week when an ABC reporter approached Mr Merriman with questions about him secretly watching a confidential industry focus group behind a one-way mirror in June.
In response to an opinion piece on theweeklytimes.com.au yesterday, West Australian woolgrower Rob Warburton labelled Mr Merriman’s actions and the organisation’s response as something out of the “Trump playbook … pander to the ignorant and attack everyone else”.
Northern NSW woolgrower Martin Oppenheimer said “AWI leadership think they are heroes and will ignore bullying intimidation and a lack of transparency”.
The Weekly Times put questions to Mr Joyce’s office this morning, asking whether he had confidence in the leadership of Australian Wool Innovation.
A spokeswoman said “Australian Wool Innovation is a woolgrower owned company funded from woolgrower levies”.
“Mr Merriman is appointed AWI chairman by Australian woolgrowers.”
The chairman of AWI is elected by board members.
The controversy comes ahead of AWI’s appearance at a Senate estimates committee meeting in Canberra on Tuesday.
Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said Mr Joyce needed to address the issues.
Mr Fitzgibbon said “Barnaby Joyce’s silence serves neither the interests of the wool sector or AWI well”.
“He has all the power and resources to make a judgment about the various accusations,” he said.
“He should either express confidence in AWI or explain what action he plans to take in response to the concerns expressed. That’s his job.
“A key role for any minister is to instil and maintain industry confidence in the bodies and operations for which he or she has responsibility. Less spin and more action from Barnaby Joyce would be a good thing.”
West Australian sheep breeder David Thompson said “the Minister needs to be reminded that Australian taxpayers contribute approximately $14 million per annum to AWI”.
An AWI spokesman said he “did not have time” to answer questions on whether it accepted or rejected a culture of bullying and intimidation within the organisation or whether Mr Merriman had the backing of the board and management.