AWI: Wool-grower body’s rules queried in Senate estimates

AWI has been questioned about its board-member nominations process. Here’s how Senate estimates played out.

Australian Wool Innovation chief executive Stuart McCullough during a previous Senate estimates hearing. He says there are privacy issues with providing a list of those eligible to sign nominations. Picture: Mick Tsikas/AAP

The need to get 100 signatures to nominate to the Australian Wool Innovation board has been called out for being “impractical” and time consuming during Senate estimates.

Almost three years on from the EY Review of Performance, in which a recommendation was made to remove the requirement for 100 signatures to be obtained to nominate to the board, the levy body is still being questioned about this rule.

AWI has since declared they will retain the need for candidates to get the 100 signatures, however during the Senate estimates hearing of the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee today, committee chair Senator Susan McDonald asked if it was “a little impractical” to even get the 100 signatures because of how geographically diverse the wool industry was.

Senator Glenn Sterle also asked questions surrounding the 100-signature rule, suggesting it was time consuming for all involved as many people did not know if they were eligible to be a signatory.

AWI director Jock Laurie who was standing in for chair Colette Garnsey, who was absent due to another commitment, said when he stood for the board he had to get 160 signatures to get 100 eligible ones.

“There’s a lot of people out there who thought they were eligible and they weren’t,” Mr Laurie said.

Senator Sterle made the point it was “a lot of energy” and to encourage people to seek office it would be in the best interests to provide a list of eligible people who can provide signatures or provide those who are ineligible to the candidate so if they sought office again they would know to ask others.

AWI chief executive Stuart McCullough said there were privacy issues surrounding doing that.

“What I am getting at is to get these signatures is not a case of a couple of minutes and its all done, there is a lot of work for all of you and I’d have thought you are busy trying to run your business, so without stepping on to privacy act, there must be a better way to assist members who want to run,” Senator Sterle said.

Mr Laurie agreed it was a lot of work and said “I don’t disagree, the continual evolution around the system will be a good thing”.

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