VFF torn apart: Dairy and grains group leaders have had enough
United Dairyfarmers of Victorian president registers new advocacy group as grain growers vow to oust the VFF board.
The Victorian Farmers Federation is being torn apart, as its grain growers vow to oust the board and its dairy farmers form a new advocacy group.
The United Dairyfarmers of Victoria leadership registered a new lobby group last week – Dairy Farmers Association of Victoria – in a bid to claw back the resources needed to regain the industry a voice in state policy and advocacy.
UDV president Mark Billing registered the new DFA Victoria with Consumer Affairs Victoria on July 6, stating its purpose was to “advance the interests of the Association in all matters including political, economic and legal, by all lawful means”.
The move follows the VFF restructure that left the UDV without a dedicated manager, cut back funding for its policy work and stopped it from running an independent conference.
Yet UDV members bring in $1 million in levies each year to the VFF – with farmers paying $800 for each million litres they produce.
“The UDV hasn’t been sitting around taking the scraps,” Mr Billing said. “UDV has been looking at opportunities like this (forming the new group).”
VFF Grains Group members have also launched a rebellion, after the board cashed out their $9.8 million grains deed poll to pay off $3.01 million it had borrowed from Credit Suisse and put another $1.7 million towards $5.15 million it had borrowed from Westpac.
But a resolution from 156 Grain Group members to hold an extraordinary general meeting to oust the board was rejected on legal grounds last Friday.
VFF Company Secretary Gary Bottomer advised the board to reject the members resolution, but offered no explanation to the movers of the motion, former Grains Group presidents Brett Hosking and Andrew Weidemann.
Mr Hosking and Weidemann said they were seeking an explanation from the VFF board, but would still go ahead with an EGM after seeking legal and Australian Securities and Investments Commission advice.
Just what relationship the new dairy group would have with the VFF remains unclear, but Mr Billing said the UDV was attracted to the model adopted by the South Australian Dairyfarmers’ Association.
“SADA collects a volume-based levy and then passes through a set amount to the state body (ADD),” Mr Billing said.
“Because they operate outside their peak body, they can do grant work and regional development. The (farmers’) dollars going into SADA is for dairy to grow.”
SADA confirmed it has maintained its independence, handing just 10 per cent of its revenue to the state’s Primary Producers SA – the state’s peak farmer body.
NSW and Queensland dairy farmers have also adopted a similar strategy, through the establishment of the eastAUSmilk dairy lobby group, which is fully independent.