AN early shunning of this year's levy-setting WoolPoll vote by farmers has triggered concerns in Canberra about the engagement of woolgrowers with their own research and development body, Australian Wool Innovation.
The Federal Government is closely watching the triennial vote, which is asking growers to set what percentage of wool sales they'd like to go towards research and development at Australian Wool Innovation.
The levy rates being polled in Australia are 3 per cent, 2.5pc, the current 2pc, 1pc or zero, and a vote for the status quo would see AWI continue to receive $46 million a year, including more than $10m in Government funding.
But the WoolPoll slogan – "Stop Bleating, Start Voting" – has not hit a chord with farmers judging by the poor return of voting forms so far compared to previous years.
Add to that a disastrous "zero" vote in the similar ballot held in New Zealand last month, decided by less than half of Kiwi growers, and concerns about the future of AWI are mounting, particularly within the Government.
Just 39pc of New Zealand sheep producers voted down the proposed lower wool levy of NZ4c a kilogram by 2012, and a majority extraordinarily voted for a zero levy instead.
Midway through the voting period, figures compiled by the WoolPoll campaign team reveal only 11.3pc of voter forms have been returned nationally, or 4940 votes from 43,636 eligible voters (as of Monday).
NSW woolgrowers have been the most idle, with votes returned by just over 10pc of its 16,056 eligible voters.
In South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia and Victoria, just over 11pc of votes have been returned, while 13pc have been completed in Queensland.
So far less than half the number of farmers who participated in the 2006 WoolPoll have bothered to vote this year.
The Federal Government confirmed this week it doesn't have a benchmark which it considers a requirement for the ballot to be legitimate in Australia, but would not be requiring a majority result if a zero vote occurs here.
As in New Zealand, regardless of the turnout, the ballot will be decisive.
Minister for Agriculture, Tony Burke, has made it clear though that the strength or otherwise of this year's WoolPoll will be a reflection of grower satisfaction and engagement with AWI.
"There's no pass or fail mark here, but there's no doubt the more growers feel engaged with AWI, the more likely they are to participate in its processes," Mr Burke told Rural Press this week.
"I was concerned at the low voter turnout during the AWI board elections last year.
"Voting is an important opportunity for AWI to show the strength of its engagement with growers.
"I would encourage all growers to support the role of AWI and participate in WoolPoll."
Queensland grower and WoolPoll president, Will Roberts, said the move by New Zealand sheep farmers to axe their own wool levy signals "a dire warning" for Australian woolgrowers.
"There’s a lesson here for Australian wool levy payers. When it comes time to vote in WoolPoll 2009 we can’t afford to let our future be dictated by a minority," Mr Roberts said.
"It’s not what New Zealand producers decided, but how few of them decided for everyone."
WoolPoll closes on November 6.
Email a friend