Senator Fierravanti-Wells told the Senate last week that her study leave investigation and subsequent 620-page report on the Australian wool industry had concluded that AWI’s problems were "systematic and ingrained".

"It's standing and reliability as an effective organisation have been compromised to the point where it is best for the Australian government and industry stakeholders to start afresh with the establishment of a broad skills based, industry-wide body," Senator Fierravanti-Wells said.

Senator Fierravanti-Wells did not stipulate who should be involved in the new "go-to-body" for wool, but said in addition to wool growers, processors, testing and certification bodies it should include members from the textile and apparel sector, fashion industry, research and educational stakeholders, trade development and marketing expertise.

As figures from the Australian industry annual report this year showed the wool industry generated $2.6 billion to the national economy, Senator Fierravanti-Wells said the industries value to the economy and the many it employed was too big to let it slide.

"What has become apparent to me is that the wool industry has failed to start with a clear view of the needs of the consumer and the properties of wool and work back and produce what the consumer wants," she said, noting that the days of being a production orientated business were gone and change must be made to recognise this.

The Senator distanced herself from suggestions that she was representing a group, stating her views were formed during a visit to Italy and consultation with members of the wool industry.

She said mulesing was one of the most import issues facing the industry and AWI had "badly handled" it since the beginning.

While flystrike prevention was important, Senator Fierravanti-Wells said, as long as surgical mulesing was used the industry would be burdened with negative sentiment and a "reality check" needed to be made to rid itself of this tag.

"Regrettably, rightly or wrongly the long-term continuation of this practice is not sustainable," she said.

Proposed industry changesinclude strengthing ties between Australian and Italian wool bodies, Australian government and wool industry support to AWEX on-farm audits and development of a ethical quality mark for labelling.