"Until the levy goes, the politics will not go."

Whether it is Brian van Rooyen's team or Chick Olsson’s at the head of the industry doesn't matter; they are all part of a failed system.

That's the blunt assessment of wool industry historian Charles Massy who you could excuse for having déjà vu as he was sending out the exact same message this time last year.

He will release the latest edition of 'The Australian Merino' in June next year, seen as the definitive history of the Australia wool industry, it's sure to have some interesting tales in it.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent at AWI since it was formed and what is there to show for it?

What on-farm breakthrough? What marketing genius? What innovation? What prices?

The organisation has been defined by politics, poor performance and a lack of accountability, according to now-former chairman Brian van Rooyen.

Mr Massy has long been scathing of the structure of the wool industry and its need to reform and become truly commercial.

A rapidly increasing portion of woolgrowers fed up with poor prices and spin rather than substance agree and have either left the industry or are about to.

But real change can only come from Federal Government, through a change of the Act that gives AWI statutory funding with matching levy funds from growers, many of which want to pay zero wool tax.

Nobody appears happy with the wool industry but as a dinosaur it continues to lumber on in the same direction.

Politics in Canberra started AWI and perhaps it is now time to remove it and give wool one last chance to prove itself in a fully commercial sense in a modern world.