Current employment/positions:
I am chairman of Australian Wool Innovation Limited and Australian Country Spinners Pty Ltd. I am a director of the Australian Wool Testing Authority Ltd and Power Farming New Zealand Ltd. I have been a director of a number of companies in the textile industry in Australia, Canada and South Africa, dealing with major retailers in North America, Europe, Asia and Australasia. I am a past president of the Australian Wool Processors Council and a past member of the CSIRO Textiles, Clothing and Footwear Sector Advisory Committee. Special responsibilities on the AWI board include membership of the finance and audit committee and the remuneration and appointments committee.
Q: What specific skills do you bring to the board?
vR: Leadership, focus and the determination to guide the evolution of AWI to deliver greater effectiveness and profitability for the benefit of woolgrower shareholders and industry partners. I have 42 years in trading to over 50 countries in the wool business. I have built a spinning and manufacturing business into a profitable business that primarily used Australian wool. I am also a farmer from Victoria and share a strong empathy with farmers and woolgrowers throughout Australia.
Q: Why should growers trust you on your corporate track record?
vR: My track record and commitment to ethical governance is a matter of public record. I have only one aim and that is to increase price for woolgrowers and as the Chairman, I am committed to make our industry great once more. I am determined to make sure that from a board perspective that Australian woolgrowers funds are invested in projects that can demonstrate a return of increased demand.
Q: What is your assessment of AWI and what would you change if anything?
vR: AWI as a business is going through the same pain as many woolgrowers businesses. We have reduced our salary costs and directed more funding
towards research and marketing projects. We needed to review the arrangements in dealing with animal rights, this allowed us closer contact with the retailers, who we not only sold in innovation, but told them about our high animal welfare standards.
Woolgrowers have told us that public infighting is contributing to their sense of disengagement with AWI. We need to provide independent and professional expertise to guide what is now a global business. This is a $60 million global business. Our international business partners, the retailers who sell wool, want to work with a board and management that are totally professional and stable. I am absolutely personally committed to bringing a united approach to the industry for the benefit of our growers.
We are on the board to act in the overall interest of all shareholders and our wool levy payers, without allowing commercial or agri-political interests to influence us. The AWI’s recently released three year strategic plan demonstrates that we have projects underway which are currently increasing demand for Australian Merino wool. In the first quarter, in Asia alone we have an additional three million kg of demand locked in with retail partners.
Our people are working incredibly hard to find solutions and alternatives and have made great strides in ensuring they meet the industry commitment to end mulesing by 2010. Just remember that woolgrowers have a choice and no one will stop you from mulesing or looking after your sheep. Our customers will decide through the market place what they want and we will need to provide it.
I believe we are in a strong position now to meet the challenge of building a new position for Australian Merino in the global market place for the benefit of woolgrowers. We have relationships with over 300 business partners and we are well placed to see through the global financial crisis because of these relationships. These partners will assist us to reintroduce Australian Merino to a new generation of consumers. Like your wool growing business, the plan sets clear targets for management and for key apparel segments of our business.
Q: What is your definition of a conflict of interest at board level?
vR: The number one duty of any company director is to act first and foremost in the interests of the organisation he or she is directing. Imagine if in your farm business you had people actively telling your business plans to your neighbours, which could be used against your farm expansion plans. That is
not on and that is the issue for the AWI Board.
Generally, a conflict of interest arises when a board member’s duty to his or her organisation clashes with duties, obligations or interests elsewhere such as business or workplace interests or the interests of his or her family or friends.
In the mulesing area, as it is well known, there are conflicts of interest on the AWI board. This fact sets a challenge to the board and, in particular, to me as chairman. Our responsibility is to act in the best interest of all woolgrowers and not to the interest of commercial or agri-political bodies.
Q: What is your stance on mulesing?
vR: Finding alternative solutions to surgical mulesing is probably the biggest single challenge facing the Australian wool industry. But it’s a challenge close to being conquered.
Woolgrowers will have a choice of options to protect their sheep – none of my fellow directors are saying that you should let your sheep suffer from flystrike. The image that PETA has used of bleeding lambs’ butts is a direct contradiction of the marketing image we are currently selling overseas: the world’s greenest, softest, most luxurious and ethically produced fibre. Anyone who denies the momentum of western retail market demand for ethically-produced products is simply not in touch with major changes occurring in our society.
The industry is on track to move away from mulesing by the end of 2010. The objectives our breech blowfly strike control program include delivering new technologies and management systems, increasing their use by woolgrowers and improving animal welfare outcomes.
The success of this program, in retail market terms, will benefit all Australian woolgrowers and all supply chain stakeholders. AWI recognises that circumstances for each farm differ and we are working hard to provide growers with a range of options from which to choose post 2010.
Email a friend