In only his first year at the top Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) job, Richard Norton has been asked to reflect on what he hopes his legacy will be.
Mr Norton told the about 50 people at a producers’ forum at Wangaratta on Tuesday that by the time he finished at MLA, he wanted the levy payers to have more control including over where their collected funds were spent; for the industry supply chain and representation to be more effective and efficient; and for there to be price transparency in the supply chain.
He said this framework had informed projects launched and planned since he took the helm 11 months ago.
“In terms of efficiency at MLA, we are refining our operating model, and have committed to taking 10 per cent of corporate expenses out and making $6 million in savings [in 12 months],” Mr Norton said.
This meeting was one of three ‘Your levy, your industry’ forums to be held in Victoria this week (the others being in Bairnsdale and Hamilton). Mr Norton said he was keen to increase such grassroots engagement, even if that meant heated discussions.
Some of the farmers voiced their dissatisfaction about their political representation, but Mr Norton defended that criticism by saying that MLA was a service provider for marketing and research and development (R&D).
“We have a statutory funding agreement so I have to sit in front of a senate committee four times a year, we cannot lobby or take positions on government policies,” Mr Norton said.
“That is the role of peak industry groups – and we can provide the research and evidence for them to back up their positions, for example for the Cattle Council and Sheapmeat Council’s submissions to the red meat processing senate enquiry.”
He said industry currently also set the levy price and set goals in R&D.
“In the next 12 months, I believe producers will be able to vote on the level,” Mr Norton said.
He said he sympathised with producers’ frustration that there were too many representative groups and the roles of each were unclear.
Mr Norton acknowledged the criticism levelled against MLA that its staff did not know where its levy funds came from because the federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) collected and distributed the levy. However, he said a project was underway to for MLA to identify levy payers as the first step to ensuring they had more say on where levy is spent.
