AGRICULTURE Minister Tony Burke wasn’t betting on being presented with a bulletproof vest when he turned up at the Royal Melbourne Show last week.
Nor did he expect the first time he’d be presented with a bulletproof vest would be to talk about what they were made of – specifically wool.
Armed with a revolutionary fabric combining wool with kevlar that’s proving far superior to resisting bullets than kevlar alone, Mr Burke last week officially launched the 2010 World Sheep and Wool Congress.
But as Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia (TFIA) executive director Jo-Ann Kellock noted the kevlar/wool fibre is an example of the kind of innovations being developed in Australia.
“What was traditionally 100 per cent kevlar, now has 20-30pc wool in it and it adds properties that kevlar lacks – notably it tightens the weave and it performs better in the wet,” she said.
Mr Burke said year-in, year-out Australia was at the frontline of innovation and as the biggest exporter in the world of wool, mutton and live sheep and the second biggest exporter of lamb, it was a fitting location for the 2010 congress.
*Extract. Full report Stock & Land.
