THE Australian Wool Exchange has rejected calls from brokers and exporters to form an industry group to modernise the National Wool Declaration.
Industry groups demanded a review of the updated NWD version 9.2 by a consultation group, which would include a representative of Nutrien Ag Solutions - one of the country's largest wool brokering businesses that are not members of AWEX.
The current review has been undertaken by the AWEX board, with the two-stage process, of NWD versions 9.1 and 9.2 spanning two years with several drafts.
The review process has been criticised by the Australian Council of Wool Exporters and Processors (ACWEP) and Wool Producers Australia (WPA), who claim some of the largest voices in the industry weren't being considered.
AWEX chair Robyn Chubb wrote to NWD forum participants that the board considered a consultation group "as unnecessarily delaying and ignoring our customers' requests of the last two years".
"Isn't it more important to get a document like this right?" ACWEP president Josh Lamb said.
"This is a document that needs to stand the test of time for the next 20 years.
"I don't believe we would have had three versions in five months if we had a wider representation from an industry group."
Mr Lamb said industry feedback was not being adopted by the board undertaking the review.
"In reality, the chain of information isn't working," he said.
"It is not the amount of consultation, it is how they're using the feedback - the information isn't getting to the top.
"If this review was at an industry working group level, other major organisations not represented on the AWEX board, such as the Australian Wool Testing Authority, Australian Wool Innovation and Nutrien Ag Solutions, could put forward their feedback in a more direct manner."
In the latest NWD proposal, the ceased mulesing (CM) status was reinstated, two months after the abrupt announcement it would be removed, and a new liquid nitrogen code that separates producers who used analgesic in their flocks and those who do not.
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Both updates overrode previous updates.
WPA chief executive Jo Hall said it had been a "very convoluted process with numerous versions that have been superseded by newer versions".
"We would be supportive of a 'no surprise' principle of phasing [the CM] definition out," Ms Hall said.
"The reality is the more categories and grey areas that exist on these documents will lead to a decrease of the voluntary use of the document.
"AWEX for a long time had the Industry Services Advisory Committee, which was a valuable industry forum to work through these types of issues and that committee was removed without explanation."
Ms Hall said WPA supported changes to the NWD that separated the use of liquid nitrogen from non-mulesed wool because LN "was not the removal of skin with shears", which was the current definition of mulesing.
"While we also acknowledge the supply chain wants to know wool that comes from animals treated with LN, there are numerous other quality assurance systems that can be used to declare this," she said.
"We are talking about complicated changes.
"These proposed amendments haven't simplified the document, so we may very well see a drop in voluntary usage."
AWEX chief executive Mark Grave said all sectors were invited to make submissions to the review.
"AWEX received submissions from individuals, companies and from associations," Mr Grave said.
"This latest review of the NWD (2021) was considered by the AWEX board who are elected representatives of sectors of the industry.
"AWEX is currently consulting with industry associations to work through their concerns."