VFF president says 'We spend most of our time fighting amongst ourselves rather than what's out there'

Ms Germano's fiery address to the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria annual meeting and conference was made against the backdrop of two Supreme Court of Victoria cases launched against the VFF.

The cases have been brought by two UDV members, Ian Morris and Bruce Vallance, whose memberships have been terminated by the VFF in the last month.

"We spend, I reckon, most of our time fighting amongst ourselves, rather than fighting the fight that's out there," Ms Germano said.

It was critical, she said, that there was unity among advocacy groups in order to lobby politicians effectively.

"This is not about squashing particular opinions or not allowing things to come to the surface or not having rigorous debate," Ms Germano said.

Then came a remark, repeated later in her address, referring to the positions of the Australian Dairy Farmers, the UDV and the National Policy Council on the mandatory dairy levy.

"When we get to the point that our organisations put forward three different views and then say that that's a win for advocacy, I think that, actually, what we're doing is short changing the farmers who are paying their membership," Ms Germano said.

Although the levy debate was settled with a resounding vote for no change by farmers in line with the position of the ADF board, west Gippsland farmer Noel Campbell, himself a former ADF president, had that morning challenged current president Rick Gladigau on the board's decision not to adopt the national policy council's recommendation.

"I'm actually just wondering how many of your new directors have actually read the constitution and they act under and all the charters that are involved as well," Mr Campbell said.

Ms Germano seemed to disparage such questions in her address.

"The conversations that we shouldn't be having around and around in circles is, 'What does the Constitution say? And what do the terms of reference say?'," she said.

In the court cases, too, Mr Morris and Mr Vallance's lawyers are arguing that the VFF had not followed its own constitution while terminating their memberships.

Rather than taking "pot shots" at their leaders, Ms Germano said, farmers should respect the commitment leaders had made to their industry.

"If you don't like the answer, you get really frustrated, you get the chance to vote the people out," she said.

Aside from a lack of unity, the biggest threats to the industry were farmer apathy, she said, and the lack of young people getting involved in industry advocacy.

There were not enough young people representing agriculture in the room, she said, inviting any farmer aged under 35 in the room to stand up. Only two young people stood.

Ms Germano said the VFF was looking to adopt new, more modern methods to engage with farmers.

"You can't have 2 per cent of an industry saying that it's representative of everybody else," she said.

"We can't have 2pc of the industry tell everybody that the sky is pink when 98pc of people think the sky is blue, but the pink people are the ones that turned up.

"We've got to make sure that we enable people to engage in with our organization in a manner that suits them."

She confirmed that UDV president Paul Mumford would continue in the role until the court action launched by Mr Morris, who had nominated to contest the UDV presidency, was finalised.

Bernhard Lubitz of South Gippsland asked Ms Germano why members would be expelled.

"There is an internal barrier to getting members because people don't want to turn up into an environment that doesn't feel safe, that doesn't feel fair and that people feel like they could be harassed, intimidated or bullied," Ms Germano said.

"That's what we at the VFF have heard from many people who have either chosen not to renew their membership or from young people who say, 'I don't want to be part of an organization like that', then that is actually worth pursuing."