Following on from the release of the Wool Taskforce report, Agriculture Minister David Carter will shortly announce the appointment of someone to devise the structure of a new “industry good” body. The appropriate person will need to be a “real head-banger” because the range of factions from growers to exporters and marketers are hard to corral. The chief chasm is between growers, who want a new industry-wide body, and exporters, brokers and merchants who say the sector is already represented by the National Council of NZ Wool Interests and related bodies.

Carter says the success of the new industry body “will depend who wants to buy into it. Clearly there’s a bit of difference between exporters and the rest.” National Council executive manager Nick Nicolson leveled criticism at the Wool Taskforce proposal when industry leaders met behind closed doors at Premier House last month to discuss its report. Nicolson says grower organisations, with statutory powers to levy, have wielded a lot of power in the industry, yet exporters may carry $500m-$600m of risk by buying and holding wool.

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All this boils down to the vexed issue of finding a body able to satisfy different parts of the chain to market. Right now they are sniping and clinging to different power structures. An industry outsider with enough nous to appear bipartisan and a reputation for making tough, fair decisions is called for.

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