Australia’s peak horticulture bodies have established a new taskforce to represent industry issues and lobby political parties, filling a void left by the now defunct Horticulture Australia Council (HAC).
The new Horticulture Taskforce, which will coordinate lobbying activities for the horticulture industry, has elected Tony Russell of Apple & Pear Australia Ltd (APAL) as chairman, Richard Mulcahy of Ausveg as deputy chairman and Greg Seymour of the Australian Mushroom Growers Association as treasurer.
“Horticulture is one of Australia’s most important industries for the economy and in providing jobs for Australian families,” Mr Russell said in a statement. “This new taskforce will represent those combined interests with a more targeted approach.
“Now that the major horticultural organisations have decided on a proposed structure for the taskforce we will be approaching other members of the horticultural industry and asking for their support. This body will represent the whole industry.
“Pending final agreement from the industry a consultant will be employed to liaise with decision-makers on significant federal issues such as industrial relations, agricultural policy, biosecurity and water.”
The new taskforce replaces the HAC’s lobbying activities on a much lower budget – somewhere between A$50,000 and A$100,000 a year, Mr Russell told Fruitnet.com.
“The lack of support for the HAC revolved around many in the industry not having enough financial resources,” he said.
“We’re scaling back to a different model, one which means more of the effort and grunt needs to come from the peak industry bodies because `the new taskforce` doesn’t have arms and legs.”
The structure of the new body was settled on at a meeting of horticulture bodies in Sydney recently.
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