Dairy Australia is funded by levies paid by Australia’s dairy farmers which are then matched by federal government funds. As part of this funding arrangement as an RDC, Dairy Australia must undergo an independent review of its performance.
Two independent consultants, Anwen Lovett and Andrew Spencer, have been appointed to this latest review of DA and are asking individual farmers to have their say.
The questions being asked by this review are similar to those asked by the inquiry and also by the consultants for the Australian Dairy Plan (ADP). Farmers are being asked to review Dairy Australia’s performance in strategy, governance, operations and how DA communicates, understands, and delivers benefits to dairy farmer levy payers.
The survey asks farmers to respond to open-ended questions on two topics (1) How Dairy Australia communicates and understands levy payer needs and (2) How Dairy Australia delivers benefit through its research, development, extension, marketing and policy analysis and support functions.
In Queensland and northern NSW, DA is represented by its subsidiary Subtropical Dairy. In responding to the survey farmers should review their current relationship with Subtropical with regards to the questions being asked.
Certainly, it is a bad time of the year to ask farmers to take on additional administrative tasks such as these, but it is imperative for government to truly understand the role of RDE in the dairy industry and the pros and cons of the current structure.
I urge all dairy farmers to take 15 minutes out of their busy day to complete the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9CG38VN
Responses to the survey are confidential. The deadline for survey responses is December 18.
