National peak body Cattle Australia announces 2024 board of directors at second AGM

Cattle Australia has revealed its 2024 board of directors, with Bridgetown Angus producer James Bowie “excited” to continue flying the flag for WA as the organisation moves into its second year.

Mr Bowie was elected to the inaugural board last December as director for the WA Livestock Research Council region, and has two years remaining on his term.

CA chairman David Foote — a Queensland-based Charolais and Charbray breeder — was re-elected director for the North Australia Beef Research Council.

New South Wales Angus producer George King was re-elected director for the Southern Australia Livestock Research Council.

Deputy chairman Garry Edwards (NSW) will continue in the role of director, as will Bryce Camm (Qld), Elke Cleverdon (NSW) and Adam Coffey (Qld).

The unchanged line-up was confirmed at CA’s annual general meeting in Albury, NSW, on November 17.

The AGM marked the organisation’s first birthday as the national peak body for Australia’s 40,000 plus grass-fed cattle producers, after CA replaced the Cattle Council of Australia last December.

“In our first 12 months, we’ve worked to put in place the right foundations to set the organisation on a path to becoming the most powerful advocacy body in Australian agriculture,” Mr Foote said.

“Our job is to roll up our sleeves and make sure what grass-fed producers have to say counts.”

Mr Bowie, who is also chair of WA grower group Western Beef, said Mr Foote brought a wealth of leadership experience to the organisation.

He added that he had found the role of director “really rewarding”.

“I’m certainly learning lots… meeting lots of extremely professional, capable individuals from around the country and getting to hear their perspectives,” Mr Bowie said.

“Just seeing how aligned we all are on the key issues has been really positive.”

Common goals included scrutinising the science around how methane was being measured, lifting historically low livestock prices, managing biosecurity threats and ensuring the continuation of the embattled live export industry.

In another milestone for the organisation, CA introduced its new democratically elected Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) at the AGM.

The RCC comprises 15 directly elected CA members from 15 sub-regions nationwide, plus eight State farming organisation representatives, appointed by their respective organisation.

Among the latter are Murray Gray from the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA, and Melanie Tolich from WAFarmers.

CA chief executive Chris Parker — a WA-raised farmer, veterinarian and public servant — was appointed RCC chair.

Mr Bowie said the establishment of the RCC — which includes Gidgegannup producer Tamara Michalek and Kalyeeda Station co-manager Peter Camp — was an important step in CA’s evolution.

“A key part of Cattle Australia has been shifting to a democratically elected model, so just like the board is elected by levy payers, so too now is our RCC,” he said.

“Now that we’ve got this RCC in place, it’s all about building on that to make sure we’ve got an organisation that can be truly representative.

“I’m certainly hearing people are very encouraged that, as a new body, we’re listening to their concerns… and there was a commitment made at the AGM that the board members and the CEO will be out to every one of those 15 regions over the next 12 months.

“We hope to have levy payers engaged with us directly and make sure that they are feeding their issues and concerns through to us via that mechanism.”

Regional Consultative Committee elected members:

Region One: Angus White

Region Two: Cye Travers

Region Three: Mac McArthur

Region Four: Loretta Carroll

Region Five: David Allen

Region Six: Richard Sutton

Region Seven: Sam Nevill Bell

Region Eight: Tamara Michalek

Region Nine: Peter Camp

Region 10: Kari Moffat

Region 11: Ben Hewitt

Region 12: Lloyd Hick

Region 13: Jordan Wilson

Region 14: Tess Bitmead

Region 15: Caitlin McConnel

RCC State Farming Organisation representatives:

Livestock SA: Gillian Fennell

NSW Farmers Association: Bill Stacy

Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA: Murray Gray

Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association: Justin Dyer

WAFarmers: Melanie Tolich

Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association: Paul Saward

AgForce Queensland: Bronte Lloyd