General News
29 September, 2024
Advocacy outrage: Victorian Farmers' Federation resigns from NFF
Victorian Farmers' Federation splits from NFF, rally last straw.
Notes
Hey Matt, use the picture for the spill on page 2. I'll give you a front page picture.
The Victorian Farmers' Federation has sensationally split from the National Farmers' Federation.
In a forthright letter providing 12-months notice sent to NFF president and Murra Warra farmer David Jochinke on Thursday afternoon, VFF president Emma Germano listed a range of grievances with the peak farming body, including that it had in recent years moved away from robust policy development and resorted to "policy by press release".
"This approach has at best reduced, and worst removed the ability for the NFF to offer solutions to Government that could improve the operating environment for farmers," the letter said.
A source close to the situation said that, while the issues have been bubbling in the background since the VFF had resigned from a range of peak councils, most of whom are also members of the NFF, four months ago, the final straw for the decision was the VFF's "profound" disappointment that the NFF board unilaterally decided to rally in Canberra two weeks ago without seeking the views of members.
"Making this decision without adequate lead time before the rally limited the NFF's ability to ensure that it was indeed a non-partisan, whole of agriculture demonstration. Importantly, the NFF board cannot 'pick and choose' when consensus is the objective, or when a captain's call is preferred," the letter said.
The resignation will not come into play until October 2025 and follows Tony Mahar announcing earlier this month that he has resigned as NFF chief executive.
A communique sent to members by the VFF's board on Thursday afternoon, seen by ACM, said it was their "fervent desire" that the decision will create the opportunity for meaningful change of how the Australian agri-lobby is structured.
"Until those changes are evident, the VFF must take a step back from the NFF to ensure that we are not enabling a system that unfairly burdens our organisation and Victorian farmers," it said.
Commodity leaders contacted by ACM since the rally suggest that the sentiment is not isolated to the VFF, with the event having caused somewhat of an internal rift within ag lobby, including in its shopping list of issues with government being far from representative of the views of all lobby groups.
The sentiment underlined by who was not in attendance at the rally.
Insiders have also previously said that the NFF's confrontational tactics, principally aimed at Labor policy, over the past 12 months had seen it fall out of favour with the government and somewhat on the periphery in some situations.
The communique added that the decision had not been taken lightly but made with an eye on the future of the organisation and how members' priorities are being represented at the national level.
"The VFF has repeatedly raised our concerns that our organisation does not support the NFF in its current form," it said.
"At the core of our decision lies value for money and the duplication of resources and efforts towards national advocacy."
In acknowledging that the VFF may receive blowback for resigning instead of awaiting the outcomes of the ongoing Farm Advocacy Capacity Review, Ms Germano said that, along with a lack of meaningful engagement with its concerns to date, the VFF was no longer willing to continue to pay for a lack of efficiency and efficacy and hoped "our decision may illustrate the fragility of the current model".
Coincidentally, nominations open on Friday for the new VFF president with Ms Germano having now served the two-term maximum allowed under the organisation's constitution.
The letter to Mr Jochinke, a former VFF president, also said that the current VFF board felt "out of alignment" with the current NFF structure.
It then detailed an alleged failure of the NFF to take control of a broader review of industry structure in relation to agricultural advocacy, saying that there are "significant inefficiencies" in the current model that have led to diminished value in advocacy outcomes for Victorian farmers.
Other reasons included inequity in the NFF's membership model.
However, it was a "profound" disappointment that the NFF board decided to rally in Canberra in support of the 'Keep the Sheep' rally, without seeking members views on this decision, that consumed a large part of the letter.
"Much less providing members the opportunity to vote on this decision, as per our historical understanding, it is our view that policy and advocacy decisions are made by members of the NFF, and that the role of the NFF board is to provide organisational strategy and governance," the letter said.
It added that, it was the opinion of the VFF board, that the NFF board currently seeks to abdicate its responsibilities to govern the NFF, in relation to structure, adherence to the company constitution, setting a meaningful strategic and operational planning, yet independently made the decision on behalf of the members to support the Keep the Sheep rally.
The communique to members also said while the VFF has paid the highest membership level to the NFF for many years, it has also raised concerns on numerous occasions regarding fairness and equity.
"Recently, after agreeing to pay $44,000 for the coming 12-months on financial hardship, we were allocated no votes and restricted from most of the activities that create value for NFF membership," it said.
In June, Ms Germano walked the organisation away from Cattle Australia, Goat Industry Council of Australia, Grain Producers Australia, the National Farmers Federation Horticulture Council, Sheep Producers Australia, Wool Producers Australia and Australian Dairy Farmers.
TasFarmers president Ian Sauer said at the time that he hoped a positive ripple would emanate from the bomb dropped by VFF in accelerating much-needed reform of the "outdated" advocacy model used across the agriculture industry.