The organisation could provide the representation currently provided by Wool Council on statutory authorities, and some wool industry companies. To make way, Wool Council should be disbanded. Generic promotion of wool, if it has a benefit, could be voluntarily funded by all wool businesses, and should not be funded by a compulsory levy on woolgrowers. Woolgrowing businesses may well seek to form alliances with downstream processors to create new methods of promoting wool and wool products Direct trade within alliances is facilitated by the price discovery currently provided by the auction system. The auction is not the cause of the current decline in the wool business, nor will alliances or direct selling provide an immediate solution to this decline.
Alliances do provide a sensible vehicle for some voluntary wool promotion expenditure.
The existence of other methods of funding wool promotion provides an opportunity to remove statutory promotion funding from the balance sheet of woolgrowers. This Taskforce should convey that message to Government on behalf of woolgrowers. Woolgrowers also supported the concept of an on-going statutory levy in support of wool production research of a public benefit nature. The management of such research funds requires dramatic overhaul to reduce administration costs, and to re-establish links between research and production into an industry effort. Subsequent discussion lead to an invitation to submit a supplementary submission to the Taskforce, based on experience gained in the promotion of wool certification, evidence of processor frustration, the existence of a New Zealand export control process, and the possibility of a commercial role for The Woolmark Company linking export quality to wool promotion.