News

Seven Company Directors course places on offer for grassfed cattle producers

Beef Central, 04/12/2017
Cattle Council of Australia and Meat & Livestock Australia are offering seven places in a five-day Australian Institute of Company Directors course for grassfed cattle producers to develop their skills in corporate governance.
The AICD Course is a comprehensive program designed to focus on areas of business management and skills development that are specific to cattle producers.
Cattle producers who have a desire to provide leadership within the beef industry are encouraged to apply.
Seven positions are available, with one applicant to be selected from state and territory.
Cattle Council CEO, Margo Andrae said the course was an excellent opportunity for beef producers to increase their understanding of risk management, financial performance and enhance their business skills.
“The knowledge gained through this intensive five-day program gives participants the tools and resources to take on Director roles within the industry as well as contribute to their own business acumen,” Ms Andrae said.
She said the selection criteria will guarantee that a diverse range of producers are chosen, to ensure that all aspects of the industry are represented in the program.
‘The long-term productivity and profitability of the grassfed beef industry is reliant on strong leadership which we believe can be enhanced with this accreditation for cattle producers.”

The AICD course is administered by Australian Institute of Company Directors, and participants undertake an assessment to achieve official recognition as a Graduate of the course.

Applications close on Wednesday 31 January 2018.

For more information visit the Cattle Council of Australia website or contact the office on (02) 6269 5600.

Leave a Reply to John Gunthorpe Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Your comment will not appear until it has been moderated.
Contributions that contravene our Comments Policy will not be published.

Comments

  1. John Gunthorpe, 05/12/2017

    Thanks for clarifying that Jon / James. There is still the issue of conflict of interest and if the board and CEO have done the AICD course do they all excuse themselves when the projects are discussed?

    It is good to know that they are receiving applications from all grass-fed cattle producers but what are their selection criteria and who are on the selection committee?

  2. John Gunthorpe, 04/12/2017

    This programme is part of the $1.9 million of levies to be passed on by MLA to CCA as governance projects as announced in August. We understand CCA will receive an “administration fee” of 20% of payments or about $400,000 income to CCA over the 2 years. CCA have successfully found a way to fund CCA’s operations from grassfed cattle levies. This is contrary to Minister Joyce’s stated position and requires clarification.

    The Red Meat Memorandum of Understanding is the document that governs the relationship between the peak councils in red meat industries including grass-fed cattle producers and their service providers including MLA and AHA. Clause 5.1(g) of that document says one of the responsibilities of CCA is to “assess performance of services delivered by MLA or arranged by MLA to be delivered by other persons …” How can they assess the performance if they are the party MLA has arranged to deliver the services?

    It is unbelievable but we call this situation a conflict of interest and it is one of the first issues you learn about when you do the AICD director’s governance course. As a director you need to identify any conflicts of interest and to excuse yourself from consideration of that matter by your board.

    Can we be assured that Margo Andrea, Howard Smith, Peter Hall and the other CCA directors have attended the course? Their decisions regarding a peak council being a service provider suggests not.

    What will be the selection process for those who are to attend the course? What selection criteria are CCA and MLA applying in deciding who should receive the scholarships? Will the successful applicants come from inside the CCA tent or will they be independent members of the grass-fed cattle producer industry? It will be interesting to see how they are awarded.

    Editor’s note – We asked CCA if it receives a 20 percent administration fee of the $1.9m in levy funding as CCA income as suggested above and the response was that none of the $1.9m in funding goes to CCA as income or to support CCA advocacy or business operations. Some of the money is used to run the program to conduct the work needed which is focused on building governance training in the grassfed cattle industry. The CCA said most of its board and CEO Margo Andrae have already completed the AICD course, and those who haven’t are scheduled to complete it soon. The CCA also emphasised the point that applications are invited from all grassfed producers, not only members of CCA.

Get Beef Central's news headlines emailed to you -
FREE!