MLA board members at today’s AGM in Sydney.
Members of Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) have today voted to change the company’s Constitution at its annual general meeting held in Chatswood, Sydney.
The changes will see a reduction in the number of MLA Directors on the Director Selection committee and an increase in the number of directly elected grassfed representatives.
The changes are the result of the passing of two special resolutions proposed by MLA to amend the Constitution. Special resolutions require 75% of the vote to be passed. The results were:
- 86.2% of votes cast in favour to reduce the number of MLA Directors and remove their voting rights.
- 81.7% of votes cast in favour to increase the number of cattle producer representatives on the Committee.
Members also voted on the election of Directors to the MLA Board. The election results were:
- 95.8% votes cast in favour of Queensland cattle producer and Northern Australia beef production systems expert, Mr Geoff Maynard. This will be Mr Maynard’s second term as an MLA Director.
- 78.3% votes cast in favour of professional services expert in audit and risk management and Victorian cattle producer, Mr Alan Beckett. This will be Mr Beckett’s first term as an MLA Director.
- 73.0% votes cast in favour of agricultural consultant and southern Australia sheepmeat production systems expert, Mr Chris Mirams. This will be Mr Mirams’ first term as an MLA Director.
Re-elected MLA board member Geoff Maynard and newly elected board members Chris Mirams and Alan Beckett.
MLA members also voted to elect a representative for cattle producers, lot feeder producers and sheep producers to the Selection Committee.
The role of the Selection Committee is to report to MLA members on the suitability of candidates for election or re-election to the office of Director of MLA. The results were:
- Mr Ian McCamley, Queensland, elected as the cattle producer representative to the Selection Committee. This will be Mr McCamley’s second term as a member of the Selection Committee.
- Mrs Therese Herbert, NSW, elected as the lot feeder representative to the Selection Committee. This will be Mrs Herbert’s first term as a member of the Selection Committee.
- Mrs Jane Kellock, SA, elected as the sheep representative to the Selection Committee. This will be Mrs Kellock’s first term as a member of the Selection Committee.
MLA Chair, Dr Michele Allan welcomed the passing of the special resolutions to change the Constitution.
“MLA proposed these resolutions to the membership in recognition of some of the concerns we heard from industry,” she said.
Dr Allan also welcomed the election of Geoff, Alan and Chris to the MLA Board and the three producer representatives Ian, Therese and Jane who were elected to the Director Selection Committee.
Alan Beckett has almost forty years’ experience with a major professional services firm, practising in the area of audit and corporate services involved in the large companies sector with an emphasis on listed public companies. If elected, he would bring extensive business experience to the board, along with general finance, accounting and governance expertise together with practical experience in doing business in Oceania, South East Asia, Japan and India. Mr Beckett is chairman of Basper Ltd (formally Berklee), is a non-executive director of Defence Health Ltd, Westbourne Capital and Westbourne Credit Management Ltd. He is deputy chairman of the Audit & Risk Committee of the Department of Defence and a member of the Audit & Risk Committee of Note Printing Australia Ltd.
Chris Mirams is an agricultural consultant based in Albury and has extensive commercial and practical experience in Southern Australian sheep meat production and managing sheep enterprises covering prime lamb, wool and meat with the latest technology and benchmarking. He has significant experience in strategic R&D, broad commercial experience in southern beef production, specialist skills in business, finance, corporate governance, communication and leadership. Mr Mirams participated in the Australian Rural Leadership Program and is a past Chair of Holbrook Landcare Network and EverGraze National Advisory Committee and served on the Scots School Albury board.
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