WALRC Chair

Summary

The Western Australian Livestock Research Council (WALRC) is a structure that was initiated by MLA to improve consultation with levy payers and industry stakeholders for the Western Australia (WA) agricultural region and southern rangelands.

The WALRC Chair is a pivotal leadership role working with a wide cross section of producer groups, research, development and adoption agencies and industry representatives from Western Australia's sheepmeat and southern (temperate) beef industries.

The WALRC Chair position combines both governance, fiduciary, advocacy and leadership on behalf of the WALRC council, and an administrative function to ensure the smooth running of the operations of WALRC.

Key findings

This project supported the appointment of the WALRC chair from 2017 - 2020.

During this time, the Chair:

• led the development of a 3-year strategy plan, and year-on-year work plan and communications plan in consultation with WALRC members and MLA to enable effective implementation and reporting
• delivered regional priorities each year for investment in sheepmeat and grassfed beef research, development and adoption to MLA at a time agreed with the Program Manager
• provided representation on the MLA Red Meat Panel to assist in the process of determining investment priorities and maintaining a balanced portfolio
• supported WALRC to grow industry capability through professional and personal development opportunities for the Council's immediate producer members and succession needs.

Benefits to industry

The Chair provided a leadership role to help build the presence and impact of WALRC in the early life of the program.

MLA action

The WALRC chair continued into another contract after the completion of this current project. From June 2021, this role will be managed by WALRC directly.