Mulesing comments criticised by some in the Australian wool industry

Ms McCluskey made a speech in Brisbane late last week which included a warning for Australia's wool industry on the mulesing of sheep.

The industry's increased adoption of pain relief on mulesing "is not going to be enough to keep mulesed Australian wool in Europe", she told the Rural Press Club of Queensland last week.

"I'm just sharing with you that the reality is Europe thinks it is barbaric and they want non-mulesed wool," Ms McCluskey said.

But Ms McCluskey's speech has already been questioned by several growers in the wool industry, who did not want to be named.

About half of all Australian wool growers still mules their sheep to help prevent fly strike.

Ms McCluskey is a non-executive director of the wool handler AWN which has recently bought a 10 per cent stake in the New Zealand Merino Company. That company only accepts non-mulesed wool.

Ms McCluskey has told Australian Community Media she did not disclose her involvement with AWN during her Brisbane speech.

"I did not specifically disclose this although my bio was made available and is on the public record," she said.

"Importantly, I did not tell anyone not to mules.

"Yes I am a director of AWN but my presentation at the rural press club was entirely in my capacity as SRAA."

The National Farmers' Federation "strongly supported" Ms McCluskey's appointment in late 2021.

"The objective of the newly-created role is to boost Australia's presence and influence in the agricultural institutions that shape farmers' access to export markets," the NFF said.

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Ms McCluskey, a NSW beef producer, is also director of Australian Unity, LiveCorp, Australasian Pork Research Institute and a Commissioner for International Agricultural Research.

She has also held senior positions with the Business Council of Australia, the NFF and the Australian Taxation Office.

Australia is the world's leading producer of fine apparel wool used by clothing manufacturers often located in Europe and sold as sweaters, suits and coats.

Global clothing brands several years ago signalled the end of their support for mulesed wool adding their names to an open letter addressed to the Australian sheep and wool industry.

Australian Wool Innovation has also identified the European Union has a key market with the jitters.

Former AWI chief executive Stuart McCullough stepped down as the boss of the organisation late in 2021 to take on a new overseas role in Europe as chief marketing and innovation officer.

The surprise move was made to directly address wool sales in Europe, specifically moves to change labelling laws which are feared to disadvantage wool over other fibres.

AWI, and its company Woolmark, has spent millions of marketing dollars since that date promoting wool's environmental credentials.

AWI chairman Jock Laurie this week said AWI "cannot and will never" tell Australian woolgrowers how to do their job, including whether to mules, or not to mules.

"As the industry's research, development and marketing company we work for all Australia's wool growers," Mr Laurie said.

"AWI is not an industry policy body, we are in fact prohibited from doing that.

"We provide general market intelligence as well as on-farm tools, guides and workshops on various ways of managing sheep whether mulesed or non-mulesed and also moving from mulesed to a non-mulesed flock.

"It is worth remembering Australian woolgrowers supply both non-mulesed wool and mulesed wool to customers all over the world including Europe."

Last year's Sheep Sustainability Framework annual report said the practice was slowly reducing as new programs are tried and sheep are bred to be more resistant to fly strike.

Australia is the largest exporter of non-mulesed Merino wool in the world.

Castration and tail-docking are also common sheep husbandry practices which have been raised internationally as animal welfare issues practiced in Australia.

WoolProducers Australia chief executive Jo Hall said woolgrowers needed relevant market intelligence to help plan for future production.

"Wool ticks so many boxes regarding consumer trends at the moment including sustainability and proven eco-credentials, however there are other issues such as production practices relating to animal welfare and the impact they have on consumer demands that need to be considered by growers," she said.

"While it is up to individual growers to make these decisions for their businesses and their animals, at the very least they need to know the facts.

"This is where AWI needs to ensure transparency in messaging."

Ms Hall said AWI had 16 offices around the world and 60 per cent of the woolgrower levy was invested in marketing, so AWI was best placed to inform woolgrowers of what exactly is happening in our markets.

"This consumer sentiment data must then be fed back to growers to ensure that they are empowered to make decisions to future proof their businesses and industry," she said.

Ms McCluskey said she had made it clear in her Brisbane speech she was relaying what she had heard and that it is up to every farmer to make their own decision about their business and which direction to take.

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"I should note that I did not undertake research about mulesing or European customers," she said in her response to ACM.

"I was in the UK and Europe as part of a number of different meetings with government officials and industry representatives and I was asked about mulesing (the actual question in the UK was 'how much lamb are we going to get from mulesed sheep?)."

Ms McCluskey said she was not surprised not all those in the wool industry agree and have had "many discussions about this, even with neighbours".

"I am really interested in getting a better understanding of what the challenges are to move to non-mulesed sheep so I can explain this to other markets and even people here," she said.

"But while I agree that there are many that may dispute that the European market will move to only non-mulesed sheep - and indeed this would be better for Australian wool producers - they cannot disagree that this is the view being put by the Europeans.

"I was simply relating what I was being told and am in the same position as (AWI chair) Mr Laurie - I cannot tell the industry what to do.

"But I am a voice that hears things in market and it is part of my role to share what I am hearing with the industry.

"And there are many other standards and regulations that the EU is moving towards that we will continue to push back very strongly on.

"My role as special representative for Australian agriculture is part of Australia's broader initiative in stepping up its global leadership on agriculture," she said.

"It focusses on demonstrating Australia's commitment to the multilateral systems and its principles, building our ag sectors engagement with the multilateral system and building alliances with like-minded countries and markets.

"As part of this I very much push back on the prescriptive and regulatory-heavy approach we see coming from the EU in particular and promote a principles and outcomes based approach with the mantra 'one size does not fit all' in approaches to trade and market access."

Ms McCluskey said she also said in her speech "that I make a strong case for the animal welfare benefits of mulesing and that it is a far better animal welfare outcome to remove a small prices of skin from the breech of a sheep than to see it die a slow and painful death from flystrike".