Dairy representative organisations need to put their community at the centre of dairy politics, the woman who started the new political independents movement Cathy McGowan told the Australian Dairy Conference.
Ms McGowan told the gathering of 600 dairy farmers and industry representatives in Tasmania in February her early career in the dairy industry had inspired the kitchen-table democracy model that had led to her upset victory in the seat of Indi in 2013 federal election.
She challenged delegates to ask themselves some hard questions about their industry organisations.
"Are your representative structures fit for purpose; are your organisations delivering?" she asked.
"Who is listening to the voices of the young people?
"Is your communication effective and inclusive; is your vision one that unites, energises, engages and motivates?
"Is it owned by the dairy community?
"Do you have the courage then to do things differently?"
Former Australian Dairy Farmers and Cattle Council of Australia chief executive officer David Inall delivered some hard-hitting messages about achieving change.
Advocacy was a tough game and people needed to understand how it worked to achieve anything.
He castigated those who trolled industry representatives on social media and who turned up in Canberra without a policy and thought taking selfies with politicians amounted to achieving something.
Former Dairy Australia chair Jeff Odgers responded to their presentations with a call for the industry to have another crack at sorting out the industry's organisational structure.
He said the Australian Dairy Plan had committed to reforming industry structures, but it had failed because nationally the industry could not agree on a model.
"But I always felt that one of the critical things that we needed to do was to back in the advocacy side of the industry," he said.
"So I think, as an industry we do need to recommit to trying to find a way through on this, as difficult as it is."
Passion for agriculture drives independent movement
Ms McGowan told the conference she owed a debt of gratitude to the dairy industry.
She grew up on a dairy farm in the Indigo Valley in north-eastern Victoria.
But it was her work in the industry as a consultant during deregulation and with the women in dairy groups that helped shape her appreciation of how an ethos of co-operation and community leadership could drive change.
This led to the Indi model - an inclusive discussion process that became known as the kitchen-table model of consultation.
The aim was to make Indi a marginal seat and then to leverage that position to get better services for the region.
"We set at our heart small towns and villages staffed by volunteers offering training, encouragement and jobs for everyone," she said.
"And we were guided by the principle of subsidiarity - that decisions are best made by the people who are most affected."
The model delivered - with Ms McGowan winning the seat in 2013 and 2016 and Helen Haines - also the daughter of a dairy farmer - taking the seat as an independent in 2019 and 2022.
Ms McGowan said she was able to deliver improved services in her electorate and "most importantly, from my perspective, the young people are coming home".
She said she became involved because young people around her asked her to do something - and if she didn't, then who would have done it.
"I had to develop the courage muscle," she said.
"We were also motivated by a sense of loss, that things were going to go from bad to worse, and if we didn't try, we would let these young people down but even more depressingly, we would have to live with the consequences."
Ms McGowan said significant change was possible and there was a role for everyone.
"My final comment to you is imagine in 10 years' time when people talk about the revitalisation of rural and regional Australia, when people talk of how amazingly wonderful agriculture is, when they talk of the magnificent dairy industry, its innovation, its products, its communities, its political power," she said.
"I'll leave you with this question what would it take for you to say 'ah I was there at the beginning, I was at the ADC conference in Hobart when we decided it wasn't enough being cross, we decided to get elected'."
Understand the art of the compromise
Mr Inall called on farmers and industry leaders to stand for something - to not just oppose something.
People also needed to understand that advocacy and change were often a slow process and more was achieved if people worked together.
"If you're sprinting, you go on your own ... but these issues ... are not a sprint, they're a marathon and we need to do it together," he said.
He also had some advice from the trenches - especially for those heading to Canberra to talk with politicians.
The first was to go for progress not perfection and to understand the art of compromise - that it was not always possible to get everything that was wanted.
It was also vital to build awareness of issues with politicians - some would have a lot of knowledge, others would have little.
It was important to understand what motivated those politicians, particularly backbenchers, and to try to leave them with a simple one-page summary of the issues.
Mr Inall said dairy organisations and representatives needed to ensure they were the trusted A team.
"If you talk to people who work in political offices, they'll tell you that when somebody walks into their office, they're typically drafted into two groups," he said.
"There's a group A, who represent their industry responsibly and are trustworthy and can bring the industry with them.
"Who have done their homework, come with a solution not just a problem.
"There are the others who just immediately go into the B team.
"'Here are the 57 problems of our industry and we need the government to solve them'.
"You're not going to get anywhere in the B team.
"You spot the political tourism, you get the people getting the selfie with the politician and they think they've got somewhere that really they haven't.
"And you're getting a very superficial veneer conversation."
It was also a matter of getting the timing right - once governments made a move on something, they often did it quickly.
Mr Inall rebuked the industry for the number of meetings it held.
"We've just got to stop having so many meetings," he said.
"I would have had more meetings ... in the dairy industry in one month than I had in five years working in the US.
"The total focus in the US was on activity and outcomes and execution, whereas we get caught up a lot in meetings."
But Mr Inall's harshest words were for the industry's keyboard warriors.
"Don't attack your cohort on social media," he said.
"I don't understand it, why do it, it doesn't achieve anything.
"I shut down my Twitter account because I was being trolled by my own members."
"But at the time there were 5000 dairy farms in Australia and 450 had fresh milk contracts with Woolworths," he said.
"Well I've never seen our office in ADF so destroyed when social media blew up with people criticising us.
"Saying what about us, you haven't helped us or you didn't do it, this other person did or don't brag too much."
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Carlene Dowie
Carlene Dowie is the editor of the Australian Dairyfarmer magazine and has more than 30 years' experience as a rural journalist.
Carlene Dowie is the editor of the Australian Dairyfarmer magazine and has more than 30 years' experience as a rural journalist.
