QUESTIONS have been raised whether Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) will continue to focus on research after a $6 million budget cut, the axing of 30 staff, the resignation of a top scientific mind and the redesign of its research focus.
The question was posed at a recent AgForce meeting in Moura, when a local beef producer asked whether the gap left by scientist Dr Greg Harper's resignation from the MLA board in February signalled a lack of long-term investment in blue-sky research.
“The more we go for popular votes, people are not looking at 15-20 years down the track, and this is where we should be spending money.”
MLA’s managing director Richard Norton said there was a big cultural change with the organisation and its role was one of project manager. However, the focus was less on smaller projects and more on bigger projects.
“We are certainly wanting to direct more spending towards centres of excellence and then getting direction from industry what they want those centres of excellence to do for industry,” Mr Norton told Queensland Country Life.
“But MLA has turned over a new leaf and said that’s not our decision to make. It’s industry’s decision to make and we will execute that on behalf of industry.”
MLA was a research, development and marketing company, and much of what the board did was overseeing the strategic direction, he said.
“So we take the lead from the industry and the meat industry strategic plan as an organisation to determine the actual research and the board provides strategic direction around industry.”
Mr Norton said Dr Harper's resignation meant there was a skills-based position for a researcher on the board towards the end of this year.
“That will be replaced and there is no lack of focus on R&D from an MLA board perspective.”
In northern Australia, research is managed at a grassroots level through 11 research councils that flow into the North Australia Beef Research Council (NABRC).
The chairs of these regional committees then provide advice and feedback to MLA’s Northern Beef Industry Committee (NBIC).
“They give direction to peak industry councils and MLA as to where the research should be concentrated on and where the levy dollars should be spent.”
It has been a challenge communicating the industry structure to levy payers, Mr Norton said..
“As much as we want to use the current industry structure, and this has been accepted by NBIC and NABRC, we’ve got to communicate to the levy payers this structure and that is how they influence their levy at a local level.
“That structure has been in place and what we are looking from those local research organisations are the issues that they see needs to be addressed, but it is also a way for MLA to communicate what is happening.”
It was also a way for MLA to be clearly accountable as the organisation would be fronting up to quarterly and six-monthly meetings and reporting on what research was being done in a local area, he said.
