Levy payers were sent an information pack to explain how the vote will be conducted on February 4th 2022. This pack included your ballot paper with details on all your voting options, including via online, email, post and fax.  If you have not as yet received your voting materials, please email vote@linkmarketservices.com.au . 

• One vote for each whole dollar of dairy service levy that the entity paid to the Commonwealth before the cut-off day for the levy year. Provisions apply for trusts and deceased estates.
• Dairy Australia may invite levy payers to provide additional information to assist in the determination of voting entitlements.
• Levy payers have an opportunity to have their voting entitlements reconsidered and there will also be an independent disputes panel (membership must exclude Dairy Australia employees, an eligible voter or their associate; or the returning officer).

The levy poll has four options which means that a preferential voting system will be used to determine which levy option is preferred by eligible voters. Preferential voting requires voters to place the numbers 1 to 4 against their preferences, with 1 being their first preference.

Dairy Australia will write to levy payers ahead of the Dairy Poll to advise of voting entitlements.

LPAC has made a decision that is in the best interest of the industry. Farmers will have a range of different views – LPAC have taken this into account in making their decision.

Dairy Australia would need to re-prioritise and rationalise existing investment in order to keep delivering critical services. No change in levy would lead to a reduction or inability to deliver specific services. That could be across industry marketing, regional services, investments in on-farm research.

Per investment areas Dairy Australia is outlining the outcomes and the benefits that the different options are aiming to provide to levy payers. Those details are available in the Information Memorandum. How that translates into more detailed project plans will be worked through based on the outcome of the vote.

Return on investment is calculated as the ‘value of benefits’ that levy payers would receive for every dollar invested. These benefits are calculated based on best estimates, using widely accepted economic modelling methodology. The additional investments, impacts and benefits can be found on the levy options page .

Dairy Australia follows an evaluation framework  to monitor the success of various investments collectively and individually. We measure success regularly and report it annually as part of our Performance Report  which contains the following:

• Our annual progress at a Strategic Priority level.
• Reporting on success metrics for individual investments which are defined as part of project planning and are based on outputs and outcomes. 
• The results of post-completion impact assessments that are carried out for a cross-section of our investments. These assessments are based on the Council of Rural Research and Development Corporations (CRRDC) guidelines and pre-defined impact pathways.

The dairy poll ballot paper uses ‘preferential voting’.
Under preferential voting, voters rank the presented options in the order of their preference.  Voters are asked to number the boxes on the ballot paper from 1 to 4 in order of preference:  

• placing a number 1 against an option is considered the voter’s first preference.
• placing a number 2 against an option is considered the voter’s second preference.
• placing a number 3 against an option is considered the voter’s third preference.
• placing a number 4 against an option is considered the voter’s fourth preference.

To determine the winning option, the following occurs:

• After the votes are counted, if one option has secured an absolute majority (50%+) of the votes, then that option is the winner.
• After the votes are counted, if no option has secured an absolute majority (50%+) of votes then:
  • the option with the fewest votes is eliminated from the count, and
  • the votes for this eliminated option are then redistributed among the remaining options according to the second preference indicated on the ballot.
  • ballots which voted for this eliminated option and did not indicate a second preference will be deemed ‘exhausted’ and excluded from further counting rounds. Therefore in these circumstances, the winning candidate will need to achieve an absolute majority of the votes remaining in the count, i.e. more than half of the total votes minus any exhausted ballots.

This process of elimination based on preferences continues until an option secures an absolute majority (50%+).

An independent Levy Poll Advisory Committee (LPAC) was established earlier this year to review the dairy service levy. The LPAC comprised 15 people – an independent chair, 12 dairy farmers (three of whom are from industry organisations) and two representatives from industry organisations.

The dairy service levy is invested by Dairy Australia in services to benefit dairy farmers and protect the right to farm. These investments include research and innovation, supporting farm business management, responding to events such as drought, bushfires or COVID-19, developing tools to adapt to the environment and address climate, supporting on-farm employment needs, marketing of dairy products and commitment to sustainability, policy research, industry insights, and delivering international market programs.

More on Dairy Australia’s strategic plan available here.

An independent performance review provides an assessment on the effectiveness of Dairy Australia. The overall finding of this independent review is very positive. The review highlights Dairy Australia’s work building community trust through its marketing activities, industry support during issues such as drought, the capabilities of its eight regions and strength of its R&D portfolio. More information available here.

Dairy Australia has reserves to protect the continuity of Dairy Australia operations and also to be in a position to respond to significant unforeseen events such as drought and disease.

For example, Dairy Australia routinely commits to contracts for research and development for at least three years at a time. As at 30th June, Dairy Australia has $48.8 million of contracted commitments for investments in future years. Our financial reserves allow Dairy Australia to invest in research and more effectively manage future scenarios that might impact business continuity.

The Board of Dairy Australia reviews the reserve requirements annually and considers $15 million to be the minimum level of reserves for current business operations

Yes. From 2011 to 2021, expenses have been greater than revenue for seven of the ten years.  Reserves have fallen from $35 million in 2012 to $28 million in 2021, and without any change in the levy and no increase in expenditure, would be predicted to fall to $15 million by 2027.

Dairy Australia’s Research, Development and Extension (RD&E) spend in 2021/22 is expected to be approximately 70% of total spend. Dairy Australia has a balanced portfolio across RD&E, marketing and trade development. An analysis of the 15 Rural Development Corporations (RDCs) shows that the total RD&E spend across all 15 RDCs is 68-70% over the past four years (source: CRRDC).

Dairy Australia’s spend in RD&E is consistent with its portfolio approach to addressing the needs of the dairy industry.