AUSTRALIAN wool growers have elected grower-consultant Chris Mirams and sheep operations manager Anthony Uren, and re-elected veterinary consultant Michelle Humphries in the 2025 board election.

The vote result was again consistent with the preferences of the AWI board nomination committee and the AWI board, with outgoing chairman Jock Laurie again declaring he held 83,000 open proxies that supported the election of Mirams, Uren and Humphries.

Former AWI research manager and industry consultant Paul Swan and New South Wales stud Merino breeder Drew Chapman both failed to gain election, and crucially scored the highest number of votes against them.

Millington unopposed as new AWI chair

New AWI chairman George Millington.

The new board then subsequently elected South Australian Merino breeder George Millington unopposed as the new AWI chairman.

Answering a question, Mr Laurie declared to the meeting that only 937 of the 13,795 eligible shareholders in AWI voted in the election.

Mr Laurie said the voter participation vote was low, but he did not know if it was the lowest on record. He said the board was expecting the voting rate to be down “quite a bit.”

“You want as many wool growers to vote as possible, all we can do is continue to provide the opportunity, it is up to them to participate.

Mr Laurie said considering the circumstances of the industry he was not disappointed with the voter turnout.

Mr Millington said the election provided some clear air.

“There has been a lot of politics around AWI over the last twelve months with both Woolpoll and director elections.

“With the conclusion of this year’s AGM, I, the board and the AWI team are now excited at the prospect of delivering strong outcomes for woolgrowers,” he said.

AWI said the proposed changes to the constitution, including maintain the board size at seven directors, were supported by 87.94pc of shareholders who voted.

AWI directors, from left, Chris Mirams, Anthony Uren ands Michelle Humphries.

WoolProducers disappointed at low voter turnout

WoolProducers Australia president Steve Harrison said there was no point farmers whinging about any commodity or advocacy or policy role at the moment “if they are not going to stick their hand up and vote, and be counted.”

Mr Harrison said all industries, including wool, need to address their participation levels. He said the election again showed that candidates who received the BNC endorsement were “three quarters of the way there to be elected.”

“The BNC is always open to improvement and we will be possibly seeking to help with that improvement going forward.”

WoolProducers congratulated the successful candidates in the election, Dr Michelle Humphries, Anthony Uren and Chris Mirams at today’s AWI AGM in Sydney.

WoolProducers chief executive officer Jo Hall said: “On behalf of WoolProducers I would like to congratulate the newly elected directors and look forward to working constructively with the AWI board going forward.”

“I would also like to acknowledge and thank the unsuccessful candidates Dr Paul Swan and Mr Drew Chapman for standing in this year’s election”, Ms Hall said.

WoolProducers said, as the only national wool industry policy body, it strongly believes that a constructive and cohesive relationship with the industry research, development and marketing body will be positive and in alignment with the general increase in industry unity shown in recent times.