THE new Sheep Industry Leadership Council (SILC) has finally been announced with councillors representing all parts of the supply chain.
The council, to be chaired by Kojonup farmer Rob Egerton-Warburton, was announced by Agriculture and Food Minister Terry Redman at the Wagin Woolorama in March and met for the first time last Tuesday.
Mr Egerton-Warburton said it was good to get the first meeting out of the way and to sit down with all the councillors and go through what they were aiming to achieve.
"Essentially the terms of reference focus on looking for a long-term future direction for the sheep industry and where it fits in WA," Mr Egerton-Warburton said.
"We won't be looking at day-to-day aspects but at developing a strategy for the longer term.
"The SILC is about trying to progress the industry and work out what are the problems which are stopping the industry from progressing."
He said the councillors were a mix of exporters, farmers and processors which would be a key to the success of the SILC.
"We have a mix of backgrounds and hopefully we can develop some strategies to go forward," he said.
"What we will do as we discuss and develop a strategy for the future of the industry will be put it out to industry to comment so we can gain feedback.
"An important part of our process will be getting that feedback from industry people."
Mr Egerton-Warburton said it would take time for the SILC to develop and people shouldn't expect immediate results.
"We are not actually implementing anything," he said.
"We have no role in implementation so essentially our role is to inform and provide strategies to the Department of Agriculture and Food, the universities, Mr Redman and anybody who wants to listen."
Mr Redman said he looked forward to working with the SILC and admitted it had a challenging task ahead of it.
"We are down to about 12.5 million sheep in WA," Mr Redman said.
"So as a group they have a challenge to help rebuild the State's sheep flock.
"They will work with government and give advice to government about what types of avenues we should be taking.
"I think the issues surrounding animal welfare and the live trade issues at the moment will no doubt be the types of issues which are discussed."
