It’s happened and I still can’t quiet believe it. Australian wheat growers have democratically voted away control of the billion dollar export wheat marketer AWB.
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At a meeting of A class shareholders in Melbourne yesterday, 77% of shareholders [A Class - wheat growers] voted in favour of ending the A and B class share structure. Total shareholder participation increased from 27 to 44% during the adjournment period, and just over 50% of all eligible votes were cast”
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Wheat Grower Mark Dywer was at the meeting:
“I attended the final showdown in Melbourne on September 3, strange irony that the day growers gave away their company was the anniversary of the declaration that Australia was at war with Germany in 1939.
I was not at the first meeting that was adjourned ,but was informed that the treatment doled out to the four dissenting Directors yesterday was nothing compared to that of the first meeting of A class shareholders.
I would like to say that those four directors have done a fantastic job in trying to defend the interests of growers against the greed and selfishness of those that supported the “normalisation” of the company.
Xavier Martin, Roger Schirmer, Colin Nichol and Russell Mckenzie. People should remember they’re stand when they are wondering where, in a few years , the critical mass of the industry has gone.
One WA attendee yesterday got up and said, after the final vote was revealed, that he congratulated the board but was wondering if AWB would be able to act as a receiver of last resort in WA as he didn’t think there would be enough cash around to buy the crop!!!
This is the sort of blind stupid ignorance those of us who have opposed the deregulation of export marketing of Wheat have been up against all through this debate, only now when everything is gone are people waking up to the situation we are facing.”
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No doubt Crikey’s anti-farmer journalist Stephen Mayne, chief protagonist for the change will be chuffed with the result.
Who can forget his rantings at the first AWB EGM when urging all A Class shareholders to listen too him and not those farmers who opposed the move.
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“Sadly, agrarian socialism, hairbrained nostalgia and misty eyed agri-politics remains alive and well on some farms if the pathetic contributions from growers such as Jock Munro and Bob Iffla are any guide.”
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But in the end 77% of Australian wheat growers agreed with him.
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Have your say!
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Tags: AWB, Bob Iffla, Jock Munro, Mark Dwyer, Stephen Mayne
Steve,
If just 123 more A class share holders had voted to retain control then we still have it….nevertheless, the constitution requires…and they got what is legal and growers control of the AWB is no more.
We must move on and all who participated are to be congratulated, from both sides, and we must hope that we do not go the way of other industries post deregulation. Perhaps we won’t.
On ward to the next battle…is it NACMA?
ABSOLUTELY DESPICABLE
They have destroyed our AWB. Sabotage all the way .
The Oil for Food hoax in Iraq was the first attack then they did an inside destructive job by stacking the board with wreckers. I heard Brendon Stewart say yesterday on the country hour that the dissenting board members should resign now to save farmers money - he is disgusting.
Many other countries are forming single desks while we are destroying ours. A lot of people in the world hate the so called ‘free trade’ garbage - all it does is give much more power and money to the trans-national US/UK/Israel/EU corporations of the world that aren’t accountable to any country.
I became aware of what is going on years ago when it was obvious that 911 was an inside job done by corporations for a reason to illegally invade Iraq and Afghanistan killing huge numbers of innocent people all for the greed of oil, gas pipelines and to protect the apartheid State of Israel.
Everything must be done to give more power to corporations and destroy small business and small farmers here and across the world - and they call it spreading freedom and democracy - what a terrible terrible evil lie.
G’day Von,
You are over looking one small but important detail that makes the AWB vote different.
77% of Australian wheat growers democratically voted themselves out of controlling the AWB. Every one has had a chance to decide on who controlled AWB - Farmers or Corporate investors and a vast majority of growers believed that it AWB was better off in corporate investor control.
I respect that kind of majority even though I find it incredible that wheat growers would ‘give up’ control ‘for nothing in return’ of Australia’s largest wheat exporting $1billion company.
G’day Rowell,
What is NACMA?
GATEKEEPERS IN THE MEDIA
We have plenty of these in our rural mainstream media .
They only let some news go through and use spin , and give too much time to promoting global warming and carbon trading , de-regulating and wrecking our AWB and other rural industries , promoting GM crops, putting down the truck strike and other things against small farmers.
The Queensland Country Life newspaper also stifles dissent , it promotes the global warming business , and killing off the AWB and it didn’t give a big voice against shire amalgamations.
As an American said “As a journalist however, I still have this overwhelming feeling that the traitors among the journalists - now turned propagandists - have made all the global misery for mankind possible. Without them the wrecking of the USA would have been impossible too.”