Trust in Australian wool campaign covers animal welfare

Published March 29, 2021

Merino-fleeceBy Jo Hall, CEO WoolProducers Australia 

On behalf of WoolProducers I am excited to officially launch our campaign ‘Trust in Australian Wool’.

WoolProducers Australia is the peak representative body advocating the interests of all Australian woolgrowers. Our organisation is nationally representative through our state farm organisation memberships, which comprise of superfine, broad wool, stud breeding and commercial growers.

In undertaking this representative role and over the years talking with downstream customers, we became acutely aware that there was a knowledge gap regarding Australia’s animal health, welfare and biosecurity systems.

Despite having world leading frameworks in these areas, it was apparent that we, as an industry had not properly told our customers about the great lengths that our growers go to, to produce the world’s most sustainable fibre, and that this, had to change.

As a result, we have collaborated with Animal Health Australia to instigate this campaign to bridge this knowledge gap and engender Trust in Australian Wool.
This campaign includes the development of a handbook that covers the areas of animal health, welfare, biosecurity, traceability, sustainability, clip preparation and quality assurance.
The handbook has initially been translated into English, Hindi and Mandarin and is available in hard copy and digital formats.
The campaign is also underpinned by a user-friendly website (www.trustinaustralianwool.com.au) that allows interested parties to delve into each topic further and includes fast facts and links through to relevant industry websites for detailed information on issues.

Trust in Australian Wool, whilst pitched towards our customers, has been developed on behalf of all Australian woolgrowers to help tell our story. This includes sharing the culture of responsibility and care that our animals are raised under, through both industry and regulatory frameworks, and the animal husbandry procedures that we undertake to ensure the best long term animal health and welfare outcomes, that are fit for purpose for our unique production systems.

Trust in Australian Wool also provides insight into the stringent and world-leading quality assurance systems that our clip is prepared and tested under, to enable our product to be exported to the world.

The content of this campaign has been developed by industry partners across the domestic supply chain to explain in a transparent and accountable manner, how our industry operates in order to produce the world’s most sought-after wool.

In addition to working with the Australian wool industry, we have been working with downstream partners to ensure that the campaign delivers the objective of educating our customers.

We hope that the content of this campaign can be utilised by all facets of industry, as well as our government officials and that Trust in Australian Wool is a useful resource that conveys the proud story of Australian wool.