Australian Ginger Industry Association Quarterly Meeting Monday 7 th November 2016 Held at Pomona Landcare Building Meeting Opened: 1.05pm Attendees: Mike Smith, Kylie Templeton, Rob Abbas, Bruce Duncan, Andrew Christodoulou, Scott Kirkwood, Ric Stevens, Brett Grant, Shane Templeton, Henri Stevens, Julie Templeton, Russ Parberry, Mike Frampton Apologies: Jason Keating, Ethan Graham, John Allen, Ashley Gill, Richard Meiers, John Templeton, Craig Weston Minutes of Last Quarterly Meeting: Henri Stevens moved that the minutes from the last quarterly meeting by accepted. Seconded: Andrew Christodoulou Business Arising From Minutes: Shane Templeton gave a brief explanation of the investment into Buderim Ginger with a Chinese Company and an Australian Investment company. Treasurer s Report: A copy of the treasurer s report is attached. Russ Parbery moved that the Treasurer s report be accepted.
Seconded: Andrew Christodoulou Technical and Research Reports: Rob Abbas briefly went through and explained Mike Smith and his technical and research report for October 2016. The report is attached and copies will be sent out to growers with the upcoming newsletter. Food Safety Accreditation: AGIA s goal is for all its members to be food safety accredited. Funding from RIRD is available, for the industry to set up a base model for all growers to use, if they need too. MOTION: Shane Templeton moved a motion that the association will ask its members, when the memberships are due, for their Food Safety Accreditation certificates or for details or if they are in the process of implementing one (i.e. audit date). Seconded: Andrew Christodoulou Andrew Christodoulou mentioned that we need to explain why we are doing this and that help is available if needed to all current members. A letter and fill in sheet will be sent out with the membership forms. MOTION: Shane Templeton moved a motion that the Food Safety model documents from Sci Qual and Lawnstone are to be sent to RIRDC for assessment as a minimal standard for our industry. Seconded: Ric Stevens
Fijian Update: Mike Smith briefly updated what was happening regarding the isolates. In a conference call three weeks ago, the Australian Government statistician put forward that he wanted 8 Australian isolates instead of the 6 that had already been accepted. Mike Smith has written a letter to Canberra regarding this issue. The fumigation trials show the mandated treatments don t work. Tissue Culture: RIRDC have extended Sharon Hamill s project for another year. This is to sort out the differences in the qualities of the tissue culture plants. General Business: Plant Health Australia: Canberra want a longer consultation period for the Plant Health Australia Emergency Response Levy. Growers aren t getting back to Bruce Duncan and the ones he has received are pretty guarded. Bruce Duncan is to be included in the field day next year to communicate the PHA levies to the growers better and get feedback on the day.
Kylie Templeton asked Bruce Duncan if a marketing levy could be set up at the same time as the EPPRD and PHA Levies? Bruce Duncan didn t think so but will double check. A discuss incurred regarding the distribution of voting powers. An example of voting powers was put forward as:- Small growers (0-4 hectares) 1 vote Medium growers (4-10 hectares) 2 votes Large growers (above 10 hectares) 3 votes Another option was 1 vote for every 10 hectares of ginger grown. It was decided that the committee would get back to AGIA regarding the EPPRD, PHA and marketing levies by next meeting. Marketing and Production Committee s: MOTION: Rob Abbas moved a motion that the Marketing and Production Committees meet before the next meeting to bring their discussion and ideas to the next meeting in February 2017. Seconded: Shane Templeton Future Meeting Venue and Time: Everyone at this meeting was asked what their preferred time for the meeting where and it was decided that Wednesday s at 1pm suited the majority of people in attendance. Julie Templeton to look around for a suitable meeting venue and get back to Russ Parbery with suggestions.
It was decided that due to the lack of finances this year we would not be having our annual Christmas Party. A suggestion was made that we could all attend a Race Day next year. Meeting Closed at: 3.15pm