Murray Goulburn co-operative chairman, Philip Tracy, has been re-elected to head the troubled dairy processor, despite planning to leave the board.
Mr Tracy was elected at a board meeting following today’s annual general meeting.
In his address to shareholders earlier in the day, Mr Tracy said he was prepared to stay as chairman for as long as is required.
He wanted to effect an orderly transition to a new chairman of a refreshed board of directors.
Once that transition was complete, Mr Tracy plans to retire from the board.
Directors have left the deputy chairman’s seat vacant for the time being.
Murray Goulburn (MG) suppliers who attended the Melbourne AGM voiced hopes things were looking up for Australia's largest dairy foods company,
Tim Dwyer, Maffra, has supplied MG his whole career and said he “...wouldn’t supply anyone else”.
He said while some suppliers, shareholders and unit-holders vented their frustrations at the meeting about the board and management’s decisions in the past financial year, ultimately there was a sense of optimism and loyalty expressed at the meeting.
“There’s no point dwelling on the mistakes forever,” Mr Dwyer said.
In April, Murray Goulburn announced a step-down from the $5.60 per kilogram milk solids (kgms) farmgate milk price (FMP) to between $4.75 to $5.
The company also launched a Milk Supply Support Package (MSSP), which initially could clawback the money farmers had been “overpaid” until that point of the financial year as deductions from future milk payments over the next three financial years.
Mrl Tracy reiterated the business was co-operating with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s investigations into the co-operative.
However, yesterday, MG announced changes to the MSSP including suspending its recoupment in 2016-17 and extending the recoupment period from three years to six years.
Numurkah dairy farmer Jim Dealy believed the co-operative was “over the worst”.
“Suppliers have got to stick with Murray Goulburn for the next six to eight months to give the company a chance – we can’t afford to lose any more milk supply,” Mr Dealy said.
In questioning to the board, he said the MSSP was flawed.
The company was absorbing the debts of those suppliers who left the company, but not the farmers who stayed.
Mr Dealy said his family – sons Greg and Ryan also milk cows – decided to take out loans to repay their MSSP, at the value of $500,000.
“Now three months later down the track, you’ve scrapped the deductions and I’ve got a bank loan and I’m paying 28 cents on my bank loan,” he said.
“I’m trying to make financial decisions based on your decisions, but you keep changing the goal posts.”