Dairy Farmers - Get Your Candidate Nominations In
“Farmers have the success of the dairy industry in their own hands,” says Minister of Agriculture, Hon Jim Sutton. “Now
is the time for the dairy industry to put forward the line-up of people from which farmers will elect the future
leadership of key organisations, Dairy InSight and Dexcel.”
The nomination period opens today for candidates to stand in the Dairy InSight Inc Board elections and The Dexcel Trust
trustee elections. Farmers have one month from today to fill out a Nomination Pack and return to Returning Officer
Warwick Lampp by 5pm Friday 21 March.
Candidate packs can be obtained by calling the Election Hotline 0508 666 446 or contacting Warwick Lampp at mailto:wlampp@election.com
All dairy farmers who supply milksolids to a dairy company are eligible to stand and/or nominate a candidate in these
elections.
“This is a new era for the dairy industry,” says Steve McNae, Business and Finance Manager at Dexcel. “Dairy InSight and
Dexcel are newly established organisations, created after deregulation of the dairy industry, to take dairy farming into
the future. Now that both organisations have gone through all the setting up processes, it is time for dairy farmers to
really get involved.”
“It is imperative to the future of both organisations that farmers nominate people that will provide the best leadership
for these organisations,” says Peter Bodeker, Chief Executive of Dairy InSight.
“People who are considering standing in these elections need to have a balanced range of skills and a knowledge of and
experience in the dairy industry. Voters will be looking to select people with strong strategic leadership abilities,
communication skills, integrity, financial literacy and a wide perspective on industry issues,” Peter Bodeker says.
The nomination process requires the consent of the candidate and must be seconded by one other dairy farmer who supplies
milksolids to a dairy company. Each candidate has the opportunity to provide a candidate profile statement and passport
size photo with their nomination paper. These profiles will be published by the Returning Officer in a candidate profile
booklet which will be distributed with the voting papers.
Warwick Lampp says if there is one thing farmers need to remember, it is to get their nominations in with plenty of time
to spare.
“If a Nomination Pack is incorrectly completed or an ineligible nominator is provided, we need time to get back to those
involved and correct the situation, or the Nomination Paper could be invalidated. It is important farmers do not leave
lodging nominations to the last minute,” Warwick Lampp says.
Once nominations have been closed, all dairy farmers will receive voter packs in the post from 9 May 2003, with the
election period closing Friday 30 May, 2003.