By now you should have received information concerning the introduction of the statutory national banana levy of 1.7cents per kilogram on all bananas sold which will come into effect from July 1 this year.
The Australian Government has established the levy because a ballot of all commercial banana growers conducted in May 2007 on a levy proposal developed by the Australian Banana Growers’ Council (Council) determined majority support for the levy.
The levy has two components: promotion (1.16c/kg) and R&D (0.54c/kg) with a proportion of both levy components to be set aside for use in the development and delivery of plant health programs and services.
The levy will apply to all bananas sold and will be collected at the first point of sale with levy collections overseen by the Levies Revenue Service, which is an agency within the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
My purpose in writing to you now is to advise that the Council is seeking applications from levy payers interested in participating in the management of the national levy investment program as a member the Industry Advisory Committee (IAC) or one of its three specialist sub committees (promotions, plant health and R&D). Details outlining the structure and operational responsibilities of the IAC are contained in the enclosed documentation.
To help achieve the right balance of skills and experience across all of the committees the Council has retained Rimfire Resources, a Brisbane based specialist recruitment services company to manage the application and selection process. More detail regarding Rimfire Resources and the application and appointment process to be used is also outlined in the enclosed documentation.
Before deciding on whether to submit an application for a committee position please take a moment to review the Relevant Skills Criteria and compare your own skill set to those outlined for each committee. Please also take note of the estimated time commitment that will be required for each committee and consider that some travelling time will also be involved. Should you wish to nominate for more than one committee you will need to submit a separate application for each.
I can’t stress too strongly the importance of having committed people with the right skills on these committees as the decisions they take will ultimately affect all of us. If you believe you have the skills and/or experience to make a positive contribution to the work of any of these committees I would strongly encourage you to apply.
On that note I would like to thank you for your support and I look forward to providing you with a future update on the composition of the IAC and sub committees.
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