The Angus Society is a member-based not-for-profit organisation controlled by a member-elected board. The board’s recent decision to restructure the management of Certified Angus Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Angus Society, was a deliberate move to reduce overhead costs and achieve greater integration with other services provided by the Society.  This will result in even greater resources to support Angus brands in the future, not less.

 Australia’s most successful beef brand, Certified Australian Angus Beef, is still going strong and co-exists these days with over a dozen other processor owned Angus brands in Australia. 

Comments on the Society’s “bloated bureaucracy” are ill-founded.

The Society’s board, and its associated costs, has actually reduced in size in recent years, with the company and its subsidiaries now run by a single CEO, supported by appropriately qualified and experienced staff. 

Likewise, rumours of members paying in excess of $100k in fees are grossly exaggerated. Even the fees paid by the largest members who record several thousand calves with the Society each year are far less than half this amount.  

Many members also utilise optional services via the Society such as DNA testing and performance recording at discounted rates due to the special arrangements the Society has with other service providers. 

The Angus Society has over 3,800 members spread across all states and continues to be the nation’s largest and most progressive breed society. The board and management of the Angus Society is not afraid of change, and very willing to implement re-structures of the organisations activities if they see long-term benefits for its members. 

Perhaps Mr Everist should do some better research and check his facts before publishing articles such as this in the future.

Sad to say but the government of Malcolm Turnbull is both stupid and unfair. It is attacking some of the most vulnerable and needy members of our society. 

Treasurer Scott Morrison has revealed that any savings from the welfare cuts in his stalled “omnibus” bill would be directed to funding the NDIS. 

“We need to have a competitive tax system in order for our companies who employ millions of Australians to remain competitive,” he declared. 

Morrison said that the because of the obstruction the government would need to raise taxes or make cuts. In other words: “We'd like to tax companies a bit less, so if we're going to help disabled people, young unemployed people are going to have to pay for it.”

This, on top of the savage changes to the aged pension assets test and the Centrelink debacle. As Nick Xenophon put it: they looking at taking from a family on $60,000 or $70,000 an extra few hundred dollars a year, in order to give a $50 billion tax cut to large corporations. 

The whole idea of tax cuts for business is dodgy in the first place, given all the modelling suggests the gains are paltry for such a large investment: a long-term boost to national income of less than 1 per cent. Measured against the productivity we would get from spending on education, health and childcare they simply don’t stack up. 

The government is being stupid and unfair. And as Malcolm Turnbull said on taking over as Prime Minister: “Any package of reforms which is not and is not seen as fair will not and cannot achieve the public support without which it simply will not succeed.” Thank goodness the electors had the sense to put some independents and small parties in the Parliament.