It said that Horticulture's Peak Industry Bodies (PIBs) have been lobbying for a role within Horticulture Innovation Australia after the 2014 restructure prevented them from being members.

The PIBs have formed a group called Voice of Horticulture and have been working with the Assistant Agriculture Minister, Senator Anne Ruston, to push for more involvement in HIA.

Senator Ruston said the PIBs could become Horticulture Innovation Australia members and possibly be allowed to vote soon, but other regulations would need to be in place. "If we can, as a Government, put some very clear guidelines around what we expect in that space it will make it a lot easier for us to accept that the peak industry bodies have a legitimate right to have a big say in how research and development dollars are spent and most particularly marketing dollars."

"The reason that the changes had to be made with Horticulture Australia was because the model was conflicted.

"The Peak Industry Bodies, whether they were representative of their industry or not, were the ones having the lion's share of the say as to how we spent our research and development bodies,” Senator Ruston said. "But I think that the industry bodies have a very legitimate gripe and we have thrown the baby out with the bathwater to some extent by excluding Peak Industry Bodies from participating directly in the operations and decision making of Horticulture Innovation Australia. There is every chance the Peak Industry Bodies will get voting rights."

Source: abc.net.au