Forest & Wood Products Australia (FWPA) successfully held its 2023 AGM on Thursday 26th October via video conference and would like to share some of the key meeting highlights. All items included on the meeting agenda were successfully passed by the company members.
We would like to extend our appreciation of the important work delivered through the FWPA board, which includes Craig Taylor (Chair), Christine Briggs, Stephen Dadd, Katie Fowden, Nick Roberts, Yvonne Pengilly, Tony Arnel and FWPA CEO, Andrew Leighton. The board is also supported by Chris Lafferty (Company Secretary) and the wider FWPA team.
FWPA also appreciates the support of numerous industry associations, in particular our three national representative bodies, the Australian Forest Products Association, the Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia and the Australian Timber Importers Federation as well as the ongoing support from the Australian Government through the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Craig also highlighted the many contributions that John Halkett, GM of the Australian Timber Importers Federation provided to the Company over its lifetime. John recently passed away at his Sydney home and will be missed by the industry.
FWPA board updates:
The FWPA board and wider team would like to extend a warm thank you to Christine Briggs, who successfully finished her final 3-year term with the board. We certainly appreciate her valuable contributions and support over her 9 years of service and wish her well.
Craig Taylor was re-elected Board Chair by the directors for a further 1-year term at the board meeting held immediately after the AGM. Stephen Dadd will Chair the Finance Audit and Risk Management Committee for the next year, with Yvonne Pengilly and Tony Arnel as Committee Members.
Nick Roberts will Chair the Human Resources and Nominations Committee, with Craig Taylor and Katie Fowden as Committee Members for the coming year.
FWPA program updates:
Craig Taylor, Chair of the FWPA board, highlighted the following items during his AGM address:
“Our new strategic plan was finalised and published in May 2023, and we thank the FWPA members for their input and suggestions in developing the plan. Reporting of our performance against this plan will be included in the next annual report. We will continue to seek and incorporate feedback from our stakeholders, assess the operating environment and, where necessary, adjust our strategy and priorities in response to the needs of the industry we serve.
It has been encouraging to witness our CEO Andrew Leighton lead the organisation towards its new era with a clear vision, informed by his commitment to building and maintaining strong relationships with industry stakeholders.
We conducted our first ever extraordinary general meeting in May of this year for the adoption of a new Constitution which has resulted in changes to Director selection and renewal processes. These changes reflect new technology and processes for member engagement as well as modifications to governance measures needed to recognise our not-for-profit status
The directors thank our members for unanimously supporting the proposed constitution. Amongst other benefits, these changes will save a significant amount of money which can be diverted to more productive investments.
During the year FWPA committed $11.2 million to new grower-focused projects that were recommended by the Grower Research Advisory Committee (GRAC).
We worked with the Australian Forest Contractors Associating to identify best practice methods to deploy the Forest Fit training package to the industry.
In 2022 we undertook research on the effectiveness of the previous Ultimate Renewable campaign and unveiled its latest iteration. This program was then reviewed and led to the development of the new campaign launched in July 2023. The results of these campaigns will inform future investments in consumer advertising and promotion.
We renewed our commitment to fund the National Timber Durability Centre and initiated the search for the next Director which resulted in the appointment of Professor Tripti Singh in August 2023. We also launched a new resilient timber homes project.
Our WoodSolutions and ForestLearning programs continued to thrive and reach a broader audience in promoting the importance forest and wood products.
By any measure 2022/23 was a busy and successful year for FWPA” said Craig Taylor.
Learn more via the 2022/2023 FWPA annual report, which includes our program activities, achievements and finances.
