In accordance with the Wool Services Privatisation Act 2000, Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) must conduct a poll of all eligible wool levy payers every three years to determine the rate of the levy to apply for the following three year period.

AWI must then make a recommendation to the Federal Minister for Agriculture in accordance with the outcome of the poll.

The Wool Services Privatisation (Wool Levy Poll) Regulations 2003 govern the conduct of the poll. In accordance with the regulations, AWI must propose three to five different rates of wool levy at the poll, including a zero rate.

Individual woolgrowers, corporations, partnerships or trustees may be eligible to vote in a poll if they have paid (other than as an intermediary) a wool levy totaling at least $100 during the three financial years prior to the poll. An eligible entity is entitled to one additional vote for each whole $100 of wool levy that has been paid.

WoolPoll 2009
The funding split that will be allocated after WoolPoll 2009 (in November 2009) for any levy determination greater than 0% will be as follows:

A 70:30 off-farm:on-farm investment split would be applied. This represents a change from the previous WoolPoll outcome, which was a 60:40 split.

Within this split:
•    50% would be spent on marketing.
•    20% would be spent on off-farm R&D.
•    30% would be spent on on-farm R&D and extension.

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• The wool levy