Australian cotton industry opens its doors forcommunity engagement dayNo topic was off limit as t he Australian cotton industry opened its doors and welcomed a broad range of community stakeholders to itsCotton Open House engagement event in Sydney today.
Hosted by Cotton Australia, the event was designed to bring a diverse range of community stakeholders together and put the industryunder the microscope in the spirit of complete transparency and engagement.
G uests listened to a variety of panel sessions and presentations about key topics affecting the Australian cotton industry, and guestswere given the opportunity to ask questions of growers and industry personnel.
Cotton Australia CEO Adam Kay said the industry needed to be better at engaging with the public about Australian cotton.
” W e accept that o ver the recent past, we have not engaged with the broader community well enough about what we do and why we doit,” Mr Kay said.
“We completely accept that portions of the community have deep concerns and questions about the Australi an cotton industry. W ehear those people and we acknowledge their concerns.
“This has led to the creation of the Cotton Open House engagement event, and we hope this initiative will play an important role in theprocess of improving community understanding of our industry.”A broad range of guests were invited to the event, including representatives from non- government organisations, business, communityand environmental groups, media and government.
“W e didn’t want to preach to the converted; we wanted attendees that have had limited exposure to our industry so they could have theopportunity to question us and learn about what we do,” Mr Kay said.
“It was important for attendees to hear from those in our industry who work on the ground and across the supply chain – growers.
scientists, and other personnel who are experts in key topics including water, climate change, sustainability and community.”Queensland -based cotton grower F leur Anderson said engaging with community members was important for the industry.
“As a grower, I hear the concerns that have been raised about the cotton industry and I accept that those concerns are real. Caring forthe environment, being water efficient, and tackling climate change – topics we hear the community question us on – are all things Icare about too,” Ms Anderson said.
“We need to bridge the city -country divide, and what’s really key is that we have a calm, rational conversation about: concerns, whatwe have in common, where we have dif ferences, and what the industry need s to work on to better engage with the community.
“It was really wonderful to be involved i n the event today and to meet with stakeholders and share o ur industry’s story with them.
because we have a great story to tell, and it is an industry that I’m very proud to be involved in.”Cotton Australia CEO Adam Kay encouraged the broader community to engage with the cotton industry.
” We’ve made a concerted effort to improve how we share information about our industry,” he said.
“A great place to start is by visiting Cotton Australia’s newwebsite – cottonaustralia.com.au – and by exploring all the informationpages we have collated.
” We really encourage people to r each out to us, chat to us, and ask us the questions you have.
