In the few weeks of the year that are left, there’s another water ballot on our plate; major papers from the Murray Darling Basin Authority and the ACCC to be responded to, and a board meeting still ahead of us.

I’d like to thank those shareholders who attended the AGM. Your feedback on a range of issues has provided the board with food for thought.

Immediately prior to the AGM, the board had been in session and it reconvened following the AGM to continue deliberations.

One of the issues dealt with in the afternoon was the confirmation of office bearers and following advice from the incumbent chairman, Robert Black, that he did not wish to be renominated for the position, Trent Gardiner and Chris Hardy were elected to the position of chairman and deputy chairman respectively.

Robert spent six-and-a-half years as CICL chairman and bought great energy to the role and we are indebted to him for his contribution.

His energy will not be lost because Robert will remain on the board as a director.

At the AGM, several questions were asked by shareholders about the future of the Land and Water Mana-gement Program. CICL has made no secret of the fact that, with the withdrawal of government funding, the program will be wound down in 2010.

However, considerable work still remains to be done, in particular, CICL will be required to ensure that on-farm work associated with approximately $3,000,000 worth of funding is properly completed.

This means, if you have recently received LWMP funding, you will have the full 12 months to undertake the related works and they will still have to be verified by CICL staff in the usual way.

There also seems to be continuing support for the type of educational activities that have been funded by the LWMP to date.

Finally, between fire danger alerts and rain, I’m hoping that in the next week or so nature will those who have yet to complete their harvesting to do so.