Troy Williams is the new Chief Executive of the National Farmers Federation. Pic: Supplied
An article by Natasha Lobban
The new Chief Executive of the National Farmers Federation (NFF) says it’s time for government to get off farmers’ backs and keep out of their paddocks.
Troy Williams is adamant that farmers must be treated like the business owners they are - a key fact that isn't widely recognised in the community or parliament.
“There's a misconception by many in the parliament, that farmers are almost landed gentry. This seems to be a misconception that we're working against. For a lot of people in the parliament, their really only exposure to agriculture is the farmers market or the Coles on a Sunday. We're working to fix that,” Mr Williams said.
He has sights firmly on championing a set of policy priorities that let farmers farm, allow them to be the best that they can be without government on their back.
“Government plays a legitimate role, but quite frankly, they're in too many paddocks and they're in too many back pockets at the moment,” he said.
Mr Williams took up the top job in the lead up to the Federal election. He spoke to APlus News 10 weeks into the role, reflecting that he had certainly hit the ground running.
“It seems like the 10th month and by the time we get to the 10th month I'm sure it'll seem like the 10th year,” Mr Williams said.
“The one thing I've learned very quickly is that whatever my diary looks like at 6 in the morning it's completely changed by about 11 o'clock and that's to be expected by the diverse nature of the role.
“Whether it's our dealings with the Federal Government, helping our members deal with states and territory governments and quite frankly a range of issues from gun control to land use right through to floods, fire, pestilence, all of which have hit my desk in the last month. It's been a pretty dynamic 10 weeks.”
Mr Williams has previously served as Chief Executive of the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia and Australian Dental Industry Association, among others.
“I've spent most of my times working as a link between industry and government and quite frankly small businesses helping create an environment where they can grow, operate sustainably and quite frankly where government gets off their back,” he said.
He said the board made a deliberate decision to choose someone from outside the sector.
“We've got a lot of family farms, but I can't pretend I've done anything except a lot of fencing and shooting on them,” he said.
“What they wanted was someone to understand stakeholder dynamics, how we can best support our member organisations, of which there's 43, and the sector, how we can strengthen NFF's role in the political debate making sure that we're at all the tables."
He was keen to work with members to get the results.
“It's not a case of Troy and the policy team figuring out what we do today or what we do next week. That's genuinely driven by the advice we get from the state farming organisations and generally driven by the members in the commodity councils," he said.
Mr Williams said the recent reappointment of Julie Collins as Agriculture Minister wasn’t a surprise to his team.
“In the reshuffle, the Minister lost the small business portfolio and on balance that's actually probably a positive for ag, it allows her to have a stronger focus on ag,” he said.
“There are areas where we're going to really struggle with the Federal Government, but there are areas where there's a lot of common agreement and an excellent case is the food security strategy.”
For the tougher issues, he revealed it would now be even more complex because the opposition had been diminished.
Building on his push for greater understanding of farming by government, Mr Williams is currently advocating for government ministers - including the Prime Minister, Agriculture Minister and Treasurer among others - to get out and talk to farmers suffering from drought.
“I don't want politicians' first-hand experience of drought being on a submission," he said.
"We've invited the Prime Minister and told him he needs to get out to, increasingly New South Wales is becoming a concern, but certainly to Victoria, certainly to South Australia and not just the Prime Minister but the Ag Minister, the Treasurer as well.
"Farmers are far more effective at explaining their problems than I'd ever be."
Mr Williams took over from Tony Mahar, who served as NFF Chief Executive Officer from 2016 to late 2024 and now serves as Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner.
