WHAT a bloody shemozzle.

Australian wool growers deserve more - much, much more - than the mess that is Australian Wool Innovation.

Another week, another resignation. That appears to be the motto for the body that is meant to be promoting and researching Australian wool.

Instead, we have a body beset with infighting, lies, perceived conflicts of interest and now a very public spat between the chairman and a former board member.

The resignation of board member and wool processor Laurence Modiano last week surely should be the final straw for this current board.

That current chairman Wal Merriman has admitted he lied to The Weekly Times - and its thousands of wool-grower readers - has to put it beyond any doubt.

This board must go.

Only with a clean slate can the wool industry select a board that has the best interests of the entire industry at its heart.

The debate about a skills-based board has been raging for some time. If that is going to deliver the level of professionalism and expertise the wool industry deserves, then so be it.

The current board maintains it is skills-based.

But when a resigning director, such as Laurence Modiano, goes out the door trashing the Woolmark licensing program on the way, it demonstrates a lack of skills.

We believe all growers must surely realise that the litany of elected boards with vested interests have not advanced the wool industry at all.

In fact, the fortunes of wool have fallen dramatically since AWI was first formed in 2001.

Falling prices, mulesing and drought may not be entirely AWI's fault, but how they responded to and managed these vital issues surely are.

It may even be time to purge the name Australian Wool Innovation altogether and start over - again.

AWI, despite the work of many professional and well-meaning employees, has come to represent all that is wrong with rural politics.

Let's get fair dinkum about lifting the fortunes of wool. The time to start is now. And the first job is to get rid of this Australian Wool Innovation board.