The board of Directors of Cattle Australia are delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Luke Bowen as its inaugural Chief Executive Officer.

Born and raised in Western Australia, and his early work career in South Australia and subsequently with the Indigenous Land Corporation, Luke is currently head of Agriculture, Fisheries and Biosecurity with the Northern Territory Department of Industry Tourism and Trade.

He has previously worked for the Commonwealth and was CEO of the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association (NTCA) from 2008 to 2014 demonstrating his leadership and advocacy skills through challenging times for Australia’s cattle industry.

Luke brings to Cattle Australia, a broad and extensive wealth of knowledge in, the cattle industry, advocacy processes, grant funding, program management and membership-based organisations.

Chair of Cattle Australia, Mr David Foote said “there was an overwhelming response and an exceptionally strong candidate field which had applied for this role which is a wonderful endorsement of our new national body, established to advance and advocate the interests of Australian grassfed cattle producers”.

The formation of Cattle Australia follows many years of work by industry to restructure to a single commodity representative body for the nation’s single largest agricultural sector.

With an annual value of production of ~ $20bn, directly employing 35,000 people and managing ~42% of the Australian landmass, the grassfed cattle industry forms the backbone of rural, regional and remote Australia.

Luke will commence duties from 17th April 2023.

Taken from Cattle Australia Media Release on 21 March 2023.