After years of often bitter dispute and falling returns, the wool industry has decided to join together to form a new strategy.

Agriculture Minister David Carter said the newly formed Wool Group would be a "respected voice". The Government would now work with it to find ways to improve the profitability of the industry, he said.

The group, which may choose a new name at a later meeting, has 17 members, representing 17 different organisations involved in wool's transformation from fleece to carpet.

Further members may be added, including the sheep industry body Beef + Lamb New Zealand, which till farmers rejected a wool levy, was known as Meat & Wool, and a representative of the marketing-consumer end of the business.

The wool levy rejection was the catalyst for Mr Carter forming a wool industry taskforce last year. One of the taskforce's recommendations was forming a group to give it a single voice and Mr Carter asked former Treasury secretary and ANZ chief executive Murray Horn to bring this about.

Dr Horn said it had been surprisingly easy to do. Although it had been two months since he was appointed he had spent just 10 1/2 days on it.

Members had signed up to an agreement that set out their objectives and how to resolve differences. This asks members to "raise and earnestly endeavour to resolve differences among themselves before pursuing those differences outside the group".

Dr Horn said this was an opportunity for the industry to speak with one voice, "to resolve their differences in a face-to-face kind of way, where you can get the richness of the other guy's point of view".

Source: Staff.co.nz