WPA president Don Hamblin says the majority of the wool industry is "working hard to meet the expectations of our customers with the phasing out of mulesing".

"Yet everywhere we turn there is the dead hand of AWGA pulling us back," Mr Hamblin said.

"The attempt to undermine the National Wool Declaration (NWD) is deplorable, and shows just how low AWGA will go in its efforts to destabilise the industry and further its own political goals."

The attack follows that of Australian Wool Innovation chairman Brian van Rooyen, who yesterday accused AWGA of seeking to "continually divide the industry".

Mr Hamblin's attack is based on the issue of European retailers asking that Australian growers identify wool from farms that no longer mules or wool from sheep that were not mulesed.

"It is AWGA that continually lectures the wool industry about the need for more marketing, yet they conveniently ignore what our customers are telling us," he said.

"The claims by AWGA that the AWEX definition of mulesing in the NVD is inconsistent with the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – the Sheep is complete nonsense, and demonstrates the mischievous way they will twist words to mislead the industry.

"Anyone who reads the Mulesing Appendix to the national code will be left with no doubt that the procedure that it describes involves using shears and the creation of an open wound – and that is what the NWD refers to.

"This is the exact reason why wool that is from sheep that have been subject to breech clips – or any other alternative to mulesing – is classified as producing 'non-mulesed' wool.

"It may be politically expedient for AWGA in the short term to undermine alternatives to mulesing or initiatives such as the NWD but the problem of mulesing will not go away."