The Country 16/05/25: Chris Russell talks to Jamie Mackay

Our Australian correspondent talks about weight loss drugs, slumping tractor sales and the madness of an “unrealised capital gains tax”.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's there. OSI correspondent Chris Russell, based out of Sydney. Chris,
let's go to Tasmania where there has been new life
for the Tasmanian poppy growing industry due to these new
weight loss drugs such as zempak. How does that work?

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, you know, this is epic is a remarkable drug
really and it came from a bloody lizard in America
they discovered called the Gilly monster lizard. That s found
that it's got suppressants for appetite which lasts for a
week rather than lasting for a few hours which our
natural ones do. But there are a lot of other

(00:35):
side drugs which are actually also used in that. And
whereas our whole poppy industry in Tasmania was revolving really
around the supply of painkillers and opioid type drugs, and
remember they used to even count the poppies in the
field at one stage. Now they've found that they've got
a demand for some of the weight loss drug ingredients

(00:59):
to come from these as well, and there's a worldwide
shortage of these drugs. Of course, it's quite almost impossible
to get hold of them, and they're now saying that
extract Aspire Science, which is the company that now owns
all those growing areas down in Tasmania, is hoping for
extra nine thousand hectares, so they got down to three
thousand hectares only being required for the various drugs that

(01:24):
they use as painkillers, where they're going to grind extra
nine thousand hectares to be able to supply this shortage
for the drug ozempic, highly sought after. So that's a
whole new lease of life. And it's been used for
all sorts of things from diabetes and it's also been
found to reduce information in hearts and therefore reduced heart attacks.

(01:46):
It's become one of the four Pillar treatments for kidney disease.
It's quite an extraordinary drug with almost no side effects
that anyone's discovered, other than if you're taking it, a
weight loss. Apparently, if you go off it and you
haven't got yourself, we've got eating habits, Jamie. You put
it all back on again pretty quickly.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah. Hey, Field Days are coming up middle of June
here in New Zealand. It's the biggest agricultural gathering I
think in the Southern Hemisphere, or at least that's what
we're claiming anyhow, now about field days, the real barometer
here is tractor sales. In Australia. Tractor sales have crashed
as farmers, especially in the drought regions, prefer to feed

(02:25):
their animals rather than upgrade the tractor.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yes, well, you know, and this is the thing that's
quite surprising the dealerships who had stocked up on tractors
thinking that they would be more of a demand. But
these falls have continued right through April, and with fewer
than eight hundred tractors sold right across Australia in the
thirty day period of April, so that's down thirteen percent

(02:48):
month on month on the month before and nine percent
down on April last year. Now, you know, while we
had easter and all that sort of thing in there. Nonetheless,
they're quite surprised that we're not seeing any growth in
tractor sales because up in the north, you know, they've
had good rain there are expecting to grow another fantastic
winter crop year, which is not something they normally expect.

(03:11):
But in the South it's quite the opposite. They're quite
pessimistic about their crop prospects down in South Australia and
West Australia. And so this is causing quite a lot
of trauma I think for our tractor dealers all around Australia.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Jamie, you've got three more years of elbow and a
labor government not necessarily in fact, they're not farmer friendly.
Let's be honest about it. What are the changes to
that the treasure has made that could affect the sale
of family farms?

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yes, and I think this is going to be a
big issue. Jim Chalmers, the Treasurer, has been getting a
lot of heat over this from the farmers. But they're
proposing to bring in an unrealized capital agains tax on
superannuation funds that are over three million dollars. A lot
of family farms are put into superannuation funds for tax

(04:04):
reasons and they've passed on to the next generation and
in that way you're able to maintain that family ownership.
But of course a lot of those farms are worth
a lot more than three million dollars, and they're now
talking about charging a fifteen percent tax on the extra value,
even if you haven't sold anything and haven't realized the money.

(04:24):
So somewhere you've got to drag up fifteen percent of
a couple three five million dollars and pay it to
the government without actually having anything to sell. And that
could cause farmers to start thinking about selling their farms
when they get to retire an age, rather than leaving
them in the super far and living off some of
the proceeds from them and letting the family carry that on.
Now that's a big loss. Of course. It does depend,

(04:47):
of course on the Greens supporting that in the new
Senate when it opens. The Greens have been much depleted
in the House of Reps, but there's still power in
the Senate, so there's a lot of push to sort
of Jim Chalmers, you need to think about it. We've
had people like Jerry Harvey from Harvey Norman saying that
it's the worst decision, the most stupidity of the highest order,

(05:09):
he called it. Elder Statesman Paul Keating, former Prime Minister,
has said that they have to increase that threshold to
five million as a minimum, but not a good tax.
So he's getting a lot of criticism. But they're desperate
for money, Jamie, that's the problem.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
An unrealized capital gains tax is straight from the playbook
of air Greens, as well Chris Russell, Australian correspondent, Thanks
for your time. We'll catch you again next week. Come Raine, hail,
snow or shine or an Ossie rugby team winning Super
Rugby Heaven help us see you later.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
No worries,