October 7, 2025 • 35 mins
Hamish McKay talks to Christopher Luxon, Ele Ludemann, Matt Bolger, and Nicola Eccleton.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Catch all the latest from the land. It's the Country
Podcast with Jamie mckue. Thanks to Brent, you're specialist in
John Deere Machinery.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Pro Start. You had the woud health to living in
your big class house with the few.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
How thought you know? I know? Good afternoon, Welcome man,
This is the Country brought to you by Brent Havis
mackay in for Jamie mckaye standing by the Prime Minister.
Christopher Luxen is first up on the show today. Also,
we're going to be looking at the latest GDT auction
with Matt Bulger rural delivery being cut slashed.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Will have a look at that issue that will have
a big impact.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And of course what an announcement to have during Mental
Health Awareness Week, A very special interview today coming up
with somebody who has suffered the deepest of grief and
how how do we approach somebody who is suffering grief?
All that and a lot more coming up right here
on the cart.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Well, the Prime.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Minister Christopher Luxan joins us now on the Country.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Welcome Prime Minister.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
Good to be with you, Hamish. How are you going
this week?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Oh ye not good? Thank you good, thank you that
Jamie McKay. He can stay over in Perth and watch
rugby as long as he likes.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
I quite like this gig. It's it's quite good.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
Yeah, you're doing a great job of it. At least
he gets up there people in the mirk, so that's yeah,
that's good for him.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
It is good for him.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And he always tells me, don't don't go too well,
go well but not too well. Right, speaking of going
quite well but not quite the the India Free Trade Agreement.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
We spoke to Todd McClay yesterday.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
What is the expectation there, I mean he said, we're
three rounds in the fourth round will be a knockout.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Look, we've we close out our Queenstown around. I think
we've got another round in India and then yeah, we'll
look to see where we sort of get to at
the end of all of that. But look, I mean
there's been very good commitment from Prominence Commodium, myself and
also Trade mister Goyle who's Todd's counterpart, and the four
of us have been pretty determined from the top to
actually try and find way to make this work. So
(02:21):
you know, I've done a lot of business in India
over the years, and you know, they're really tough negotiat us.
They are really hard, and we also want to be
we could negotiat us too, So we've got to make
sure that we get the best possible deal we can
for New Zealand, and so I don't let that process
run through, to be honest, A missions to sort of
it'll take as long as it takes. But I think
we're making pretty Having said that, we're making good progress.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Do you have a kind of a timeline on there,
because I might have, you know, upset the boat a
bit on heither Duples Clan. Yesterday I said maybe sort
of early next year. Is it possibility that this could
be close to Dune?
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Well, well, what we've said is we're going to go
as quickly as we can, but equally we will get
a deal done in our term. That was our commitment
before the election, and I think we've done a very
good job. Actually. I mean you've got to remember that
New Zealand's trade with India had gone back with under
labor they basically said they weren't interested in India and
as a result, the Indians went interested in Arson. So
we had to work really hard to build back that relationship,
(03:14):
to be able to get a visit to India, to
be able to then kick off the FTA negotiations. And
the good news is, you know, even just by us
focusing on India, ah, our exports India I think up
seventeen percent in the last year, So you know, it's
really you know, there's a lot of opportunity there, as
we know, with a rapidly rising middle class that's existing there.
I mean, you know, I think about four hundred and
thirty million people out of the one point five billion,
(03:36):
it's the most populous country on Earth. In the middle class.
Of course, they want great New Zealand food and beverages
from New Zealand. So you know, we've got to keep
making a case very strongly there. So we're optimistic. We
want to get it done this term. We're going to
go as fast as we can.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Excellent dear idea, who wouldn't be interested in India? The
mind bombs right. Government quarterly planned the thirty three things
the government plans to do before the end of the Yeah,
where are we at with this?
Speaker 4 (04:01):
And what's the top of the list.
Speaker 5 (04:03):
Yeah, the big one is actually the new RMA system
going forward from here, So you might remember. The RMA,
I think is the single biggest thing that's been really
holding New Zealand back. You see all the work and
the frustration that you've seen even over the weekend with
regional councils and consenting. It's just you know, impacts you
guys in the farming sector. But it's just everything right.
(04:24):
You want to get a road belt, you want to
get a wolf extended to a boort, the things that
actually make New Zealand go faster. We have just wrapped
this country up in red and green tape and we're trying.
We've got one of our big five things. We've got
to keep dismantling as much of that as we possibly can.
So the RMA is the biggest thing. Obviously, we stopped
the labor changes when we first came the first few
weeks when we came to power. We've put in place
(04:46):
fast track. We've made a number of what's called RMA
amendments to signal what's happening and to make some dumb
stuff stop. And then as of at the end of
this year, we want to have already introduced our first
reading of the new RMA law. So they're going to
be governing New Zealand going forward, and you know they
need to be much simpler, get rid of the bureaucracy
in as much of the red tape, respect people's property
(05:09):
rights and enable people to get things done and built.
And so the way it works is that I think
some of the publics that doesn't quite fully understand or
that we have a First we basically have a policy,
which is what we've been working on for the last
year or so about what we want that RMA to
do and how we want it to work and function
and to make it easier to get things done. Then
we put it into legislation and which is where a
(05:30):
lot of lawyers get involved with what's called a bill
that then goes to Parliament for a first reading. It
then goes out to the public for up to six
months for consultation and feedback and they try and make
give us input that makes the bill better, and then
it comes back to Parliament for a second reading and
what's called a committee stage and then into a reading
when it becomes then the law of the land. And
we don't need to wait ten years to get this
(05:51):
thing implemented. We just got to get things consented, sorted
and get people moving quickly into stuff.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Right, okay, job seekers.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Now, now there seems to be a little bit of
a discussion here between you and one or two in
the horticultural sector. You believe there are screaming out for workers.
Is one or two in their sector who say they aren't.
What's your take on that?
Speaker 5 (06:14):
Well, it's just interesting. I mean, my point is a
bigger one, which is that we cannot have in twenty
years time the same conversations we're having today that somehow
over half our kids don't go to school regularly, which
is the position we inherit it. Under labor, we've made
some good progress on school attendance, which is good, and
then you just drift off into welfare. And the worrying
(06:35):
thing is that if you go on to a benefit
under the age of twenty five, the forecasts are you
going to spend at least eighteen years on a benefit
over your lifetime. So that is a pretty sobering statistic
when you think about that. And Labor sort of have
a view which is that there's jobs that are just
beneath people and as a result, actually people shouldn't shouldn't work,
They should be better to go on the benefit, and
(06:55):
the answer is that is not the answer. We need
people connected to work. That is a much better life
than being on welfare. And we actually care about the
people who not materialize their potential. So what we can't
have as an eighteen or a nineteen year old coming
out of school or even the schooling system, and we've
got fifteen thousand of them, and then sitting on the
jobs seek unemployment benefit. The job seekret benefit is set
(07:17):
up so that you are able to work tomorrow or
within the next two years. You know, that's the expectation.
So all I'm saying to those young people is, sorry,
you've got to get things to work. You've got to
get to training or further education so that you will
be ready for a job, to be able to take
on a job. So that's what that's all about. And
all I'm saying is up and down this country, I
go everywhere. You'll go into kwe through pack houses and
(07:39):
people say, yeah, there's lots of young people that come.
They might start one shift, they don't show up on
time the next day and then they're not there for
day three. And that's not always the case. But I'm
just saying there is opportunities for people. And if you're
just going to draw a mythical line and say there's
this type of job that's just as below anyone and
no one should be doing, I just don't think that's fair.
(08:01):
I think the problem why we want young people and workers.
You've got to show up on time, you've got to work,
build a work ethic, you've got to make sure that
you are a part of a team. You learn a
lot of a lot of skill, and you add at
your skills that you become valuable, then you actually can
have a decent career and a decent job path prospects
going forward.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yep, I agree with all of that. Just on the
school attendance thing, Prime Minister. In the eighties, in the
early eighties at Palmerston North Boys High School, if you were,
if you wagged, you were just about on the front
page of the old Evening Standard. The matter would do
stay and you know it was a big story.
Speaker 6 (08:35):
You know, the frustrated boys.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
It was the same thing to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
a partners boys.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
Yeah no, it's funny. And when did it become optional?
I mean, how on earth we call ourselves the first
World country when fifty five percent of our kids were
not at school ninety percent of the time or more.
And the problem is this Hamish is that if you
don't go to school ninety percent of time or more,
by the time you reach age of sixteen, you've lost
one whole year of education. And then we've been trying
(09:01):
to retort our NCAA's that we get back to the
old days of what I had, which was school. See
where I knew I'd got expercent for maths and science
and English and economics or whatever. And it's the same
thing we're going to be implementing there. So you know,
we've fortunately, you know, if you look at the last
two years, I think we've lifted it almost I think
eighteen percent, not as I saw he stay for term two.
And that's good. But you know, we still have you know,
(09:22):
we still have fifty percent of our kids now going
to school regularly rather than actually, you know, eighty percent
is what it needs to be. So you know, that's
the work that we're just every week. Every we now
publish the data weekly, we have it available. We talked
to the schools. You know, we're going to putting pressure
on parents to get kids to school. And it's not
an optional thing, and it never was that way. It
was called compulsory education for a reason. And it's necessary
(09:45):
for our kids to be able to come into a
workforce and be work ready. You know a number of
your people, you know, farmers out there will be hiring
staff sometimes you know they're reading and the numerous these
skills are pretty poor and that's not giving him the
basic skills that those people, young people need go forward with.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Absolutely. Finally, and just quickly to wrap up, Prime Minister.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yesterday we had Todd McClay and we talked about Mental
Health Awareness Week and what he did for his top
two inches to relieve some stress. So I'm jokingly suggesting
he goes down to the dam at the back of
the farm icy dam, dives and naked. What about you
for the top two inches? What's your in thirty seconds?
What's your sort of release to give yourself a break?
Speaker 5 (10:20):
You crank up post alone, if one trillion album and
you have it real out and you just have it
pumping through the house, that's what you do. And I
have it in the office and I actually have a
speaker system in the shower. I have had in my
kitchen and throughout my house and no, that's what gets
your fills things up. But look, you got to stay balanced, right.
I mean, when you get stressed, it's because you're overworking
(10:41):
one of your sort of energies. You've got to have
work on stuff. It's important, you have good social relationships,
you've got to do some physical exerciety, you've got to
be mutually stimulated. So I think when you stay balanced
on those things that helps. But for me it's just
crank up the music.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Yep, strike the balance. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, thank you
for joining us on the country.
Speaker 6 (10:57):
Great Hamish.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Mate.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
See thank you lazy.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Looking out for our farmers on the country with Federated
Farmers proud supporters of Mental Health Awareness Week.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
You're listen, need to have the country harmers. MacKaye in
for Jamie McKay.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Our focus this week, as so much has been and
rightly so on Mental Health Awareness Week. Our topic today
is a grief and those suffering grief and how do
we approach them and what do we say because that's
sometimes the biggest challenge of all. Ali Ludeman joins us
now and to discuss this. Ali thank you so much
(11:46):
for joining us. Look your story, let's let's cut to
the chase. Well, it's an incredibly tough story. Just just
take us through that so we can sort of set
the scene for our for our conversation around grief.
Speaker 6 (12:01):
Okay, Well, our sons Tom and Dan had a generative
brain disorders. Tom was born in nineteen eighty seven. We
were right in the middle of the egg sag, and
like a lot of people, we were technically bankrupt. If
the banks had decided to push us over, the value
of what we owned would have been less than what
we owed. And then we had this baby who had
(12:24):
this brain disorder. It took a while to diagnose it.
He was born in April, and in response to the eggzag,
we were supplying old use of winter kill, which meant
sharing every fortnighte And that winter I looked back, I
was either in hospital with Tom or at home feeding
(12:45):
sharers or getting food ready for someone else to feed them.
When we were in hospital, and in August we got
a diagnosis that was some sort of degenerative brain condition
and he would die soon or be profoundly disabled. And
I mean I thought I didn't know which what was
worse I mean, obviously I didn't want my baby to die,
(13:05):
but the thought of a child with a profoundly disabled
was no better. But of course we don't have choice,
have matters like this. And a month later he died,
and at first there was some relief, And anybody who
has had a death when there's you know, the life
isn't ideal, knows that relief is a normal reaction. But
(13:27):
of course there was there was grief as well, because
this was a baby we loved and wanted and he
wasn't going to be part of our family. And there
lots of tests during his life, and a post mortem
ruled out all the known genetic conditions, and we saw
a genetic specialist who said, you know, barring one on
a million chance it's something medical science hasn't caught up with,
(13:51):
it'll be quite safe to have another. So two years
later Dan was born and he had the same condition,
and he lived till he was five, and he could
do no more the day he died than he had
been able to the day he left the path in
here the developmental milestones. So again when he died, there
was an element of relief, but of course there was
(14:14):
sadness and physical symptoms. And in the end I went
to my GP with this list of symptoms and he
examined me from head to toe and sat me down
and he said, well, the only thing I can rule
out one hundred percent is prostate cancer. But he said,
you know, I think you've got grief. And he said,
(14:36):
you know, did you feel this way after time died?
And I said no. But on the way home, I thought,
actually I did have physical symptoms as well, and I
started crying, and I cried for Parana and I gets
the loosen there as you do have to grieve. And
you know, when the hopes and dreams you have for
a life, and it doesn't really matter what age they are,
but you know, children, it's worse because there's you know,
(15:00):
when you're pregnant, you may not even be aware of
what your hopes and dreams are for a child, but
when they're gone, you sort of thought, well, you know,
it's our daughter. Jane was two years older than Tom.
You know, none of that sort of si lend fun.
And also they're not so good things that siblings do
to each other. But rather than generally, if you're lucky,
(15:22):
our cloth and just you know, we've got a farm,
and of course we could have had any number of
daughters who wanted to be farmers and any number of
sons who didn't. But there was that element as well,
and just the awfulness of it's against the natural order
of things to lose the.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Child, to lose two children, that's just like I can't
even get my head around or have to think about
this over the longer term. But grief, So how were people?
How did people approach you or did they approach you,
or how were those who had the magic words or
were those who just maybe shut off? Because it's a
(16:01):
hell of a hard thing to front up to somebody
who's lost children's loved ones, Like you say, yeah, And.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
We were really blessed with our family and friends, had
absolutely wonderful support from them, and most were really pretty good.
And I think one of the things is you don't.
Speaker 7 (16:19):
Know what to say.
Speaker 6 (16:19):
Just say, I don't know what to say, and this
is awful, and it is And I guess the thing
about grief is, you know, if I had a broken leg,
you'd see the plastic, wouldn't expect me to be swinging
from the chandeliers, But you don't see the grief scars
and you know that's harder because people talk about getting
(16:39):
over grief as if it's an illness, but it's not.
It's a process you go through and something you carry.
And sometimes it's heavier and sometimes it's lighter. And one
of the metals I us is like a wound, and
you know, at first it's bleeding profusely, the pains and tense,
it's all you can think of, and then grat to
(17:00):
the bleeding will stop, but it's slight, s knock and
it all will start again. And then now as time
goes on, you know, you get a scab and a scar,
and the scar will always be there and sometimes you're
you're not aware of it, and then at other times
it's incredibly painful. And then and grief builds on grief too,
(17:21):
because just to complicate matters, eight years ago, our daughter
was diagnosed with a rare form of overing cancer. And
you know, this was it seems ridiculous, but I always
felt that somehow Tom and Dan would protect her from
anything awful. But of course life doesn't work like that.
And you know, that's a different type of grief, and
(17:46):
and you know, as an adult, handling that is different
from what you know how we handled the boys because
they were because their brains weren't working properly. They didn't
know what was going on. But of course, you know,
we were faced with what Jane was feeling as well
as what we were feeling.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
You must have some incredible strategies then around grief, given
what you've been through earlier, that would be so valuable.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
I guess too many.
Speaker 6 (18:14):
Well, if you need help, ask for it. And we
went to a counselor after Jane was diagnosed, and when
he heard our story said, well, it's the wonder you're
still married. And I said, well, I knew Grant would
never leave the farm, so if I stayed on the farm,
he'd stay with me. And he knew I wouldn't go
quietly or cheap piece, so really it was left bother
(18:35):
to keep me.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I love the way that you've got a sense of
humor given your life. You know, like that's great, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Well that's important.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
One of my on the noticeboard in my office, I've
got the Storytellers creed by Robert Fulham, and the last
two lines are the only self for grief is laughter
and love is stronger than death. And you know there's
been Among the sadness, there's been a lot of laughter,
and there's also been a lot of love, a lot
of strong.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
I'm writing that down now. Love is stronger than.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
Yeah, because because the thing is, you know why you
don't get over grief is because you don't get over
the love. If you love someone, you love them forever,
and so yeah, it doesn't die. But as people are
wondering what to do, be guided by the person. And
one of the things if you're thinking of starting a
sentence with at least stop because children, you know a
(19:33):
place and a dinner seat, your break one you can
buy another. And it doesn't matter how many good things
are going on in your life. If you're grieving because
of a loss, then you're grieving. And yeah, you can
be grateful for the good things and the wonderful people
around you and all sorts of other things, but it
doesn't stop the pain of the of the grief. And
(19:57):
practical things. There's a book called There is No Good
Card for This and in it they say, you know,
do the practical things. Another thing to avoid is is
there's anything I can do instead of that?
Speaker 7 (20:08):
You know?
Speaker 6 (20:09):
Can I mow your lawns? Can I bring you a
meal or better still, just bring the meil?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Yes?
Speaker 6 (20:15):
Can I look after the other children? If there are
other children?
Speaker 7 (20:19):
You know?
Speaker 6 (20:20):
Do you need to be taken somewhere? All those sort
of practical things, because you know, if I say to you,
if there's anything I can do, you don't know what
I'm able and willing to do. But if I say
to you, can I top your meal to whatever? You know,
that's something that I'm willing and able to do and
can do it.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Marvelous Chatt all day about this, Ali, But there's some
wonderful stuff and what you've just said there, and you know,
if you don't know what to say, just say I
don't know what to say.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
And I love that. If you need help, just ask
for it.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Ali Ludeman, thank you so much for joining us and
discussing the topic of grief.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Much appreciated here on the country.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Were you're listening to the counter, I hope you're having
a cracking old Wednesday wherever you are, whatever you might
be doing.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
The latest GDT auction has taken place. Manager of Fonterra.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Cooperative Affairs, Matt Bulger today, Matt, how are you?
Speaker 5 (21:33):
I'm good, hammus Hegan, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Very good, thank you. Right where did we land with
this latest GDT auction?
Speaker 5 (21:40):
So auction overnight east A bit came down, So the
overall olymdics came down one point six percent. A few
things up and down within the key one week watch courses,
homework powder that was down two point three percent across
the wider auction. Then we had a few other things
moving around, butter down three, Cheder up almost one percent,
(22:02):
and AMF up a bit over one percent.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Yeah, okay, so this comes one point six percent four
off the back of a zero point eight percent four
and a bigger one before. Is it a little rocky
or is this sort of just mirroring what happened about
twelve months ago at the same time if my memory
serves me.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
Right, Yeah, combination of both. So over the last three
options we've we've increased the volume. So you know, Fontier
is putting about forty thousand metric tons up each fortnite
now and so that that comes in and as we
go into peak, of course that that affects the volumes
and more supply. But on the other side, you need
(22:40):
to be fear it's pretty rocky out there, trade barriers
and so on the other thing to watch is that
there is a bit more milk coming out of Europe
and the United States, so we're watching that. So but
look when we look at the milk volume out of
those big places like Europe and the States, we look
at new yellow milk being up a little bit, you know,
we think, well, it's east back, but it's pretty reasonable result.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
So these are good times with the ten dollars plus payout,
and there seems to be a fair bit of optimism
that that will still be around or certainly you can
lock in close to that in terms of futures.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
But still there's still you know, still enough, still enough.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
You know, I don't know whether the red flags there,
they're not exactly blowing in a hurricane, but there's enough
to be weary of match.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
Yeah, I think that's a good way to put it.
That we've we've still got our mid point at plus
forecast of ten dollars. We've kept a wide range there
of nine dollars to eleven. You know, we open the season,
of course with an eight dollars to eleven range, signaling
greater downside risk than upside. And you know, as time
has gone through, we've up to the bottom of that
(23:47):
range from eight to nine, which is good. We'd be
more than a third contracted now, which is great. We're
contracting at good prices, and so you know, the team
out there are cranking obviously farmer going through through spring,
very busy time team through the factories across the country,
busy and out of the sales teams there and every
day they're they're contracting more of that book. So the
(24:09):
further we get into it, the more confidence we have
to be there. But no fear to say there is
still there's still a dollar up and down range there
which is still pretty wide and a fair way to
go still in the season.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Ye, Matt, don't want to put you on this plot
mental health Awareness week. What do you do if you
don't mind me asking for you know, just to relieve
the pressure on the top two inches.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
I mean, you obviously grew up in sort.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Of rurally king country kind of part of the world.
Is a sort of physical activity at the top of
your list.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
I wish I could give a better one on that.
So I've got three youngest kids and I sort of
chase them around, and to be honest, the time to
get back with family and connect with them. You spend
a fair amount of time on the road. So just
came out of the back of school holidays, which you
know I missed. I missed a chunk of those getting
out with farmer meetings, which is which is fine, but
I think the time for me to connect and with
(24:59):
family and particularly getting outside, whether it's kid sports or
you know, wife, and I think that's the great thing
in mental health. I think too. Just to shout out
to Rural Support Trust and the fantastic work they do.
You know, we've been involved with them pretty closely in
amazing organization. We know that there's always lots of ups
and downs, particularly in rural life. So yeah, I think
(25:22):
they do it a fantastic job.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Yeah, Oh that sounds that's brilliant.
Speaker 7 (25:25):
Matt.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Make the time, take the time, tick those boxes and
in a way that you enjoy it and you feel
the grass between your toes, like and ice cream all
that stuff.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Matt Bulcher, thanks very much for joining us. Much appreciated
here on the country.
Speaker 5 (25:39):
Thanks much, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
I'm pretty good at bringing down.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Right delving into a serious issue now here on the country.
Harmers McKay in for Jamie McKay for the weekend into
next week as well, rural delivery New Zealand Posts reducing
this and this is this really gets me wound up,
this whole thing of connectivity, especially in a week like
(26:11):
Mental Health Awareness Week. CEO of Rural Women in New
Zealand is Nicola Ecklson, joins us. Now, hello, Nikola, how
are you?
Speaker 7 (26:20):
I'm how are you? Yea?
Speaker 4 (26:22):
And I fighting fit.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
But I'm annoyed by this because you know, I mean,
I spent the first twenty odd years of my life
living rurally and you know that this is an incredibly
important issue. And I know you had a survey which
where many many, in fact, the vast majority of your
members had real concerns about this cutting back of rural delivery.
What five days to three and postal outlets being chop left,
(26:46):
right and center.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
It is concerning, It really is.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
Our members were really nervous about this. So more than
ninety per cent of them in that survey set they
were really concerned that it would negatively impact them.
Speaker 6 (26:59):
And so here we are with.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
The proposed reduction or the reduction and services and it's
a real issue. It's it's lifeline stuff. New Zealand post
is a lifeline for our communities. You know, as you say,
the connectivity, they already live far away from the local shop,
the boadbands patchy, the connections are just being reduced that
much further. It's it's really sad.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Yeah, when you get back to three days, I mean
that presents some pretty big gaps and some barriers, doesn't it.
It just ye, it's a huge you know, five to
three days might not sound like a lot too urban
folk who are used to their team, who are getting
dropped off.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
By the courier every few hours, but this is a
big cutback.
Speaker 7 (27:42):
It is a big cutback because there are already parts
of the country where it takes about three weeks to
get something, so it's so reducing that service is just
exacerbating that. And the things that our members tell us
they are getting in that postal delivery are things like
them met medications. It might be the medication from the
(28:03):
vets of their animals, it might be food or clothing.
They really are very dependent on these services for supplies
coming in. But then we've also got the people who
are running businesses who are relying on sending things out,
so it's a double whammy for those people.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Yeah, too, there is a population or a percentage of
our rural community. You do live sort of within that
sort of twenty to thirty forty minutes of good rural
service towns where then get everything they want. Not that
that should be a reason to cut back rural delivery,
but then there are plenty who live so far beyond
(28:42):
that kind of catchment.
Speaker 7 (28:45):
Oh absolutely, we suspect when they reduce the number of
those communal collection points, we suspect that people are going
to be traveling you know, I don't know, you know,
more than an hour to go and collect their posts.
It's really half.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
And you know, this isn't the only thing that's going
I mean, I know things are better on the farm
at the moment with some good farm gate prices, but
that doesn't you know, that doesn't detract from the day
to day issues. And this is a big issue. I mean,
in that survey, obviously rural women New Zealand spoke up
very strongly about their concerns for cutbacks to rural delivery
(29:25):
and postal outlets.
Speaker 7 (29:27):
They we did because our members are concerned. But you know,
I think the other issue is and we've talked about
business and the economic impact, and that is really important,
but we've also got a social isolation issue here in
New Zealand, and we're talking about you know, all forms
of connection, whether it be receiving a letter, just there's
(29:48):
that as well, and we're making it more isolated. We're
making people more isolated, and we're just making life a
little bit harder and parts of the country where we
need people to be living and serving our communities and
the food and fiber sector. So there's the business, but
then there's also the people who go out and want
(30:09):
to live there and want to raise their children in
those areas. We're just making it a little bit harder
and a little bit more isolated, and that's the real problem.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
And you know, like you know, I don't want to
make light of this, but you know, it's a bit
like seeing in the care package to the son or
daughter at university out there in those rural backblocks, getting
something in a little treat coming in the mail regularly
and knowing stuff is coming.
Speaker 7 (30:30):
That's vital, oh absolutely, And all sorts of stuff comes
through those mail delivery you know, I remember being on
farm and you know who you're posting is and they're
delivering all sorts of things for you and you're putting
biscuits in the mailbox at Christmas time and on their birthday.
It's a really big connection piece.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Okay, so what are you going to do? What's the plan?
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Do you rual women in z How are you going
to address this? How are you going to go and
low and hard and crash tackle New Zealand post on this.
Speaker 7 (30:59):
Crash tack? We look, we're going to We're going to
regroup and talk to our members and say, right, what
is the next step. I think it is going to
be really important that we keep making a noise about
the impact, able to tell you those very litible stories
about the impact that it's going to have. I think
it's as short sighted to make these cuts and we
(31:21):
need to we need to tell those stories.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Yeah, absolutely, Nichola, thank you for joining us. Good luck
with this and we'll keep on top of it in
support of you too. On this cutbacks for rural delivery
five days to three days and those postal out next.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
Kickbacks as well.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
Thanks very much.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Okay, thank you very much. Cheers. There we go.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
That is Nicola Epleson, CEO of Rural Women NZ here
on the country.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeahs gone, Now, come on, Dad's shot, no game.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Nor time God.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Seven minutes away from one o'clock to fifty three on
your Wednesday here on the country. Great to have your company,
Hamish mguy with you no now. No matter how long
you've been out working on the land, you can always
learn ways to work smart, to save money and out
a bit of time on the farm.
Speaker 5 (32:20):
Ah nothing better.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
An episode four of a podcast series brought to you.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
By Beef and Lamb in zed Empowered by the Country,
Join Me. Hamish Mackay, born and raised in the manter
w two along with I joined Chair of Beef and
Lamb New Zealand Kate Eckland and her husband David from
their Mount Summers farm in Canterbury to discuss the new
AI tool called Bella We discuss how you can make
(32:48):
use of Bella AI for making decisions on farm based
on trusted information from the Beef and Lamb Knowledge Hub,
and how Bella AI can be like.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
The new edding dog eaven knew you need it? Hey?
Oh see that I isn't it beautiful?
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Bella AI can help you sort, collate and find the
information you need quickly.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
It gives you the answers see not not where to go?
Speaker 3 (33:12):
And find more information and where to read it actually
gives you the answers. Find Episode four bell Ai brought
to you by Beef and Lab new Ziddl on the
Country podcast on I Heard.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
Or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Michelle Watt down there in Dunedin, I've been in partners
to North today.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
Thank you for your company and the way you just
push the buttons with such precision.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
Oh, thank you.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
It's a hard job, but someone's got to do it.
Hamish hard job, but someone's got to do it, you know,
and you know, and you know you do you know
a couple of needy sort of aging gentlemen.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
That you have to push the buttons for too. We
won't go there, we won't go.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
I'm only referring to myself. I'm only referring to myself
very quickly, very quickly. Hey, that one New Zealand to
add with the boy who goes and finds his mother
in Scotland and everything that.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
Was so good.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Such a shame that act there were actress involved in
that has got herself involved in the controversy with the
Greens and Winston Winston Peter's address sad because I love
that campaign in fact, you've probably got ten seconds to
say you did too.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
Oh it was fantastic ad, wasn't it that one?
Speaker 4 (34:14):
It just went on and on.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
I just love the parents too, with the spar pool
and you know we have to get big a spar
pool and ah. And then these people seem to think
because they're on an ad on TV, that they've got
a voice that everybody wants to listen to.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
That ain't the truth.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Unfortunately, this has been the Country for your Wednesday. We'll
do it all again tomorrow. Earlier in the show we
heard from the Prime Minister Christopher Luxen and h yeah,
the thought, the thought of Christopher Luxen in the shower
with posts Malone booming away. Let's go out on that
post Malone, the Prime Minister. This has been the Country,
(34:49):
catching them.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Up, breaking my back, just keeping jes Is. Y'all know
what I mean, and y'all know how it goes.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Catch all the latest from the Land. It's the Country
Podcast with Jamie mckaye. Thanks to Brent, You're specialist in
John Deere construction equipment
Catch all the latest from the land. It's the Country
Podcast with Jamie mckue. Thanks to Brent, you're specialist in
John Deere Machinery.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Pro Start. You had the woud health to living in
your big class house with the few.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
How thought you know? I know? Good afternoon, Welcome man,
This is the Country brought to you by Brent Havis
mackay in for Jamie mckaye standing by the Prime Minister.
Christopher Luxen is first up on the show today. Also,
we're going to be looking at the latest GDT auction
with Matt Bulger rural delivery being cut slashed.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Will have a look at that issue that will have
a big impact.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And of course what an announcement to have during Mental
Health Awareness Week, A very special interview today coming up
with somebody who has suffered the deepest of grief and
how how do we approach somebody who is suffering grief?
All that and a lot more coming up right here
on the cart.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Well, the Prime.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Minister Christopher Luxan joins us now on the Country.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Welcome Prime Minister.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
Good to be with you, Hamish. How are you going
this week?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Oh ye not good? Thank you good, thank you that
Jamie McKay. He can stay over in Perth and watch
rugby as long as he likes.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
I quite like this gig. It's it's quite good.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
Yeah, you're doing a great job of it. At least
he gets up there people in the mirk, so that's yeah,
that's good for him.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
It is good for him.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And he always tells me, don't don't go too well,
go well but not too well. Right, speaking of going
quite well but not quite the the India Free Trade Agreement.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
We spoke to Todd McClay yesterday.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
What is the expectation there, I mean he said, we're
three rounds in the fourth round will be a knockout.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Look, we've we close out our Queenstown around. I think
we've got another round in India and then yeah, we'll
look to see where we sort of get to at
the end of all of that. But look, I mean
there's been very good commitment from Prominence Commodium, myself and
also Trade mister Goyle who's Todd's counterpart, and the four
of us have been pretty determined from the top to
actually try and find way to make this work. So
(02:21):
you know, I've done a lot of business in India
over the years, and you know, they're really tough negotiat us.
They are really hard, and we also want to be
we could negotiat us too, So we've got to make
sure that we get the best possible deal we can
for New Zealand, and so I don't let that process
run through, to be honest, A missions to sort of
it'll take as long as it takes. But I think
we're making pretty Having said that, we're making good progress.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Do you have a kind of a timeline on there,
because I might have, you know, upset the boat a
bit on heither Duples Clan. Yesterday I said maybe sort
of early next year. Is it possibility that this could
be close to Dune?
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Well, well, what we've said is we're going to go
as quickly as we can, but equally we will get
a deal done in our term. That was our commitment
before the election, and I think we've done a very
good job. Actually. I mean you've got to remember that
New Zealand's trade with India had gone back with under
labor they basically said they weren't interested in India and
as a result, the Indians went interested in Arson. So
we had to work really hard to build back that relationship,
(03:14):
to be able to get a visit to India, to
be able to then kick off the FTA negotiations. And
the good news is, you know, even just by us
focusing on India, ah, our exports India I think up
seventeen percent in the last year, So you know, it's
really you know, there's a lot of opportunity there, as
we know, with a rapidly rising middle class that's existing there.
I mean, you know, I think about four hundred and
thirty million people out of the one point five billion,
(03:36):
it's the most populous country on Earth. In the middle class.
Of course, they want great New Zealand food and beverages
from New Zealand. So you know, we've got to keep
making a case very strongly there. So we're optimistic. We
want to get it done this term. We're going to
go as fast as we can.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Excellent dear idea, who wouldn't be interested in India? The
mind bombs right. Government quarterly planned the thirty three things
the government plans to do before the end of the Yeah,
where are we at with this?
Speaker 4 (04:01):
And what's the top of the list.
Speaker 5 (04:03):
Yeah, the big one is actually the new RMA system
going forward from here, So you might remember. The RMA,
I think is the single biggest thing that's been really
holding New Zealand back. You see all the work and
the frustration that you've seen even over the weekend with
regional councils and consenting. It's just you know, impacts you
guys in the farming sector. But it's just everything right.
(04:24):
You want to get a road belt, you want to
get a wolf extended to a boort, the things that
actually make New Zealand go faster. We have just wrapped
this country up in red and green tape and we're trying.
We've got one of our big five things. We've got
to keep dismantling as much of that as we possibly can.
So the RMA is the biggest thing. Obviously, we stopped
the labor changes when we first came the first few
weeks when we came to power. We've put in place
(04:46):
fast track. We've made a number of what's called RMA
amendments to signal what's happening and to make some dumb
stuff stop. And then as of at the end of
this year, we want to have already introduced our first
reading of the new RMA law. So they're going to
be governing New Zealand going forward, and you know they
need to be much simpler, get rid of the bureaucracy
in as much of the red tape, respect people's property
(05:09):
rights and enable people to get things done and built.
And so the way it works is that I think
some of the publics that doesn't quite fully understand or
that we have a First we basically have a policy,
which is what we've been working on for the last
year or so about what we want that RMA to
do and how we want it to work and function
and to make it easier to get things done. Then
we put it into legislation and which is where a
(05:30):
lot of lawyers get involved with what's called a bill
that then goes to Parliament for a first reading. It
then goes out to the public for up to six
months for consultation and feedback and they try and make
give us input that makes the bill better, and then
it comes back to Parliament for a second reading and
what's called a committee stage and then into a reading
when it becomes then the law of the land. And
we don't need to wait ten years to get this
(05:51):
thing implemented. We just got to get things consented, sorted
and get people moving quickly into stuff.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Right, okay, job seekers.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Now, now there seems to be a little bit of
a discussion here between you and one or two in
the horticultural sector. You believe there are screaming out for workers.
Is one or two in their sector who say they aren't.
What's your take on that?
Speaker 5 (06:14):
Well, it's just interesting. I mean, my point is a
bigger one, which is that we cannot have in twenty
years time the same conversations we're having today that somehow
over half our kids don't go to school regularly, which
is the position we inherit it. Under labor, we've made
some good progress on school attendance, which is good, and
then you just drift off into welfare. And the worrying
(06:35):
thing is that if you go on to a benefit
under the age of twenty five, the forecasts are you
going to spend at least eighteen years on a benefit
over your lifetime. So that is a pretty sobering statistic
when you think about that. And Labor sort of have
a view which is that there's jobs that are just
beneath people and as a result, actually people shouldn't shouldn't work,
They should be better to go on the benefit, and
(06:55):
the answer is that is not the answer. We need
people connected to work. That is a much better life
than being on welfare. And we actually care about the
people who not materialize their potential. So what we can't
have as an eighteen or a nineteen year old coming
out of school or even the schooling system, and we've
got fifteen thousand of them, and then sitting on the
jobs seek unemployment benefit. The job seekret benefit is set
(07:17):
up so that you are able to work tomorrow or
within the next two years. You know, that's the expectation.
So all I'm saying to those young people is, sorry,
you've got to get things to work. You've got to
get to training or further education so that you will
be ready for a job, to be able to take
on a job. So that's what that's all about. And
all I'm saying is up and down this country, I
go everywhere. You'll go into kwe through pack houses and
(07:39):
people say, yeah, there's lots of young people that come.
They might start one shift, they don't show up on
time the next day and then they're not there for
day three. And that's not always the case. But I'm
just saying there is opportunities for people. And if you're
just going to draw a mythical line and say there's
this type of job that's just as below anyone and
no one should be doing, I just don't think that's fair.
(08:01):
I think the problem why we want young people and workers.
You've got to show up on time, you've got to work,
build a work ethic, you've got to make sure that
you are a part of a team. You learn a
lot of a lot of skill, and you add at
your skills that you become valuable, then you actually can
have a decent career and a decent job path prospects
going forward.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yep, I agree with all of that. Just on the
school attendance thing, Prime Minister. In the eighties, in the
early eighties at Palmerston North Boys High School, if you were,
if you wagged, you were just about on the front
page of the old Evening Standard. The matter would do
stay and you know it was a big story.
Speaker 6 (08:35):
You know, the frustrated boys.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
It was the same thing to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
a partners boys.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
Yeah no, it's funny. And when did it become optional?
I mean, how on earth we call ourselves the first
World country when fifty five percent of our kids were
not at school ninety percent of the time or more.
And the problem is this Hamish is that if you
don't go to school ninety percent of time or more,
by the time you reach age of sixteen, you've lost
one whole year of education. And then we've been trying
(09:01):
to retort our NCAA's that we get back to the
old days of what I had, which was school. See
where I knew I'd got expercent for maths and science
and English and economics or whatever. And it's the same
thing we're going to be implementing there. So you know,
we've fortunately, you know, if you look at the last
two years, I think we've lifted it almost I think
eighteen percent, not as I saw he stay for term two.
And that's good. But you know, we still have you know,
(09:22):
we still have fifty percent of our kids now going
to school regularly rather than actually, you know, eighty percent
is what it needs to be. So you know, that's
the work that we're just every week. Every we now
publish the data weekly, we have it available. We talked
to the schools. You know, we're going to putting pressure
on parents to get kids to school. And it's not
an optional thing, and it never was that way. It
was called compulsory education for a reason. And it's necessary
(09:45):
for our kids to be able to come into a
workforce and be work ready. You know a number of
your people, you know, farmers out there will be hiring
staff sometimes you know they're reading and the numerous these
skills are pretty poor and that's not giving him the
basic skills that those people, young people need go forward with.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Absolutely. Finally, and just quickly to wrap up, Prime Minister.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yesterday we had Todd McClay and we talked about Mental
Health Awareness Week and what he did for his top
two inches to relieve some stress. So I'm jokingly suggesting
he goes down to the dam at the back of
the farm icy dam, dives and naked. What about you
for the top two inches? What's your in thirty seconds?
What's your sort of release to give yourself a break?
Speaker 5 (10:20):
You crank up post alone, if one trillion album and
you have it real out and you just have it
pumping through the house, that's what you do. And I
have it in the office and I actually have a
speaker system in the shower. I have had in my
kitchen and throughout my house and no, that's what gets
your fills things up. But look, you got to stay balanced, right.
I mean, when you get stressed, it's because you're overworking
(10:41):
one of your sort of energies. You've got to have
work on stuff. It's important, you have good social relationships,
you've got to do some physical exerciety, you've got to
be mutually stimulated. So I think when you stay balanced
on those things that helps. But for me it's just
crank up the music.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Yep, strike the balance. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, thank you
for joining us on the country.
Speaker 6 (10:57):
Great Hamish.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Mate.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
See thank you lazy.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Looking out for our farmers on the country with Federated
Farmers proud supporters of Mental Health Awareness Week.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
You're listen, need to have the country harmers. MacKaye in
for Jamie McKay.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Our focus this week, as so much has been and
rightly so on Mental Health Awareness Week. Our topic today
is a grief and those suffering grief and how do
we approach them and what do we say because that's
sometimes the biggest challenge of all. Ali Ludeman joins us
now and to discuss this. Ali thank you so much
(11:46):
for joining us. Look your story, let's let's cut to
the chase. Well, it's an incredibly tough story. Just just
take us through that so we can sort of set
the scene for our for our conversation around grief.
Speaker 6 (12:01):
Okay, Well, our sons Tom and Dan had a generative
brain disorders. Tom was born in nineteen eighty seven. We
were right in the middle of the egg sag, and
like a lot of people, we were technically bankrupt. If
the banks had decided to push us over, the value
of what we owned would have been less than what
we owed. And then we had this baby who had
(12:24):
this brain disorder. It took a while to diagnose it.
He was born in April, and in response to the eggzag,
we were supplying old use of winter kill, which meant
sharing every fortnighte And that winter I looked back, I
was either in hospital with Tom or at home feeding
(12:45):
sharers or getting food ready for someone else to feed them.
When we were in hospital, and in August we got
a diagnosis that was some sort of degenerative brain condition
and he would die soon or be profoundly disabled. And
I mean I thought I didn't know which what was
worse I mean, obviously I didn't want my baby to die,
(13:05):
but the thought of a child with a profoundly disabled
was no better. But of course we don't have choice,
have matters like this. And a month later he died,
and at first there was some relief, And anybody who
has had a death when there's you know, the life
isn't ideal, knows that relief is a normal reaction. But
(13:27):
of course there was there was grief as well, because
this was a baby we loved and wanted and he
wasn't going to be part of our family. And there
lots of tests during his life, and a post mortem
ruled out all the known genetic conditions, and we saw
a genetic specialist who said, you know, barring one on
a million chance it's something medical science hasn't caught up with,
(13:51):
it'll be quite safe to have another. So two years
later Dan was born and he had the same condition,
and he lived till he was five, and he could
do no more the day he died than he had
been able to the day he left the path in
here the developmental milestones. So again when he died, there
was an element of relief, but of course there was
(14:14):
sadness and physical symptoms. And in the end I went
to my GP with this list of symptoms and he
examined me from head to toe and sat me down
and he said, well, the only thing I can rule
out one hundred percent is prostate cancer. But he said,
you know, I think you've got grief. And he said,
(14:36):
you know, did you feel this way after time died?
And I said no. But on the way home, I thought,
actually I did have physical symptoms as well, and I
started crying, and I cried for Parana and I gets
the loosen there as you do have to grieve. And
you know, when the hopes and dreams you have for
a life, and it doesn't really matter what age they are,
but you know, children, it's worse because there's you know,
(15:00):
when you're pregnant, you may not even be aware of
what your hopes and dreams are for a child, but
when they're gone, you sort of thought, well, you know,
it's our daughter. Jane was two years older than Tom.
You know, none of that sort of si lend fun.
And also they're not so good things that siblings do
to each other. But rather than generally, if you're lucky,
(15:22):
our cloth and just you know, we've got a farm,
and of course we could have had any number of
daughters who wanted to be farmers and any number of
sons who didn't. But there was that element as well,
and just the awfulness of it's against the natural order
of things to lose the.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Child, to lose two children, that's just like I can't
even get my head around or have to think about
this over the longer term. But grief, So how were people?
How did people approach you or did they approach you,
or how were those who had the magic words or
were those who just maybe shut off? Because it's a
(16:01):
hell of a hard thing to front up to somebody
who's lost children's loved ones, Like you say, yeah, And.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
We were really blessed with our family and friends, had
absolutely wonderful support from them, and most were really pretty good.
And I think one of the things is you don't.
Speaker 7 (16:19):
Know what to say.
Speaker 6 (16:19):
Just say, I don't know what to say, and this
is awful, and it is And I guess the thing
about grief is, you know, if I had a broken leg,
you'd see the plastic, wouldn't expect me to be swinging
from the chandeliers, But you don't see the grief scars
and you know that's harder because people talk about getting
(16:39):
over grief as if it's an illness, but it's not.
It's a process you go through and something you carry.
And sometimes it's heavier and sometimes it's lighter. And one
of the metals I us is like a wound, and
you know, at first it's bleeding profusely, the pains and tense,
it's all you can think of, and then grat to
(17:00):
the bleeding will stop, but it's slight, s knock and
it all will start again. And then now as time
goes on, you know, you get a scab and a scar,
and the scar will always be there and sometimes you're
you're not aware of it, and then at other times
it's incredibly painful. And then and grief builds on grief too,
(17:21):
because just to complicate matters, eight years ago, our daughter
was diagnosed with a rare form of overing cancer. And
you know, this was it seems ridiculous, but I always
felt that somehow Tom and Dan would protect her from
anything awful. But of course life doesn't work like that.
And you know, that's a different type of grief, and
(17:46):
and you know, as an adult, handling that is different
from what you know how we handled the boys because
they were because their brains weren't working properly. They didn't
know what was going on. But of course, you know,
we were faced with what Jane was feeling as well
as what we were feeling.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
You must have some incredible strategies then around grief, given
what you've been through earlier, that would be so valuable.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
I guess too many.
Speaker 6 (18:14):
Well, if you need help, ask for it. And we
went to a counselor after Jane was diagnosed, and when
he heard our story said, well, it's the wonder you're
still married. And I said, well, I knew Grant would
never leave the farm, so if I stayed on the farm,
he'd stay with me. And he knew I wouldn't go
quietly or cheap piece, so really it was left bother
(18:35):
to keep me.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I love the way that you've got a sense of
humor given your life. You know, like that's great, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Well that's important.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
One of my on the noticeboard in my office, I've
got the Storytellers creed by Robert Fulham, and the last
two lines are the only self for grief is laughter
and love is stronger than death. And you know there's
been Among the sadness, there's been a lot of laughter,
and there's also been a lot of love, a lot
of strong.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
I'm writing that down now. Love is stronger than.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
Yeah, because because the thing is, you know why you
don't get over grief is because you don't get over
the love. If you love someone, you love them forever,
and so yeah, it doesn't die. But as people are
wondering what to do, be guided by the person. And
one of the things if you're thinking of starting a
sentence with at least stop because children, you know a
(19:33):
place and a dinner seat, your break one you can
buy another. And it doesn't matter how many good things
are going on in your life. If you're grieving because
of a loss, then you're grieving. And yeah, you can
be grateful for the good things and the wonderful people
around you and all sorts of other things, but it
doesn't stop the pain of the of the grief. And
(19:57):
practical things. There's a book called There is No Good
Card for This and in it they say, you know,
do the practical things. Another thing to avoid is is
there's anything I can do instead of that?
Speaker 7 (20:08):
You know?
Speaker 6 (20:09):
Can I mow your lawns? Can I bring you a
meal or better still, just bring the meil?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Yes?
Speaker 6 (20:15):
Can I look after the other children? If there are
other children?
Speaker 7 (20:19):
You know?
Speaker 6 (20:20):
Do you need to be taken somewhere? All those sort
of practical things, because you know, if I say to you,
if there's anything I can do, you don't know what
I'm able and willing to do. But if I say
to you, can I top your meal to whatever? You know,
that's something that I'm willing and able to do and
can do it.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Marvelous Chatt all day about this, Ali, But there's some
wonderful stuff and what you've just said there, and you know,
if you don't know what to say, just say I
don't know what to say.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
And I love that. If you need help, just ask
for it.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Ali Ludeman, thank you so much for joining us and
discussing the topic of grief.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Much appreciated here on the country.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Were you're listening to the counter, I hope you're having
a cracking old Wednesday wherever you are, whatever you might
be doing.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
The latest GDT auction has taken place. Manager of Fonterra.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Cooperative Affairs, Matt Bulger today, Matt, how are you?
Speaker 5 (21:33):
I'm good, hammus Hegan, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Very good, thank you. Right where did we land with
this latest GDT auction?
Speaker 5 (21:40):
So auction overnight east A bit came down, So the
overall olymdics came down one point six percent. A few
things up and down within the key one week watch courses,
homework powder that was down two point three percent across
the wider auction. Then we had a few other things
moving around, butter down three, Cheder up almost one percent,
(22:02):
and AMF up a bit over one percent.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Yeah, okay, so this comes one point six percent four
off the back of a zero point eight percent four
and a bigger one before. Is it a little rocky
or is this sort of just mirroring what happened about
twelve months ago at the same time if my memory
serves me.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
Right, Yeah, combination of both. So over the last three
options we've we've increased the volume. So you know, Fontier
is putting about forty thousand metric tons up each fortnite
now and so that that comes in and as we
go into peak, of course that that affects the volumes
and more supply. But on the other side, you need
(22:40):
to be fear it's pretty rocky out there, trade barriers
and so on the other thing to watch is that
there is a bit more milk coming out of Europe
and the United States, so we're watching that. So but
look when we look at the milk volume out of
those big places like Europe and the States, we look
at new yellow milk being up a little bit, you know,
we think, well, it's east back, but it's pretty reasonable result.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
So these are good times with the ten dollars plus payout,
and there seems to be a fair bit of optimism
that that will still be around or certainly you can
lock in close to that in terms of futures.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
But still there's still you know, still enough, still enough.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
You know, I don't know whether the red flags there,
they're not exactly blowing in a hurricane, but there's enough
to be weary of match.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
Yeah, I think that's a good way to put it.
That we've we've still got our mid point at plus
forecast of ten dollars. We've kept a wide range there
of nine dollars to eleven. You know, we open the season,
of course with an eight dollars to eleven range, signaling
greater downside risk than upside. And you know, as time
has gone through, we've up to the bottom of that
(23:47):
range from eight to nine, which is good. We'd be
more than a third contracted now, which is great. We're
contracting at good prices, and so you know, the team
out there are cranking obviously farmer going through through spring,
very busy time team through the factories across the country,
busy and out of the sales teams there and every
day they're they're contracting more of that book. So the
(24:09):
further we get into it, the more confidence we have
to be there. But no fear to say there is
still there's still a dollar up and down range there
which is still pretty wide and a fair way to
go still in the season.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Ye, Matt, don't want to put you on this plot
mental health Awareness week. What do you do if you
don't mind me asking for you know, just to relieve
the pressure on the top two inches.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
I mean, you obviously grew up in sort.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Of rurally king country kind of part of the world.
Is a sort of physical activity at the top of
your list.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
I wish I could give a better one on that.
So I've got three youngest kids and I sort of
chase them around, and to be honest, the time to
get back with family and connect with them. You spend
a fair amount of time on the road. So just
came out of the back of school holidays, which you
know I missed. I missed a chunk of those getting
out with farmer meetings, which is which is fine, but
I think the time for me to connect and with
(24:59):
family and particularly getting outside, whether it's kid sports or
you know, wife, and I think that's the great thing
in mental health. I think too. Just to shout out
to Rural Support Trust and the fantastic work they do.
You know, we've been involved with them pretty closely in
amazing organization. We know that there's always lots of ups
and downs, particularly in rural life. So yeah, I think
(25:22):
they do it a fantastic job.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Yeah, Oh that sounds that's brilliant.
Speaker 7 (25:25):
Matt.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Make the time, take the time, tick those boxes and
in a way that you enjoy it and you feel
the grass between your toes, like and ice cream all
that stuff.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Matt Bulcher, thanks very much for joining us. Much appreciated
here on the country.
Speaker 5 (25:39):
Thanks much, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
I'm pretty good at bringing down.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Right delving into a serious issue now here on the country.
Harmers McKay in for Jamie McKay for the weekend into
next week as well, rural delivery New Zealand Posts reducing
this and this is this really gets me wound up,
this whole thing of connectivity, especially in a week like
(26:11):
Mental Health Awareness Week. CEO of Rural Women in New
Zealand is Nicola Ecklson, joins us. Now, hello, Nikola, how
are you?
Speaker 7 (26:20):
I'm how are you? Yea?
Speaker 4 (26:22):
And I fighting fit.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
But I'm annoyed by this because you know, I mean,
I spent the first twenty odd years of my life
living rurally and you know that this is an incredibly
important issue. And I know you had a survey which
where many many, in fact, the vast majority of your
members had real concerns about this cutting back of rural delivery.
What five days to three and postal outlets being chop left,
(26:46):
right and center.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
It is concerning, It really is.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
Our members were really nervous about this. So more than
ninety per cent of them in that survey set they
were really concerned that it would negatively impact them.
Speaker 6 (26:59):
And so here we are with.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
The proposed reduction or the reduction and services and it's
a real issue. It's it's lifeline stuff. New Zealand post
is a lifeline for our communities. You know, as you say,
the connectivity, they already live far away from the local shop,
the boadbands patchy, the connections are just being reduced that
much further. It's it's really sad.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Yeah, when you get back to three days, I mean
that presents some pretty big gaps and some barriers, doesn't it.
It just ye, it's a huge you know, five to
three days might not sound like a lot too urban
folk who are used to their team, who are getting
dropped off.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
By the courier every few hours, but this is a
big cutback.
Speaker 7 (27:42):
It is a big cutback because there are already parts
of the country where it takes about three weeks to
get something, so it's so reducing that service is just
exacerbating that. And the things that our members tell us
they are getting in that postal delivery are things like
them met medications. It might be the medication from the
(28:03):
vets of their animals, it might be food or clothing.
They really are very dependent on these services for supplies
coming in. But then we've also got the people who
are running businesses who are relying on sending things out,
so it's a double whammy for those people.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Yeah, too, there is a population or a percentage of
our rural community. You do live sort of within that
sort of twenty to thirty forty minutes of good rural
service towns where then get everything they want. Not that
that should be a reason to cut back rural delivery,
but then there are plenty who live so far beyond
(28:42):
that kind of catchment.
Speaker 7 (28:45):
Oh absolutely, we suspect when they reduce the number of
those communal collection points, we suspect that people are going
to be traveling you know, I don't know, you know,
more than an hour to go and collect their posts.
It's really half.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
And you know, this isn't the only thing that's going
I mean, I know things are better on the farm
at the moment with some good farm gate prices, but
that doesn't you know, that doesn't detract from the day
to day issues. And this is a big issue. I mean,
in that survey, obviously rural women New Zealand spoke up
very strongly about their concerns for cutbacks to rural delivery
(29:25):
and postal outlets.
Speaker 7 (29:27):
They we did because our members are concerned. But you know,
I think the other issue is and we've talked about
business and the economic impact, and that is really important,
but we've also got a social isolation issue here in
New Zealand, and we're talking about you know, all forms
of connection, whether it be receiving a letter, just there's
(29:48):
that as well, and we're making it more isolated. We're
making people more isolated, and we're just making life a
little bit harder and parts of the country where we
need people to be living and serving our communities and
the food and fiber sector. So there's the business, but
then there's also the people who go out and want
(30:09):
to live there and want to raise their children in
those areas. We're just making it a little bit harder
and a little bit more isolated, and that's the real problem.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
And you know, like you know, I don't want to
make light of this, but you know, it's a bit
like seeing in the care package to the son or
daughter at university out there in those rural backblocks, getting
something in a little treat coming in the mail regularly
and knowing stuff is coming.
Speaker 7 (30:30):
That's vital, oh absolutely, And all sorts of stuff comes
through those mail delivery you know, I remember being on
farm and you know who you're posting is and they're
delivering all sorts of things for you and you're putting
biscuits in the mailbox at Christmas time and on their birthday.
It's a really big connection piece.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Okay, so what are you going to do? What's the plan?
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Do you rual women in z How are you going
to address this? How are you going to go and
low and hard and crash tackle New Zealand post on this.
Speaker 7 (30:59):
Crash tack? We look, we're going to We're going to
regroup and talk to our members and say, right, what
is the next step. I think it is going to
be really important that we keep making a noise about
the impact, able to tell you those very litible stories
about the impact that it's going to have. I think
it's as short sighted to make these cuts and we
(31:21):
need to we need to tell those stories.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Yeah, absolutely, Nichola, thank you for joining us. Good luck
with this and we'll keep on top of it in
support of you too. On this cutbacks for rural delivery
five days to three days and those postal out next.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
Kickbacks as well.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
Thanks very much.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Okay, thank you very much. Cheers. There we go.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
That is Nicola Epleson, CEO of Rural Women NZ here
on the country.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeahs gone, Now, come on, Dad's shot, no game.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Nor time God.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Seven minutes away from one o'clock to fifty three on
your Wednesday here on the country. Great to have your company,
Hamish mguy with you no now. No matter how long
you've been out working on the land, you can always
learn ways to work smart, to save money and out
a bit of time on the farm.
Speaker 5 (32:20):
Ah nothing better.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
An episode four of a podcast series brought to you.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
By Beef and Lamb in zed Empowered by the Country,
Join Me. Hamish Mackay, born and raised in the manter
w two along with I joined Chair of Beef and
Lamb New Zealand Kate Eckland and her husband David from
their Mount Summers farm in Canterbury to discuss the new
AI tool called Bella We discuss how you can make
(32:48):
use of Bella AI for making decisions on farm based
on trusted information from the Beef and Lamb Knowledge Hub,
and how Bella AI can be like.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
The new edding dog eaven knew you need it? Hey?
Oh see that I isn't it beautiful?
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Bella AI can help you sort, collate and find the
information you need quickly.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
It gives you the answers see not not where to go?
Speaker 3 (33:12):
And find more information and where to read it actually
gives you the answers. Find Episode four bell Ai brought
to you by Beef and Lab new Ziddl on the
Country podcast on I Heard.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
Or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Michelle Watt down there in Dunedin, I've been in partners
to North today.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
Thank you for your company and the way you just
push the buttons with such precision.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
Oh, thank you.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
It's a hard job, but someone's got to do it.
Hamish hard job, but someone's got to do it, you know,
and you know, and you know you do you know
a couple of needy sort of aging gentlemen.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
That you have to push the buttons for too. We
won't go there, we won't go.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
I'm only referring to myself. I'm only referring to myself
very quickly, very quickly. Hey, that one New Zealand to
add with the boy who goes and finds his mother
in Scotland and everything that.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
Was so good.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Such a shame that act there were actress involved in
that has got herself involved in the controversy with the
Greens and Winston Winston Peter's address sad because I love
that campaign in fact, you've probably got ten seconds to
say you did too.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
Oh it was fantastic ad, wasn't it that one?
Speaker 4 (34:14):
It just went on and on.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
I just love the parents too, with the spar pool
and you know we have to get big a spar
pool and ah. And then these people seem to think
because they're on an ad on TV, that they've got
a voice that everybody wants to listen to.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
That ain't the truth.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Unfortunately, this has been the Country for your Wednesday. We'll
do it all again tomorrow. Earlier in the show we
heard from the Prime Minister Christopher Luxen and h yeah,
the thought, the thought of Christopher Luxen in the shower
with posts Malone booming away. Let's go out on that
post Malone, the Prime Minister. This has been the Country,
(34:49):
catching them.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Up, breaking my back, just keeping jes Is. Y'all know
what I mean, and y'all know how it goes.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Catch all the latest from the Land. It's the Country
Podcast with Jamie mckaye. Thanks to Brent, You're specialist in
John Deere construction equipment
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