March 5, 2025 • 5 mins
Our Australian correspondent updates the threat of Tropical Cyclone Alfred, talks about Trump and agriculture tariffs, and the sale of a sheep farm with a 160-stand shearing shed.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's there. Ossie correspondent Chris Russell, based out of Sydney. Chris,
you'll be glad you're not on the Gold Coast as
tropical Cyclone Alfred looms. How bad is this going to be?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yeah, well it's unknown. Really, I mean, it's as bad
as it gets. According to the authorities. Tree disasters in
one really got rain, wind and tied. And of course
the problem is that northern New South Wales hasn't seen
a cyclone reach. It's in Cyclone Nancy in nineteen ninety
and the buildings and even the trees have an evolved
(00:31):
for those sort of winds, so the potential for.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Destruction is greater.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Even the North Queensland, where everything is designed in the
expectation of having those sort of winds. We're already seeing
ten meter seas here down off Palm Beach in Sydney.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I mean that's stuff my father.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Used to talk about sailing around Cape Horn in sailing
ships and the seas are massive, and of course that
then brings more erosion for the beaches up there in
the Tweed. They're looking at eight hundred millimeters of rain
over four days, and they're saying there's a possibility it
may actually increase from category two to category three. It's
(01:07):
actually slowed down a bit now, Jamie, because of a
system that's developed over South Australian Victoria, which is kind
of acting like a buffer and slowing it down. So
it's only doing about seven knots as it's traveling across
the seas. I may not even hit the Gold Coast
until Saturday, but when it does, there's ten thousand homes
(01:29):
likely to be threatened by floods. They're talking about evacuation
potential of millions of people that they may have recommended
evacuate out.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Of the area.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I don't think anyone's quite sure how they're going to
handle it in someway like Brisbane, so it's all unknown territory.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Really here, Jamie.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
And a real issue around insurance, all the lack of.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Well, that's right, and of course I suppose I'm not
unexpectedly with the disasters that we've seen around the world.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
About eighty three percent in.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
A survey of people believe they're either uninsured or underinsured
because they just frankly.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Can't afford the premiums.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
The forty percent increase they've seen in recent years, it's
just not affordable. So what that means is of course
that the government is going to have to pick up
the tab. The inequity here is those that insure themselves.
They're on their own people who don't while the government
looks after you.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
And of course.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
People have come to rely on that rather than pay
those massive premiums.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
So we've got to follow up with that after. Let's
get through it first though, Jamie, what's the.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Talk in Australia about Trump and his agg tariffs where
we're all waiting with bated breath to see if this
is bluster or whether it's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yes, well, I mean it seems listening to his speech yesterday,
which I listened to the longest speech I think in
the history of the US between the President and the Congress,
and he was sitting there celebrating the fact that US
farmers are going to no longer be faced with cheap imports,
going to be great again, and cheering from the Republican
(03:04):
side of the House. No mention of Australia in any
of those tariff feelings. And of course our argument is
that this US enjoys are trade surplus with US, and therefore,
you know, shouldn't be affected.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
There's also a massive.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Demand for our grinding meat for their hamburgers, which they
just don't have enough. They just don't produce enough in
America for that.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
So and of course.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
We're an orcus ally so who knows whether it will
actually be applied to us, But the way he was
talking yesterday, his first priority is going to be protecting
the US farmers. One of the fire groups of farmers
in there have been very vocal has been the lamb farmers. Now,
of course Australia and New Zealand, predominantly Australia created the
market for lamb. When I lived in America in the seventies,
(03:48):
nobody at lamb. He couldn't buy lamb in a butcher shop.
But now of course it's popular and the American farmers
are saying they can't compete with Australian New Zealand lamb,
and they've asked for protection. So that'll be one thing
we're watching very closely.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
They want to finish on rawlinas station. We talked about
this a couple of weeks ago. This is the sheep
station with one hundred and sixty stands sharing. She had
unbelievable I think over two levels. But it's sold to
Australia's largest cattle producer. Is the sharing she had going
to be redundant?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Chris Well, No, that's an interesting story that it's actually
owned in England, but it's called Consolidated Pastoral Company.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
But they are the largest.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Cattle producers in Australia and everything they do at the
moment is cattle and goats. However, they have bought this
and according to Troy Setter, who I know, who's the
CEO of Consolidated Partoral, he says that their intention is
to get back into sheep.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
They have a great belief in the future of the
wall industry.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It's already got thirty thousand sheep on the property, which
is roughly a million hectares the property.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
It's a fair size sort of a place and.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
His intention is not to convert it into cattle, but
to actually increase the number of sheep. And it's already
also got forty five thousand goats on the property, so
that's also attractive to them. They haven't said how much
they paid for it, but I think it was going
to be a substantial sun A one sage mining magnet
Twiggy Forest was insted in buying it, but he pulled
(05:19):
out as I reported, I think a couple of months
to you guys, and now it's been wrapped up and
we'll see what happens. But it's certainly a solid future
for them because Consolidated Pastoral is a good, solid company.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Jomie Chris Russell, thanks for your time backing down the hatches.
Good luck with tropical cyclone Alfred.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
No worries
He's there. Ossie correspondent Chris Russell, based out of Sydney. Chris,
you'll be glad you're not on the Gold Coast as
tropical Cyclone Alfred looms. How bad is this going to be?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yeah, well it's unknown. Really, I mean, it's as bad
as it gets. According to the authorities. Tree disasters in
one really got rain, wind and tied. And of course
the problem is that northern New South Wales hasn't seen
a cyclone reach. It's in Cyclone Nancy in nineteen ninety
and the buildings and even the trees have an evolved
(00:31):
for those sort of winds, so the potential for.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Destruction is greater.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Even the North Queensland, where everything is designed in the
expectation of having those sort of winds. We're already seeing
ten meter seas here down off Palm Beach in Sydney.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I mean that's stuff my father.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Used to talk about sailing around Cape Horn in sailing
ships and the seas are massive, and of course that
then brings more erosion for the beaches up there in
the Tweed. They're looking at eight hundred millimeters of rain
over four days, and they're saying there's a possibility it
may actually increase from category two to category three. It's
(01:07):
actually slowed down a bit now, Jamie, because of a
system that's developed over South Australian Victoria, which is kind
of acting like a buffer and slowing it down. So
it's only doing about seven knots as it's traveling across
the seas. I may not even hit the Gold Coast
until Saturday, but when it does, there's ten thousand homes
(01:29):
likely to be threatened by floods. They're talking about evacuation
potential of millions of people that they may have recommended
evacuate out.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Of the area.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I don't think anyone's quite sure how they're going to
handle it in someway like Brisbane, so it's all unknown territory.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Really here, Jamie.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
And a real issue around insurance, all the lack of.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Well, that's right, and of course I suppose I'm not
unexpectedly with the disasters that we've seen around the world.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
About eighty three percent in.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
A survey of people believe they're either uninsured or underinsured
because they just frankly.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Can't afford the premiums.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
The forty percent increase they've seen in recent years, it's
just not affordable. So what that means is of course
that the government is going to have to pick up
the tab. The inequity here is those that insure themselves.
They're on their own people who don't while the government
looks after you.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
And of course.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
People have come to rely on that rather than pay
those massive premiums.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
So we've got to follow up with that after. Let's
get through it first though, Jamie, what's the.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Talk in Australia about Trump and his agg tariffs where
we're all waiting with bated breath to see if this
is bluster or whether it's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yes, well, I mean it seems listening to his speech yesterday,
which I listened to the longest speech I think in
the history of the US between the President and the Congress,
and he was sitting there celebrating the fact that US
farmers are going to no longer be faced with cheap imports,
going to be great again, and cheering from the Republican
(03:04):
side of the House. No mention of Australia in any
of those tariff feelings. And of course our argument is
that this US enjoys are trade surplus with US, and therefore,
you know, shouldn't be affected.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
There's also a massive.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Demand for our grinding meat for their hamburgers, which they
just don't have enough. They just don't produce enough in
America for that.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
So and of course.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
We're an orcus ally so who knows whether it will
actually be applied to us, But the way he was
talking yesterday, his first priority is going to be protecting
the US farmers. One of the fire groups of farmers
in there have been very vocal has been the lamb farmers. Now,
of course Australia and New Zealand, predominantly Australia created the
market for lamb. When I lived in America in the seventies,
(03:48):
nobody at lamb. He couldn't buy lamb in a butcher shop.
But now of course it's popular and the American farmers
are saying they can't compete with Australian New Zealand lamb,
and they've asked for protection. So that'll be one thing
we're watching very closely.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
They want to finish on rawlinas station. We talked about
this a couple of weeks ago. This is the sheep
station with one hundred and sixty stands sharing. She had
unbelievable I think over two levels. But it's sold to
Australia's largest cattle producer. Is the sharing she had going
to be redundant?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Chris Well, No, that's an interesting story that it's actually
owned in England, but it's called Consolidated Pastoral Company.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
But they are the largest.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Cattle producers in Australia and everything they do at the
moment is cattle and goats. However, they have bought this
and according to Troy Setter, who I know, who's the
CEO of Consolidated Partoral, he says that their intention is
to get back into sheep.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
They have a great belief in the future of the
wall industry.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It's already got thirty thousand sheep on the property, which
is roughly a million hectares the property.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
It's a fair size sort of a place and.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
His intention is not to convert it into cattle, but
to actually increase the number of sheep. And it's already
also got forty five thousand goats on the property, so
that's also attractive to them. They haven't said how much
they paid for it, but I think it was going
to be a substantial sun A one sage mining magnet
Twiggy Forest was insted in buying it, but he pulled
(05:19):
out as I reported, I think a couple of months
to you guys, and now it's been wrapped up and
we'll see what happens. But it's certainly a solid future
for them because Consolidated Pastoral is a good, solid company.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Jomie Chris Russell, thanks for your time backing down the hatches.
Good luck with tropical cyclone Alfred.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
No worries
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