The Country 01/05/25: Chris Russell talks to Jamie Mackay

We make our second trip across the ditch to catch up with our Sydney-based correspondent on the eve of the Australian election.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Their Aussie correspondent second trip across the Tasman today is
Chris Russell. Chris, I know you're a center right voter.
You're going to be on the wrong side of Saturday's election.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Well, I must say today, Jamie, it's certainly looking that
that's going to be the case. And of course a
lot of questions already being asked is why that is.
You know, has it been a campaign based on truths
or based on lies? Who knows. But unless we see
another sort of unwinnable election when like we did with

(00:32):
the Morrison government, I don't think we're going to see
a changing government. And of course there are a lot
of farmers nervous about that, particularly the West Australian farmers
who are very concerned about this ban on live cheap
exports because they just don't have anywhere to go and
the sort of compensation money the government's offering is not
going to pay for the extra avatuires, extra capacity to

(00:52):
handle them, move them to the Eastern States, or any
of those sort of changes. So it's a nervous election.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
I think for farmers, Jamie, maybe you need Trump to
change the election result like he did in Canada.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Chris Well. I think he's already had an effect because
I think a lot of people are equating, probably unjustly,
Peter Dutton with Trump in some of his views. He
had one of the toughest jobs when he was a
minister looking after immigration and brought a security and so on,
and he was seen to be a hard man, which
you need to be in that job, and so I

(01:24):
think some people have said, well, this is perhaps not
the sensitive man that we want running that. I think,
particularly women have come against him. I've been at some
of the prepoles just talking to people there, and I
think there's definitely a trend against favoritism for Peter Dutton
when it comes to the female vote, who feel they
need a bit of sensitivity, a bit of understanding about

(01:45):
their plight, and they believe they're going to get more
out of Albanesi than they are going to get out
of Dutton at this stage.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Talk to me about a potential battle between Biga Cheese
and Fontira over mainland sheess, of course, FRA's looking to
get rid of its consumer brands.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yes, well, I understand that Viga Cheese just had a
decision from the Supreme Court which has rejected Fonterra's attempt
to stop Viga renegotiating a long running branding agreement over
the mainland brand. But Darry Irvin is still very interested.
He's the chairman of Vega Cheese in buying the four

(02:25):
billion dollar mainland consumer butter and cheese business, which is
spun out of Fonterra in New Zealand. So they're obviously
happy with the outcome of the Supreme Court case. And
that's been around that agreement with Fonterra since two thousand
and one, covering cheese in Victoria and Tasmania under the
Vega brand, which it also markets and generates about six

(02:49):
percent of the mainland group's revenue. So it's going to
be interesting to see what happens. Fonterra wanted the court
to rule that its devestment for mainland division wouldn't affect
the existing deal with Viga, but of course Beagro say no,
if you're going to take that out, we want to
have a chance having I go. So it'd be interesting
to follow where that goes. Barry Irvine is a very
determined man. I've interviewed him a couple of time on

(03:10):
my podcast series and he's a very determined man, so
to be an inting battle.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Hey Chris, what's the name of your podcast? I'm giving
you a shameless plug here.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Ah well, it's called ag Reminders and it's about to
be relaunched by our Institute Australia here in Australia. For
a long time it was with Southern Crossof stereo, but
you'll see it back on deck shortly. There's about forty
three episodes covering all sorts of aspects from cheese daring,
animal welfare and so on.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Hey, Michelle was going to cover this one in Rural News,
but she's kept or she's kept the power to dry
and left the story for you. Virtual fencing is now
legal in New South Wales. It's likely to save farmers millions.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Well, when you look at the cost of fencing at
the moment, you're looking at around about ten thousand dollars
a kilometer to put in physical fencing. So for a
long time New South Wales has stood out against the
other states of Queensland, West Australia, Tasmania Northern Territory where
virtual fencing has been illegal for a long time and
said no, we're still concerned about animal welfare rights and

(04:14):
so on, but there's been some modification of the currents
and the voltages that are used, and so it's now
going to be legal in New South Wales. I must
say it looks pretty compasso and still to me they're
wearing this little mini solar panel around their neck when
they walk around, But it's certainly his idea. It was
particularly useful in western New South Wales, where you can

(04:35):
sit in Pitt Street in Sydney and move the cattle
from one water hole to another just by pushing the
fence up behind them remotely by using satellite based controls.
So I think where it's going to be a good
value thing. It's also of course going to save a
lot of damage from pigs. Kangaroos em used to the fencing,
the physical fencing that's there, and I think everyone's very

(04:57):
keen to see virtual fencing being a despite the drawbacks
of this expense and the heavy collars around their necks.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
Let's finish quickly with footy. We're both big fans. Are
you happy with Les Kiss your new Wallaby's coach or
not till next year?

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah? I'm very happy. I think that was predictable. I'm surprised,
and I'm pleased to see that Schmid's going to stay
on now until the middle of next year. It wasn't.
I mean, there's two advantages. One is I think he
has got more to do and the longer time we
get with Schmid, the better the Wallabies will be for it.
The downside is, of course that les Kiss only has
about fourteen months to prepare the side for the World Cup,

(05:35):
and if everything falls apart over the next year, well
he's not going to have much time to try and
recover it. But I think that's unlikely, and I think
that everyone is gambling on the fact that Schmid's going
to continue to do a great job. We've got the
British and Irish Lions tour coming up shortly. He's got
a pretty big schedule, which I know he's nervous about.
And he's been allowed more time home with his family

(05:56):
at Kawakawa up in the top of the North Island there,
which is understandable that he wants that at his age.
He's also keen for the while of he's not to
be seen to being coached by a sort of Dad's
army of coaches, so I think he's excited about Les coming.
We're excited about both of them being there, and I
just hope that Joe Schmitz stays on as a consultant
for Les. Is a bit of a mentor for him

(06:17):
as he carries on the good work.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
Okay, Chris Russell, thanks for your time. Got to go
enjoy another term of Anthony Albanizi.