The Muster- Chris Dillon Southland Federated Farmers President

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks to the master. We're heading to northern South and

(00:02):
now to catch up with Southern Federated Farmers President Chris Dylan,
who has been waiting by the phone as he shifts
some stock and the lovely Belfer area this afternoon. How
are you, Chris.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
We're a pretty good peggy.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
That's good. One has been pretty kind to start with,
so we'll be seeing some good things out there so far.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, we've had a very good late autumn and start
to the winter and there has been a lot of
rain comes through in this last lot, so yeah, everything
shouldled done nicely.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
And for you being a cropping farmer and mainly with crops,
you've got a few stock on for winter, but it
won't be too strenuous.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
And the beast animals obviously, and then we take on
a few extra keos as well, say, yeah, you to
look after.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Enough to get out and check out the weather each
morning and get some fresh air.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, yeah, every day.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
And anything happening on in regards to the arable side
at this time of year or is it pretty quiet.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
As a little bit of grains starting to shift around
that goes into chicken feed or cheap nut. The cawf
meal doesn't really start until later in the into July,
so we'll start moving stuff in. Oh, it will give you.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
A bit of time to get away. Is next week,
I understand you're heading out to the Primary Industry's conference.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yep, we and conferences and knock London. Then we got
the Federida Farmer's AGM following that.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
And what does that mean for sort of southern feeds
and general Is there sort of some opportunities out there
to change things or what does that whole conference sort
of mean? Back down here on the.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Ground, there's a lot of networking opportunities with a lot
of different people, and especially a lot of MP's things
like that. And then it's the three day event. It's
great to catch up whether the rest of the funeral
farmers and xcutives from all over the country.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
And a few new ones across the country now too.
So be for some the first time getting up to that.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yeah, there'll be some first time. Some have been there
in the executive or vice capacity before, so you do
get to know people quite well.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
So I was reading in the news last night around
the International Visitors Levy funds and that Federative Farmers is
criticizing the government for diverting those funds into the Crown
coffers as such, and there's a call for that revenue
to be dedicated back to its original purpose of combating
widened pines, feral pests and tourism infrastructure. Obviously have a

(02:31):
big international contingent that come into our region every year.
What's your views around this?

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, it needs to be for its original purpose. They
come here to look at their one country, which includes
their landscapes. Obviously, they come here to look at a
heap of wilded points. So yeah, that's of a small
levee is paid by every tourist that comes in. We
can control the world points in this province a lot easier.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
And it's also for their infrastructure also, those buses and
that that are taking the man and all those visitors.
They're using our toilets and our roads and all those
other pieces as well that our rate payers are already
funding but aren't able to be able to fund to
that aspect and those capacities. It's really important that the
funds go towards that too, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
I definitely is, especially for small world communities and upgrading
toilets and that that seems to be the rate payers
that are the ones paying for it, not the tourists
that are the ones using it. So it does need
to be allocated in the right direction.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
And what are the real topical things are you guys
working on with South and Fear At.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
The moment, just going forward with a lot of discussion
around the local body reform. It's in the early stages.
They've got the headstart approach going on there, but we
really need the conversation is going to be around the
whole community on what the community wants. And it's clear
that status quo is not working. It's a long time

(03:57):
since there's been changed, but we need the change to
be right and then during this time so everyone needs
needs to get involved in the process.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Consultation is really important, isn't it. It's just like anything,
if you don't have your say, you can't complain later.
So there'll be feeds. I'm sure we'll be pushing and
also communicating when those opportunities will be available for the
general public.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, definitely, And it'll be some part of next month
that where will be hosting some hosting some stuff that
have some independent voice on it and not not hear
from any council staff on what they want. It's here
from the from the people, and wat's best for the
entire problems going forward, because.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Either day it's the people that it effects and the
decisions that come out of there affecting every day people
on the ground.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yes, and you have to remember that some of the
driver for this changes the fact that their rates continually
rise and it's got to unsustainable levels. Even the ten
percent rise each year is just it's just common pounding
and we're getting no more benefits. So we need a
streamline how things are done and within the councils, and
this is our one opportunity to do it.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, their return on investment calculator isn't really working.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Anymore, is it. No, it's definitely not. So Yeah, there's
going to be some fairly big change, but it's a
challenge we can take on and we can get to
a good place.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
I think everybody in a mass and everybody together actually
is going to be powerful more than that one voice.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
I definitely yeah, in that we're living a very big
and diverse province. So you've got to get structured right
so the community stays involved on the on the on
the way through. So Yeah, there's there's ways of doing that,
and we'll be highlighting them into the next month.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
And if anyone's out there listening, if they want to
have a check to any of your feed members or
your details are on the Federated Farmer's website.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yep, they'll phone numbers and all the exec members are
on there, so it's a problem to either ring someone
or flick someone an email or else even come along
to a muntly meetings was an open forum there, cool.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
And add I was monthly meetings on a regular like
a certain day of the month or a date.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, they usually are usually a second Monday of the month,
but then again school holidays is this month, so we
will be probably on time in July, giving that we've
just been at the PINS, so it'll be August a
back to now. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
Oh, if you want to get involved, get in touch
and they'll put you in the right direction. Thank you
very much, Chris. I'll let you get back to the
stock and all the best up there with the PINS conference.
I hope it goes well and look forward to seeing
what comes out of that connotation as we move into
the next few months.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yep, thank you.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Well, it's Chris Dillon there, Southland con Federated Farmers President