Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Cattlemen's Association CEO Will Evans says improving roads, reducing input costs and preparedness for biosecurity threats will be a key focus of their annual conference

Transcript

NT Cattlemen's Association CEO Will Evans says improving roads, reducing input costs and preparedness for biosecurity threats will be a key focus of their annual conference · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: As we know, the biggest annual beef industry event in
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Northern Australia.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Well, it's due to take place.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: It is the Northern Territory Cattleman's Association Annual Industry Conference.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: It's going to bring in over seven hundred attendees from
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: across the country to the top end. And joining me
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: on the line to tell us a little bit more
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: about exactly what is on and what we can expect
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: it is Will Evans, the CEO of the Northern Territory
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Cattleman's Association.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Will.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: Good morning Katy. Thanks having me on.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, great to speak to you. Well, are you there
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: at the moment? How's it all going.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: I'm in the office of the minute. I'm just finalighting
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: a couple of jobs I probably should have got done
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: a bit earlier, but yeah, no, it's a hectic moment
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: for us. This is a big week obviously for the industry,
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: so got to get everything sorted.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds like it's going to be massive. So
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: you're expecting more than seven hundred attendees.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so seven hundred on Friday to the conference. Then
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: we've got almost six hundred for the dinner. So's a
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: certainly to the vendor will break records for us this year.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: I thought we topped it last year, but just one
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: of those things just continues to grow each year.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: And what's on the agenda exactly.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: So we've got Minister Murray Watt coming to town to
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: speak to the industry, obviously as a bit of a
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: keynote speech speech for us. We've got presentations from some
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: of the representatives and representatives of the Indonesian government regarding
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: the FMD and LSD situation over there and how the
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: Indonesians have been working through that. We've got business leaders
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: from around the country coming up to give presentations on
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: the globe I guess the global market outlook and where
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: we see things going, and how I guess territory beef
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: producers can prepare themselves for the next four months.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: So just talk us through what some of the biggest
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: issues are I guess that the industry is facing right now.
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  Speaker 1: I know that you've joined us on the show before
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: to talk about it, but some of those that you
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: are sort of speaking to your Indonesian counterparts about, well.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: I mean, at the moment I speak to you, we've
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: got the number members around the VRD district of the
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: Barkley District too obviously got a lot of water that
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: they've got to try and fix. So I think one
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  Speaker 3: of the things is going to be a really immediate
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: problem for us this year is going to be getting
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: the roads back up to scratch and getting them make
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: making sure they're accessible for us when we do begin masters.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: So I think some of the problems that we're going
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: to be talking about are going to be those immediate
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: issues and those longer term issues like THEESEL prices in
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  Speaker 3: good prices continuing to increase, interest rates increasing. There are
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: some of the things that we'll be talking about this week.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: How about our things at the moment when it comes
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: to that.
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  Speaker 3: Flooding, well, look, it's a difficult one. I think is
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: a deep producer, you don't want to complain about rain,
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  Speaker 3: but then every now and again a little bit too
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: much rain. So I think the Barkley region the water
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: should soak in and it's going to deliver a really,
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: really good season for us. But I guess we have
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: to get out there and have a look and see
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: how many cattle we might have lost, or how much
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: damage has been to infrastructure. So it's a little bit
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: of good news and a little bit of bad news
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  Speaker 3: as well, So it's it'll take us a couple of
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: months fear it all out.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Now, where are people traveling from for the conference?
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Well, we've got people coming from overseas. We've got people
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: coming from Queensland, Victoria, obviously from Canberra, some from Western
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: Australia as well. So it's very much a conference that
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: draws a lot of national attention. And yeah, I think
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  Speaker 3: there's a lot of people who like coming up, especially
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: for the gala dinner on Friday night, enjoying a good
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: stake and a good glass of wine.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Hey talk us through as well what some of
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: those discussions like with the lumpy skin disease and also
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: the foot and mouth disease. Obviously we're tracking quite well
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: here in the territory at the moment, but it is
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  Speaker 1: always something that's a concern. What you know, what are
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: you going to be discussing in that space throughout the week.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: Well, I think the meetings that we've had with the
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  Speaker 3: Indonesian representatives over the last six months or so has
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: been that the vaccination program over there is going quite well.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: But it's about that conversation of what lessons have they
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: learned about how they've had to manage it and how
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: do we apply those in the worst case scenario in
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: the Northern Territory. I mean, we've got a wonderful opportunity
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: to hear firsthand from the leaders of the role out
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: of the vaccination program in Indonesia. What are the lessons
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: that they learned and how do we make sure if
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: the worst were to happen here, how do we best
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: prepare ourselves for that?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, which is obviously they are all very very important
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: discussions to be having. Will anything else we should be
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: aware of this morning, mate, before I let you go.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Look, I think this is just it goes to show
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: that there is a lot of national attention business in
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  Speaker 3: the Northern Territory. There's a lot of national attention, especially
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: for the partial industry of the Northern Territory. So it's
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: an event that we're really proud of. It brings a
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  Speaker 3: huge amount of investment to the town and yeah, we're
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: really looking forward to showcasing the industry to the people
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  Speaker 3: in Darland this week and also people from around the country.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: All wonderful stuff.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Will Evans, the CEO of the Northern Territory, Cattleman's Association.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Thank you as always for having a chat with us today.
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: A lot of problem Thanks Amy Okatie, thank you