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Speaker 1: As we know, the onset of the monsoon in the

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Speaker 1: top end has now surpassed the latest arrival, which was

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Speaker 1: the twenty fifth of January that was set back in

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three. Now, according to the Bureau of Meteorologies

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Speaker 1: records that will they start it back in nineteen fifty

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Speaker 1: seven to fifty eight, So that's as far as we know.

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Speaker 1: The Weather Bureau's Jesslinguard told us on the show yesterday

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Speaker 1: that they're monitoring five tropical lows in the North. They

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Speaker 1: could spur on the monsoon. And while many are indeed

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Speaker 1: keen for the monsoon to set the cool well set

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Speaker 1: things down to cool down a little bit. What we

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Speaker 1: also know is that stress levels are certainly increasing for

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Speaker 1: farmers and producers who really do rely on the wet season.

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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line is the Antique Cattleman's

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Speaker 1: Association CEO Will Evans.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Will, Good morning Katy. Thanks for having me on.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks so much for your time. Now, Will, how

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Speaker 1: is the sector faring with the late arrival of the monsoon?

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Speaker 2: Think starting to get a little bit anxious. Now, look,

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Speaker 2: we're still a bit optimistic. There's some good signs in

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Speaker 2: the North there's been a lot of rain and balley

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Speaker 2: and across Indonesia, which is normally a bit of a

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Speaker 2: precursor to that coming south. But yeah, really starting to

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Speaker 2: We're just starting to adjust some of our plans a

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Speaker 2: little bit and look a little bit forward into the future.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, without that big fall of rain in the

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Speaker 2: next couple of weeks, it's going to get a bit tricky.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean when you look back at those records, well,

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Speaker 1: I guess we only sort of have as far back

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Speaker 1: as nineteen fifty seven to fifty eight, but we've really

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Speaker 1: not seen the monsoon arrive this late since nineteen seventy three.

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Speaker 2: So we're concerning when we start looking back that far

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Speaker 2: at weather patterns, isn't it. I think we had late

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Speaker 2: rain last year and we got a lot of it

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Speaker 2: all at once. Yeah, we're still hoping it's coming and

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Speaker 2: there are some positive signs, but yeah, no, those clouds

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Speaker 2: are just teasing us at the moment. There's not much

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Speaker 2: in them.

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Speaker 1: No, there isn't. Well, what kind of impact is it having,

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Speaker 1: Like when you look at you know, crops to feed,

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Speaker 1: like for feed obviously for cattle.

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Speaker 2: Oh, look, it's bigger. We've spent the last couple of months. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: the crops that we grow on the territory buy a

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Speaker 2: large rely on the rainfall that we get over the

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Speaker 2: wet so there's been a lot of money put into

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Speaker 2: the crops that have been going into the ground in the

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Speaker 2: last well last month really, and if we don't get

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Speaker 2: that big fall now, we're not going to see them

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Speaker 2: start to really, they're not going to come through to

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Speaker 2: fruition in June or or July when then we start

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Speaker 2: harvesting them. So's millions of dollars on the line here

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Speaker 2: and then we really need to see it happen. But

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Speaker 2: then at the same time, that rain that comes down

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Speaker 2: from the north and starts getting the territory, that's the

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Speaker 2: rain that pushes across into the channels and over the

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Speaker 2: Queensland border. So it's something that whilst we're very anxious

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Speaker 2: in the territory, the Queenslanders are very nervous, and that

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Speaker 2: sort of trickles through the whole East coast. So we

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Speaker 2: really do need to start seeing those storms coming down.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so what kind like you mentioned before that you know,

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Speaker 1: people are sort of I guess having to modify will

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Speaker 1: change the way that they're doing things. You know, what

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Speaker 1: has it meant in a real practical sense for a

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Speaker 1: lot of our you know, for a lot of our

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Speaker 1: farmers and those in the cattle industry.

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Speaker 2: Well, we're not quite there yet. We're what we're looking.

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Speaker 2: We're looking at our plans and we're saying, okay, so

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Speaker 2: if we don't see those really big rainfalls in the

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Speaker 2: next couple of months, it'll completely change the way we've

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Speaker 2: structured the year. We'll need to get a lot of

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Speaker 2: cattle off early, We'll need to sell a lot more

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Speaker 2: cattle because we won't have that feed in September and October.

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Speaker 2: You know, the wonderful thing about the territory is you

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Speaker 2: normally get a lot of rain at the start of

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Speaker 2: the year. But if you don't get that rain, you're

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Speaker 2: not going to get any other So we really need

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Speaker 2: to see something happen. And if we don't, yeah, it's

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Speaker 2: going to be it would be a very It will

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Speaker 2: change the way that the year rolls out completely.

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Speaker 1: And are there certain places around the Northern Territory or

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Speaker 1: certain areas around the Northern Territory that are needing rain

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Speaker 1: more than other parts?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, so we've seen right over on the

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Speaker 2: w a border. We've had some pretty strong falls, so

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Speaker 2: there's some guys over there who are pretty good. But

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Speaker 2: really then as you come east across the v id,

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Speaker 2: across the top end Catherine Stirclatto at the Barkley, we

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Speaker 2: really haven't had any of those falls yet at all.

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Speaker 2: So that's that's starting to dry and it's hot, Katie.

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Speaker 2: I think everyone has noticed, and that dries out the

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Speaker 2: moisture that we do have. So yeah, we're at that

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Speaker 2: point of the year where everything's ready for rain. It

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Speaker 2: just needs to fall out of the sky.

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Speaker 1: In terms of sort of planning for the year ahead,

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Speaker 1: I mean a lot of that is, you know, you

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Speaker 1: guys are alignant on the forecast from the Bureau. You're

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Speaker 1: aligned on looking at that weather modeling. And this year

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Speaker 1: we did o well. Last year, I should say we

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Speaker 1: were sort of at first we were thinking we were

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Speaker 1: going to get like quite an early monsoon. So how

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Speaker 1: does that play out for you then in terms of planning,

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Speaker 1: you know, for the year or for you know, for

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Speaker 1: what you need to do.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think the Bureau's I mean, no one, I

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Speaker 2: don't think anyone's saying the Bureau's got an easy job.

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Speaker 2: But what we what we've seen is a really cautious

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Speaker 2: approach from them, and that's probably welcome. You know, a

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Speaker 2: couple of years ago on the East Coast, the Bureau

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Speaker 2: predicted that it was going to be a dry year,

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Speaker 2: which led to people making these decisions really early, and

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Speaker 2: it led to a flood of you know, hundreds of

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Speaker 2: thousands of cattle onto the market, which dropped the price significantly.

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Speaker 2: Then what happened with that year, so it turned out

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Speaker 2: to be a wet year and those guys didn't need

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Speaker 2: to sell those cattles. So the Bureau's got to be

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Speaker 2: they're very cautious in this space, which is probably good.

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Speaker 2: But we just need them update us with regular information,

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Speaker 2: make sure we've got what we need, and make sure

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Speaker 2: it's as accurate as they can make it. Obviously, whether

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Speaker 2: in the top ends pretty hard. But yeah, I know

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Speaker 2: it's I don't know, it's a difficult job.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's been like it's been a tough year

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Speaker 1: for you guys too, right. I mean in certain parts

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Speaker 1: of the Northern Territory we've had massive fires and things

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Speaker 1: like that as well, So it's been I would imagine, well,

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Speaker 1: I know we're now into the new year, into twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty five. But it's been sort of a tough twelve months.

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean we've held price quite well. We've got

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Speaker 2: three hundred and sixty thousand head out of dal and

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Speaker 2: Port last year to Indonesia, which is a good year. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: we had strings and weaknesses, you know, So it's the

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Speaker 2: weather's always challenging. The roads are always challenging because of

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Speaker 2: the weather. But despite of that, in spite of that,

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Speaker 2: we still managed to get a lot of cattle on

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Speaker 2: the boats. And then those cattle in our springs that

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Speaker 2: were going south into Victoria and South Australia to the

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Speaker 2: processes down there performed really well. So we've had a

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Speaker 2: bit of swings and roundabouts really. You know, the market

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Speaker 2: stayed strong for us, which was good. But yeah, those

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Speaker 2: weather challenges are always the big ones that sort of

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Speaker 2: sit in the back of your mind. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, and I guess that's you know, that's something that

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Speaker 1: those in the cattle industry would be aware of year

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Speaker 1: on year, something that you know you're having to keep

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Speaker 1: an eye on. I would imagine every single year, every week.

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Speaker 2: Just about I think I think we've got a couple

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Speaker 2: of blokes out in the pad of doing a bit

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Speaker 2: of a jig at the moment, hoping that might get

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Speaker 2: something out of the sky. But yeah, hopeful, hopeful about

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Speaker 2: you know, the next week or so, and hopefully that

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Speaker 2: rain starts falling, and yeah, a lot of the concerns

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Speaker 2: will be put to bed.

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Speaker 1: Mate, I'm hoping for rain and I'm a weakling inside

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Speaker 1: of their condition studio. You know, those that are working

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Speaker 1: out on the land and you actually need it, It

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Speaker 1: would be it'd be difficult for them, no doubt.

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Speaker 2: Oh no, well, yeah, it's positive signs at the moment,

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Speaker 2: but yeah, yeah, it needs to convert into something real. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Now in terms of you know, the year ahead, how

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Speaker 1: are things going for you guys? And you know what's

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Speaker 1: on the agenda for this year for twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 2: Oh well, you know, unfortunately, I'm going to be one

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Speaker 2: of the big things on the agenda this year is

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Speaker 2: something I've spoken about a lot with you and with

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Speaker 2: the people in Darwen, and we do have We've got

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Speaker 2: a four week hearing laid down for the class action yep. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: which I'm sure everyone's sick of hearing about and I'm

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Speaker 2: pretty sick of talking about. But we will be going

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Speaker 2: to the Federal Court in Sydney in the first half

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Speaker 2: of this year, and what we're trying to agree on

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Speaker 2: with the government is is the quantum of title damage.

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Speaker 2: So that's the next big step for us in the

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Speaker 2: class action. I mean, we had the Prime Minister come

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Speaker 2: through vi is It a Cattle station last week and

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Speaker 2: the week before, and we were hoping there might be

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Speaker 2: an announcement there, but it seems like those announcements were

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Speaker 2: just for Queensland and Wa, not for the Northern territory.

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Speaker 2: But we'll see what happens. It's a long running saga.

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Speaker 2: We're really eager to see it come to an end.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, it's just been dragging on for far too long.

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Speaker 2: So that's one of the big things for the association

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Speaker 2: this year.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well it has been dragging on for you guys

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Speaker 1: for such a long period of time, hasn't it.

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Speaker 2: Look. I think the official line from the PM at

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Speaker 2: the moment is that it's not a political process. This

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Speaker 2: is an independent legal process, which I think everyone can

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Speaker 2: probably take this pretty big teaspoon of scoticism, but it

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Speaker 2: is what it is and we'll keep fighting. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I think for politicians to think that they can test

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Speaker 2: the resolve of my of our guys and the guys

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Speaker 2: in the territory cattle industry. It's pretty brave move really.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and you know, if it's not a political thing,

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Speaker 1: why was it to begin with?

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Speaker 2: Really, I think I think one of the big challenges

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Speaker 2: they've got is there's eleven cabinet ministers today who were

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Speaker 2: ministers in twenty eleven. I don't think they want to

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Speaker 2: admit that they got anything wrong.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, very fair point. Well, I've no doubt that's going

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Speaker 1: to be you know, that'll be an interesting time for

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Speaker 1: you guys. Do keep us up to date with any

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Speaker 1: of that progress as it happens as well. Look, I

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Speaker 1: hope we get some rain soon. All the signs are

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Speaker 1: indicating that it's going to arrive, So let's hope.

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Speaker 2: So mate, Oh my thing is crofton. Yeah. If it's

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Speaker 2: not here one next week, you will see me in

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Speaker 2: a pattern probably somewhere around the Yeah. Yeah. If anyone

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Speaker 2: sees it, don't be alarmed. It's just we're just trying

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Speaker 2: to get the rain.

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Speaker 1: Togain exactly. Will. Really good to talk to you. Thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: No, not a problem, Thanks for having me again.

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Speaker 1: Thank you