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We're going behind the scenes to see and understand modern agriculture, because no matter whether you're in it or not, you probably don't know all the pieces to just how incredible, diverse and multi-layered agriculture is. We do this by uncovering the real stories, experiences and voices of modern agriculture.
Oli Le Lievre 0:03
Can I and again, can lead you off from this Starbucks. Can't wait to get a coffee when it opens. It is the early hours of the morning here in Tokyo. I've got this one done. And then I'm logging off because I'm going on holidays. But today's episode is with an absolute legend. She's a rock star. Julia Spicer, she has multiple, different roles. She is Queensland's chief entrepreneur, which we'll touch on. She runs her own business, engage and create consulting. She is just actually just the legend when I was in Gandy as part of an unfortunate incident, so Jules and I chat about that find out a little bit more about Gunda. We need her her but she took myself and had her in for a couple of nights, gave us a bed and showed us the best and kind of unlock the greatest things about Ghana money. So Joseph's story is fascinating. She took a few different turns studied natural resource management. She's just so passionate and a true champion and advocate for rural Australia. She makes sure that rural Australia is getting represented at the table and we chat what that's like and how she's been able to, I guess, build and forward her career. What am I do some of the things that she went without or put to the site to prioritise the opportunities she has proceeded. So let's get into this one.
Julius spasa long time in the making. Yes. It's been a few years I reckon, Alvin. Well, I think that's the end of 2021. I was hoping to come to Gandy for an event that you guys run. Spark. I think it was. It was Yeah. And I got stuck on the other side of the river. In Texas. Yes. So it's great to be here. It's been an interesting morning for me and Gundy little 3am Wake up.
Speaker 1 1:44
You've had the best and the worst of country towns, I think in the last few hours.
Oli Le Lievre 1:48
I have I have. So normally, jobs. We do an acknowledgement on the country we're on. Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about where we are? And maybe just Arif candy?
Speaker 1 1:57
Yeah, absolutely. So we are sitting on big and bold country while we have this conversation. And we are, you know, acknowledge our traditional owners here, the big humble people, I'm really grateful that through a lot of the work over many years, I've been able to work with elders past and present. And it is, I'm really excited about what the future holds. So we are lucky that in this part of the world, we are actually on land that has a really rich indigenous history. We know that we've got some fairly meaningful and important, you know, places not far from here. So you've travelled paths, grinding grooves, we've got the Rockwell's we've got Boober lagoon not that far. So you know, you really are hearing Gunda, windy, sitting amongst some pretty special, um, traditional lands. And,
Oli Le Lievre 2:47
well, Gandy, I'll say, and I've been here, 2015 hours here, passing through us harvesting not too far south. And I know a few people from around the area. And last night. So really interesting. I guess I'd heard about some of the challenges of especially this, both southern Queensland northern New South Wales and what's happening, I got to experience it, which was interesting in itself, some some challenged youth who would, and it seems, through social media, that it's actually quite normal in this area to sort of they'll try and break in and steal a car. And there are some challenges, but then on the flip side, within a couple of hours, sitting at the cafe at the Lardner practically the sponsor of this episode. Yeah. Got to meet all kinds of different people. So it is a pretty special community here as well. Look,
Speaker 1 3:31
I think so I didn't grow up in Gander windy I moved here for a three month contract, I think about 18 years ago would have never gone home. So I grew up on men and danji country north of Roma up near in June, right on the Great Dividing Range, basically, so beautiful part of the world. And as he's going to India, but very much floodplain country down here. And I think there's some things that make Gundu in the, in this region, super special. And I think the diversity of agriculture, which is what you saw at the larder when we had everybody coming through from every industry and every service part of that in of the supply chain. You know, we have every part of agriculture here, we have dryland and irrigation, we have all sorts of intensive to broad acres to organic to whatever, whatever. So we're pretty unique in that part of the world. From a Queensland perspective, you know, if we focus on that there's other communities in other parts of Australia that would have the diversity of ag but not so much in Queensland, often and particularly in Western Queensland. So that means that even for a small community, you know, there's 6000 People in Gundy and about 12,000 across the region, I think they kind of say, across the council region. So, for us to have all of our banks, all of our services, all of everything in this community is actually pretty rare. And so that's the opportunities that we have and all the excitement. Exactly as you said, there are also some really, you know, we got some real challenges in this part of the world were a cross border community Gundu in the region is also really made up of gundi, Bogar, Bella and to Mila, you know, it is the three communities that service, we have a border, which is the river between us, which was, you know, everybody heard about during COVID. That that creates a whole heap of issues for a whole lot of services as well. And I think, you know, I'm really sad that you had the experience that you had early this morning, and you are not the only person to have had that. And it wasn't your door. You know, so imagine the people whose door it actually was, and they were an elderly couple from what you said. So that's really awful, right, for all of the great promotion that we do about how awesome our region is, we need one person knocking down a door, and we've lost that again. And yet, it is not a simple solution, right. Like I think what we're seeing across southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, is a symptom of, you know, some much bigger and deeper and longer challenges that have that we're yet to work out a solution. You know, you and I talked about it, you pull a thread on youth crime, and you come across a whole lot of other challenges that also need to be solved. If we actually want to have a situation where people can feel safe in our little communities.
Oli Le Lievre 6:18
Well, then I think you look across the regions and it's is youth crimes, one issue, then there's education, health care, like it's, it's sparse. I think what's really cool about you and your work, not only do you have your own consulting pays on the side, you're also currently the Queensland chief entrepreneur, which I'm keen to flush out. But let's let's chat about Agen few so grew up in around in June, had we've come across you in your childhood, what was yours as a kid like and what were you interested in? Yeah,
Speaker 1 6:45
so So I grew up in a small community by mount so a school, you know, one teacher school, on the side of the road, we had a tennis court and a oval. And you know, that was my schooling, I was the only kid in my class for a few years, and then went to progressively bigger schools on the eldest of three, and it was my dad's family farm that I grew up on. And my mom and dad are both both teachers by trade as well. And the duels that you would have seen as a young kid loved animals loved being outside, had a motorbike. The young jeulia wanted to be a vet until she realised what effort that would bring at school. And so I looked for other options. But I've always had a love of the environment and our natural landscapes, basically. And so, yeah, I mean, we were really lucky to have what typical, you know, it's not until years later, you realise what a blessed and privileged childhood we had growing up on a farm. And you also don't realise, actually what mom and dad were going through. A lot of the times, we were just completely unaware of his children. So, you know, we had all the bodies as pets, that Joey's as pets, the, you know, finding animals in places of the house that we probably shouldn't find them in all of the best bits of, of a country kids, you know, childhood, basically, it was awesome. And
Oli Le Lievre 8:02
so where did that take it? You went through school, you mentioned natural resources. I know you ended up down that pathway. What were those interests? And did you see your specific career that you were?
Speaker 1 8:10
Yeah, so it's interesting. So I did what most country kids do, we went to, went to schools in our local area. And then I ended up at boarding school in Toowoomba, and did a few years down lands. And when I finished there, I was pretty clear on what I wanted to do, which at that stage was the natural resource management side of things. And, and so what I was able to do was get accepted to Gatton, to University of Queensland at the Gatton campus. And, but what I did do was take a year, and I did a rotary exchange and spent time in Switzerland. So I went to a French High School, lived with Swiss German families and had. So that was 1997, I had a year living in the middle of Europe, which going from, by mount to the middle of, you know, Europe, in Switzerland was was a bit of a culture shock. But I think what that did in a few different ways was one make me appreciate what we have here in Australia. And even as a 17 year old, you know, there was so much to be grateful for and so much to appreciate that we didn't have a history of needing to know what war was, like, you know, we didn't have very many landmarks of, of World Wars, in any of the places that I'd lived. But we also didn't necessarily know a lot of our long term history. So a lot of the, you know, 1000s of years of history in Europe, I'd never really considered from an Australian perspective. And we didn't have 1000s of years of European civilization, but we did have First Nations people and that was probably the start to be honest of some of my interest in actually being really honest and being really curious around what our whole history is for this country. So I had a great time over there and it made me really excited at the end of that year, I was pumped to come back and get into uni and I was really excited about what that might look like. I did four years at uni had a that time, and, and more and more realise that I knew that, you know, ag and the regions were my people. It was where I thought I wanted to contribute. It was what I was excited about. I worked for the horticulture industry when I first left uni and so was based in Brisbane, but worked with vegetable growers across northern New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory, which was just so exciting and an industry that I had never had any experience with. And so I always, you know, I would often say to, you know, sheep and cattle, producers to grains, guys, you know, spend a week being a lettuce producer, and then we need to talk about what's really challenging in our industries. You know, I think horticulture is one of those that really is impacted so much more than some of the others. And I found that was a really good thing to be part of. But what I got to was a point where I was going off to, you know, national lettuce conferences and diseases and carrot conferences, and I was like, mate, I don't know what we're talking about. I need to either go back and study horticulture, or I need to bounce and do what I was actually trained in. And so I ended up back out in western Queensland at Mitchell working for the landcare and catchment group out there. Yeah, Ross.
Oli Le Lievre 11:08
With any hesitations I had you started to fall in love with being in and around the city where you've wanted to get to Brisbane.
Speaker 1 11:14
For me, I loved it. And it was a great place to be for early 20s. But it was still it was still a transit place for me. I lived in Brisbane and travelled to Bowen travelled to South of Darwin, where the Vietnamese farmers were setting up horticulture in that part of the world, I travelled to the Lockyer Valley. So, you know, I was still really there too, as a transit place through to somewhere else. So. And for me, I thought if I really the what I'd studied what I wanted to do, I couldn't do that in Brisbane, that that wasn't the environment that I wanted to do. I loved my time there. And it's a beautiful city. And really, it's a big country town at the end of the day. But what I wanted to be part of was not in that environment. And so I was going to end up somewhere else back in the regions, and it just happened to be Mitchell. So
Oli Le Lievre 12:01
you ended up out there and in western Queensland, and when you go from there, so
Speaker 1 12:06
I was in vitro for a few years. And that was sort of early 2000s By this stage. And you know, Mitchell to where mum and dad lived was really only about an hour, hour and a half away. So I was able to spend some more time with them on the farm and helping out. And it was pretty much from Mitchell to Gunda. Windy really, I took some time off to help mum and dad during one of the droughts. One of the many droughts we always have. And there was an opportunity to do a short term contract down here and Gunda windy with the natural resource management group, and they asked if I would do it, and I could do it backwards and forwards a little bit. So I'd come down to Gander windy for a couple of weeks and then go back to back to biome out and to be fair ended up got to a point where they paid better than dad did the opportunity to kind of come down and take a role where I managed a team of both technical officers, so soils, experts, vegetation, salinity, and also landcare officers. So that sort of those extension roles with producers, traditional owners, councils, that was a pretty good opportunity and pretty hard to pass up in my mid to late 20s, or whatever I was at that stage. So I came down here for three months. And like I said, I've been here ever since. So I've ended up doing about nearly 10 years with the natural resource management group here and a whole range of different roles. And really this region, why wouldn't you you've been here this morning, or later the latter part of your visit today. You've seen the best of what we've got to offer. So yeah, I really, really enjoy it.
Oli Le Lievre 13:41
I want to know, like, so what I know of yours. Your I'll say incredibly aspirational in terms of the impact you want to have. Did you ever feel hamstrung? Or did you totally have that I want to do want to say like content here, but like, did you take the foot off the accelerator or have bigger aspirations, beyond kind of Gundy?
Speaker 1 14:03
So I think it's a really good question. And it's probably one that to be fair grappled with on a really regular basis. Right. So, so a couple of things. I as you know, and and mentioned, I've got this role with Queensland Government at the moment as chief entrepreneur, but have also sat on state and federal boards from a relatively young age. And in some ways, I am a bit of a weirdo and even in this community, right, like I am 4445 This year in 2024. I don't have children. We don't have a family. I have a stepdaughter and I'm married now, but I think for a long time, I didn't fit the mould of a regional woman. pretty ambitious, pretty keen to as you said, like, have impact and be useful. And so that is, is hard sometimes to do In the confines of a smaller community, yeah. And yet, if we can be clear on what it is that we want to contribute to, there's a whole lot of ways that we can do that and still be place based. So still living under windy and have impact here, and in other regional communities. And I think that was part of it was some professional development I was able to do to look at, you know, how do we get clear on what we want to do? Why are we here? What are we here to contribute to? And then how do I want to do that? And where do I need to be to do that, and, and the work that you do shows that people can be actually based all over Australia and do that really well. And in fact, we need to be so. So I very doggedly. And I am very clear, when I am speaking to people all over the place that there is intelligent life form west of the range. And say that all the time that you know, the regions have the solutions to the world's problems, not just our problems if we can solve a problem here in Gunda, windy, we've actually solved that for the world. There are ganda Windies on every continent, maybe other than Antarctica, but there are Gunda winds on every continent, and they are looking for the solutions that we may have here in our community. And so how do we make sure that we are looking up and out all of the time and not everybody's in a position to be able to do that, right? That's not everybody's role. It's some people's role to be able to create and produce and make the product, and it's your, uh, my role to be able to help them see that that actually then has an opportunity for other people, and that there's another value that they've created as a result of that. And I think that that's the opportunity that I've got to be able to take solutions that we're finding and go, that's really awesome, Olli, I know 10 Other communities like ours, where they need that solution or bring them to you, or I'll take you to them. Or you need to sell that to somebody in the middle to be able to create that value elsewhere. And I genuinely think that the region's are where the solutions will be found. Because we've got to be resilient, we've got to be innovative, it's second nature to us. We don't have to get worked up over the lingo and the language and all of the rest of it, we just crack on and get it done. And I think that is our superpower, that we do not realise that if we just get on with it, and that is our best thing. And that will also be our undoing, because we don't realise that what we do is pretty amazing.
Oli Le Lievre 17:24
Just so busy, just I guess, identifying problems and finding a solution to 100%.
Speaker 1 17:29
So we need the storytellers and we need the amplifiers in the communities to be able to do that.
Oli Le Lievre 17:35
So did you have a like a plan around your career? And an a map of how things could work out? No,
Speaker 1 17:40
yes and no, probably no. And then maybe yes, is probably the best way to do that. After
Oli Le Lievre 17:46
that for me,
Speaker 1 17:47
I think. So after a while, I was probably still in Mitchell, I reckon. And there were some conversations that were happening in our community around a few different things. The drought was on there was some families going through some fairly awful succession planning situations, mental health was starting to be spoken about. I'd had some people in my networks that had successfully committed suicide. And so there was some pretty awful stuff going on. And I got to a point through a whole range of different conversations. And I was like, You know what, the environment would actually be fine. If the humans in the environment were okay. And so this piece around, how do we work on the people? And how do we support the people, and the environment will then sort itself out? Yeah. And you hear that a lot now in the region, ag side of things, but so so for me, what I realised was, if I can actually help people, and have facilitate some of the conversations with people more, that's going to get the impact and the outcome of the environment, that's also important to me. And so that sent me down a path of some more study around, you know, personality styles. How do people handle conflict? What do people look at, you know, understanding more about the way in which different people can see the world. And that was really useful to me, and then what it helped me see, when I left my role with the NRM group was that I did have this random set of skills that could actually still add value in communities that I wanted to be able to work with. And so from a consulting perspective, you know, I could sit with people, whether they were local councils or not for profit groups, or farming families, and just ask them questions and help uncomplicate what they'd kind of got themselves wrapped up in and I think that's probably, for me, one of the things I am never the smartest person in the room, but I can enter I can help uncomplicate things well, I can take really complex situations and go I get that that's all going on. But I think at the end of the day, maybe we just need to are these the two or three things that you're dealing with? And then we can do something about that right? Because whilst ever we stay all twisted up, we can't do anything out of that, right. We need action and momentum. And so I think that kind of from a kid Voting perspective where I kind of started to be useful. You've got all this going on what are the two or three things we could do now that might start to help get some clarity around that. And so the people piece I think, is really important, right? So for me, through all of that I got to work out, what I actually reckon I can do is help viable and vibrant communities. And that sounds a bit wonky. But at the end of the day, we need to talk about money more in the regions, because we actually don't we need businesses that are profitable, you know, generational farming families are great if there is still profit in that. And if there's not, we are literally putting nooses around people's necks, I think people need to feel that they can step out of generational heartache in some circumstances, if that's not going to serve them. And so the viability piece we often don't talk about, we talk about the tradition, and we talk about the history, and we talk about all the rest of it, but we need to actually make some money. And that's not always the case. And so that viability piece, I think is really important. And then the other piece is around vibrancy. So we need different people we need diversity, we need cultural activity we need you know, diversity is not gender based is not just about indigenous and non Indigenous. It's not just age, like we actually need to be have more conversation about what diversity looks like in our communities. And so they're the two where I reckon I can get away with having some conversations and be a bit cheeky about pushing the envelope so that we're actually creating communities that are both we are not trees, we live in the regions because we want to live here not because we can't live anywhere else. And I think they're the messages that I hear you talk about really clearly. And I think that's the message that we constantly need to be pushing. And that's our challenge in the region's is to think about how we can do that in a really positive and constructive and intelligent way. Rather than, you know, banging the table sometimes that we end up doing I think there's a place for that. But that's not always going to serve the broader community understand what it is that we do out
Oli Le Lievre 21:58
here. Yeah. And I think what how I think about it, like I don't like the word till I think like show and share and create conversations, I think the sharing side of things have stories and whatnot. That's where it creates that dialogue. And then that's where the real human connection piece comes in. And I think, with platforms and accessibility now, that's how we can do it in different ways.
Speaker 1 22:18
Well, you and I have talked about this before, you know, we don't regional people don't like it when urban city based people go you should be doing this. And you should be doing that. And you should should should. Nobody likes that. Yet we kind of do it back the other way. Yeah. And don't understand why they maybe aren't embracing us as much, you know, like, you should love us we are you know, you can't eat without us. You can't do this it well, actually, they could it could all be imported wouldn't be nearly as good. But actually they could. And as banging them over the head is exactly what they do to us. And we don't like that. So how do we have that conversation in a slightly different way? And it's good to be provocative, but we actually need to build some relationships out of this. And I think, you know, I'm yet to enjoy a conversation with somebody when they're just like smashing me around the face for what I'm not doing? Well. I think we need to, you know, there's some other ways we could try some things, you know, what got us here might not get us there kind of stuff.
Oli Le Lievre 23:13
So I'm just gonna have a quick vent here. Whoa, yeah. Because along those lines, I think when when we say we, as Australian agriculture, talk about feeding the world as well, like, I kind of think we'll actually don't really, like in the scheme of things. We're quite small in terms of the number of people we can feed, but where the real opportunities are, is what we know the practices, how do we like our greatest export is Australian agriculture actually, will be our knowledge and skills to lift others up. And that's why I think it's such a beautiful conduit 40% of the world's population are working in it. So it's how do you lift people up. And
Speaker 1 23:46
whilst we might not feed the whole world, like we talked about, we certainly produce some of the best quality food in the world, we certainly do it in some of the best environmental ways. We certainly do it in the best way in terms of, you know, in terms of some of our our ways in which we support our staff and our employees. And that you know, so, you know, there's a lot of things that we do really well and the best in the world. But yeah, I think sometimes we've just got to check the stories that we're telling ourselves, we've got to just make sure that their language
Oli Le Lievre 24:15
is important. Yeah. So I'd say I shied away a lot from conversations around economics, especially if business and whatnot. And for me, even with humans, Baggot was like in the vision of what we see agriculture doing that healthy, happy and prosperous. Like, initially, I didn't have prosperity in it, but I think prosperity and regions and areas and industries thriving, so important for you going down that consulting route, you had to then put a value on what you knew. Did you doubt yourself like how did you syndrome coming to this? Oh,
Speaker 1 24:47
my God, but also on the basis right now, my friend? No, because
Oli Le Lievre 24:51
what's like so interesting that is you had to put $1 value on your time because you actually had to create a livelihood. And how was that received? Like So initially, as you were trying, I'll say, convince people. Yep.
Speaker 1 25:03
So a couple of things, I came from the not for profit land. So I was used to doing as much as I could for as many people as I could, for as little as I could. So that is not the best way to start a business, my friend. So that was our team. Yeah, that was a massive thing to kind of get my head around. I can't remember where the statistic is, and somebody will prove me wrong. But I think that the statistic that I use, is that when it comes to women in business and regional women in business, whatever our hourly rate is, we should times that by three, because that's probably more likely what it should actually be. So at one point, and respect to all of the cleaning ladies and ironing ladies across Australia, but I remember at one stage somebody going Giulia, you know, I pay my cleaning lady more than you're asking me to pay here. And I was like, Yeah, and he's like, no, like, we're expecting slightly more from you, then we are the cleaning and ironing lady. And I was like, thank you for that. Awesome feedback. And I have said that story 1000 times in the last decade. So there's a couple of things in that. The other thing is like, I, when I left my role, I knew I wanted to stay living in Ghana windy, I went to some other places around Gundy to see if there were any jobs available. And they weren't at that stage. Maybe they were and they didn't want to give it to me. And so there was little strategy to me starting my business, and I reckon that is really common across regional Australia, we started out of necessity, not necessarily because we come with a, you know, MBA and a business degree, which is not what I see in most of the people that I work with, they have started a business around something that they're good at or passionate about, not because they have a business skill. And so I think that's the other thing that's really important is, we can learn the business along the way, do what you're good at. And we can we can build that business skill around you. But what I did do and what I think regional Australia is just so great at is I sent a message, I put a message out, whether it was LinkedIn or Facebook at the time, I don't know saying in three months, I'm done, I will be starting my own business. If anybody's got anything that you want me to do, let me know. And within that three months, I had enough work where I have actually ever since never had to beg, there's a times where I go, who geez, when this projects finished, I'm not sure what's coming next. By the time we've always got a pipeline coming through. And I 100% believe that that is the generosity of the networks. And because I can deliver on stuff, but I would not have started had I not been brave to say, hey, hands up, anybody need me to do anything, and people willingly going, we will give you a crack. So I I think that's a really awesome message. And to bring it back to this Gunda Winder community, we are incredibly lucky here that we have the older generation prepared to support the younger generation in ideas, advice, engagement, you know, contracting us to do things for them. So you know, we're a community that really one generation is genuinely supporting the next. That might be the case in other communities. I don't always see that. But I definitely have experienced it here. I think that's really important. But I think the value piece is really one of those things where we need to keep coming back to it all of the time. And then it's that piece around. How do we make sure we're not? You're not, people aren't valuing their hourly time, but more their decades of experience. And that's the whole next level. Having said that, Ollie, I don't live in downtown Sydney or Brisbane, and I don't need, I'm really clear on what I want to earn, how much I need to earn. And so therefore, I don't need to make a million dollars out of this consulting business because I have multiple streams of income. And so I'm really clear on who I want to work with. And I also kind of know what that threshold of what they can afford. And so I will most definitely not be the most expensive consultant in regional Australia. And I am 100% okay with that, because it means I get to do the work that I want to do with the people I want to work with. Yeah, and I'm fine with that.
Oli Le Lievre 29:10
How important has that been for you to go to keep that passion of where the consulting piece started around solving real problems and having impact
Speaker 1 29:18
and it's easy to be dragged out of that too. Right. Yeah. So I think, you know, you've done some, some good leadership programmes as well, you know, and I think this leadership piece is really important. So how much is ego? How much of it is actually what I think I can deliver on? And if ego was driving me, and when ego drives me, I end up in a complete pickle. I've signed up for jobs that I actually don't really want to do. I've got to deal with people who are not my peeps, I have to wear shoes and proper clothes. They're not you know, i and i Do you know, it'll happen and I'll be like, Oh Christ, you know, and so on. I think it is, you mentioned language before and the messaging you know, I am 100% your person, if you want precise action, you're in the pursuit of excellence, not perfection. You don't need the most polished person in the room. You know, I'm really clear now on what that looks like for me. And I think it is really important because otherwise you will get pulled from pillar to post and the more people are known, you know, the more that there's a personality attached to somebody. And so even stepping into this chief entrepreneur role, I'm the fifth chief entrepreneur that Queensland Government's had. I'm the first one that's been based regionally. And for that matter, the first two were investors. The second two were quite techie had, you know, tech background. And then voila, Giulia rolls in. And so I, you know, I'm really clear around what innovation looks like in Brisbane is very different to what it looks like in bullier, or Birdsville, and that is, okay. And I'm very clear on, you know, if you're having roundtables around what investment should look like around such and such, it's actually really important to have some people from emerald and Toowoomba at the table, because there's wealth in the regions that you have forgotten about. And there's more millionaires probably wandering the streets of Gunda. windy today than there is in you know, downtown, wherever. And so I think, yes, this is a state based role, but very clearly, the importance and the bit that I will bring that the others historically have not brought, is the fact that it is going to be inclusive, and that everybody gets to have a say around what innovation looks like. And it might not be innovative to you, because you're 10 years ahead of us that out here. This is actually what it looks like. And this is what we need investment in. And this is why and I think that's the piece where we can be really clear around, again, that piece of intelligent life form in regional areas, we've got the solutions, how we need to be able to do this, and at the same time asked for me really clear around what it is that we need to be able to deliver on that we need really good telecommunications, we need, you know, regions to be an opportunity, you know, be seen in a, you know, not in that sort of scarcity mentality, but actually see us for what we are, which is powerhouses that are going to help solve. You know, we cannot meet all of the targets that our governments are setting. In southeast Queensland, they need the region's for climate and carbon targets, which I think are awesome. We 100% need to set some targets, they are not going to be met in downtown Brisbane So so how are the regions brought along how communities brought along with this whole transformation? Hughenden has got everything coming at it. In Queensland as a result of the jobs and energy plan. How do we make sure that they learn from what happened to cause and gas communities across western Queensland and learn to get ahead of what's coming rather than be reactive. And it's happened to their main street before they've had an opportunity to work out what they want, or how they're going to actually benefit as a result of it.
Oli Le Lievre 32:54
So from an uneducated point of view, can I ask a question on that, like, did some of those towns that thrive with investment in coal seam gas, essentially Montt? Bad pun blow up in the sense of they? It came in? It was so exciting, so much money investment in the area and then
Speaker 1 33:11
dries up? Yeah, pretty much. So So let me talk for some of the communities that I know in this sort of Western downs, Marin, our up to Emerald, you know, people would say, there was a housing boom, and now there's a housing bust, you know, people long term, people who lived in that community all of a sudden couldn't afford to live in their own region, we often joke about the Main Street was orange shirts before anybody kind of realised what was going on. Now, those those businesses brought a lot to community and regional communities did really well out of that. I sometimes wonder if we could have done better if we were more prepared for it. I wonder if we could have been able to hold on to the legacy piece longer if we were more aware of what was actually happening. And so I think there's an opportunity for us to learn from that, right? Because there will be another, there will be booms and busts all across happened in ag over generations. So that will happen in other industries. It's how do we learn from each time so that next time, we can take more advantage of it, or we can understand it better? We can see what that looks like. And that's probably where we've got some learnings out of a whole range of different industries, right?
Oli Le Lievre 34:23
I want to ask, so we might get to work what's ahead for you, but given your aspirations that you have regional and remote Australia's and especially Queensland, how come you've chosen business as your vehicle oversight politics? Um, I can react us at if you want. Nice.
Speaker 1 34:41
Now, it's a good question. And in some circumstances, I think, you know, maybe it's both. And I think through the chief entrepreneur role I've been able to engage with at a state government level and see how that works. And that's been a really interesting learning experience, and in 2020 For I'll be doing some work with the federal government through a board that I'll be part of. And so that will be an interesting learning curve as well. I think for me, I'm really conscious that I am an action focused person and to to be able to. So it's that balance of getting the doing stuff done, and also being able to be part of setting some of the strategy. And I think there's different ways that we can do that. And so historically, I've said, you know, I can influence things in Ghana, we need without being on the council. And I think that's actually a bit of a cop out. Now, I've decided, and so one of the things, you know, we've got elections happening in 2024. And I'm gonna run for council. And I think at that w excursive. First. But I think I think, you know, at local levels, that is where we can move the dial the most, and where we have the most control over things. And I think that's been one of my learnings in recent times. And I think I can run a business and be on local council, because one actually benefits the other in the fact that I get to bring that business experience to the council table and, and be really ambitious about what this region looks like. I think then, for me, whether it's politics at a, you know, state or federal level, but I think it's around how we can genuinely engage and be part of some of those conversations. And there's a whole lot of ways that we can do that. And one of the things that I think is really become obvious to me and is part of the next step of where I am going in the next couple of years, is how do we make sure that regional decision makers and regional leaders get a seat at the tables where decisions are being made. And I have been through a whole range of different threads, one of the people that's been invited to sit at state and now federal tables, to make decisions without needing to be a politician to do that. I can't be the only one we need to look at more. The Ag industry obviously have all of their industry groups. And yet the government is often looking for people who can represent a demographic. And so some of the work that Joe Palmer who I know, you know, Joe and I are looking at doing is how do we actually help use the platform that we have to get more regional people to decision making tables? How do we take all of the investment in regional leadership and regional scholarships, and for the people who want to be able to use that influence and get them to tables where things are happening, there are round tables or advisory committees, there's all of these opportunities. And often the most regional person is Julier and Gundu. Indian, when we look at a map of Queensland, one, I just make it into the state on the southern end. And what's happening in Ghana, windy is not Quilpie is not mount iser, is not candle, Thursday Island, right. So we need to have more regional people making decision where they're most decentralised state in Australia, our decision makers need to be more decentralised and other places. And so that's a really, that is where I want to spend some time and energy and getting the stories out and helping share, you know, and helping connect our urban and particularly our governments connecting with people who can help make decision I always assume positive intent. I think governments in every state and at a federal level across Australia genuinely want our country and states to be better. Either side, whoever's in whoever's in power, I don't actually care. Whoever's there wants to leave a better place than what they received in however they think that's been achieved. And I think what I'm really keen to do now is okay, well, how do I help them, find more people to help them make better decisions?
Oli Le Lievre 38:44
That'll be really interesting to watch. I want to ask you, and it's this statement is saying that I've heard a few times, and I want to understand how it's worked in your sphere, but like, you can have everything that you can't have everything all at once. How have you balanced and taken that on?
Speaker 1 38:59
Yeah, I think it is a really good conversation. So I think you can have everything if you're prepared to outsource who helps you do it. So I think you know, so. So in some circumstances you can have, you just can't do it all. So you can have it with support from a whole range of different people. So that might be one piece. I'm also acknowledging as, as I said, you know, I haven't raised a family. So I sit in a different position to maybe other women who are in a similar position, career wise and all of the rest of it. It's really interesting to me, I have never had a guy. I've never had a man in regional Australia say, oh, you know, you've only got there because you don't have a family. I have had women say that. Oh, I wonder if you'd be successful if you had kids as well. So I think the sisterhood sometimes still needs to check itself. But I think it's about But there's two things that kind of come to me as you make that phrase and one is, what's for you will never pass by you. And so maybe I've thought I missed it, but it was actually never for me anyway. And so, you know, that might sound a bit woowoo to some of the people listening, but I think if it was meant to be for me, it would have been and so it's not that I couldn't have it, I just that wasn't actually, for me. So if it's for me, it'll come to me kind of thing. And, and the other thing is, I think, at different times in our lives. And, and if we think about it, in terms of that sort of crucial moment, concept, what you think you want, and what you think you need will change in an instant, based on other things that happen. And so I am five years past treatment for cancer. So I had breast cancer when I was 38. And I very quickly realised, at that time that I actually did not have a business, I built myself a job. So I had a really profitable job, but I didn't have a business. And so pretty much overnight, I was scrambling to sort stuff before I was out of action for months, including having staff that I employed and looked after I felt a responsibility to them. And so at that stage, I really couldn't have very much at all. And, and yet, in the five years since then, you know, there's lots of things that changed that came back bigger and better. Now, let's definitely not have cancer just to be able to rejigger business strategy. But I think, you know, what came from that was an ability to then say, Okay, this is, you know, I could wallow and be a victim to this, or I could be really clear about how I'm going to use this situation to, to refocus and rejigged some things. So I think it's this piece around, you know, having what is probably the bit for me, like, what is it that you want to have? And once people can get clear on that, then we actually start to look at well, have you got you may have it all, and it's just looking like a different thing. You know, you actually have what you want, you're just not actually labelling it in the right way or Yeah, I don't know, that probably doesn't make sense. But yeah, I think if it's, if it's for you, it'll come to you.
Oli Le Lievre 42:30
Now, let's say, I'm noticing on your wall that you've got a question, which would be remiss of me not to ask you. So with everything you've done, and continued to do that, what you've got written on your role is, obviously business in the bush, what does it take to grow a profitable small business in regional Australia?
Speaker 1 42:47
Thanks for that question. Ali, while I gather my thoughts, no. So So I think this is the it comes back to the piece that we're talking about around you know, your word, prosperity, my word viability, you know, we need businesses to be successful in the bush, and we need people to be proud of running them. Now, the pride word might stick for some people as well. But we need to actually talk about it. And so to run successful businesses in the bush looks like understanding our finances. Looks like actually having a plan and knowing what's going on. We did some work. It was actually funded by the federal government. We did some work in this neck of the woods, when some of the water buybacks were happening. And it was actually focused on the down the, you know, main street businesses. So if there's producers that have less water allocation, and that might impact their farming, what does that mean for the business community have a gander? Windy St. George in Durham Bandy. And so the business has actually got some mentoring opportunities in the five things that kept coming back were the same for everybody. We worked with 100 businesses, all of the businesses, the five issues that people had was around financial literacy, we don't actually understand whether we're making or losing money, the workforce planning, so I'm actually getting to a stage where I can't afford to have you on the books, Ali. But I know you and I like you, and I'm going to run into your partner in the shopping centre, and how do I actually, you know, so workforce planning, when do we add and subtract people from the wages list? Actually strategic planning, so what is it that we're actually here to do? And how do we help like, raise our eyesight for a little while and actually think about what we want to do the piece around succession planning so are we are we hobbling our next generation because the expectation is that they'll come into this business that may or may not actually exist. And actually this piece around mental health and people having time out of the business and that that very rarely happened on farm and in off farm businesses in in our communities. And, and so, you know, we can't have a ghost town. So we need to actually be solving and having some of these harder conversations. If we want to be able to do that. And for me, I think as you know, From the work that you're doing people learn through stories, right? So we could go and do all of the theory that we wanted around successful businesses, and what are the five main areas of successful small business? What I want to do is find the stories of people that have had them, and maybe haven't had them and how do we all learn from that? What are the themes that come out of that? What do we need to be able to really value and hold on to as bush businesses or not? And and I guess the experiences that I've had and spending more time in, you know, the Brisbanes of the world, the the issues in small business in urban and rural base setting and not that dissimilar. I think the challenges are just great. Our you know, it's we're all having difficulty finding staff, it's really hard to find staff when this it's a smaller population base, or, you know, we're having difficulty marketing online, it's really hard to do that. If everybody's in drought, nobody's got any extra cash. So we're not that different from our small business cousins in the city. It's just maybe more heightened. And I think more personal when, you know, it's hard to sack somebody and then see them down the street. Yeah. So
Oli Le Lievre 46:11
interestingly, like, and through that story, pace. So that was exactly why we did a pace with the New South Wales government last year about a business series and we're chatting about the main thing was business communication, business management, and succession to an extent. And that's why I wanted to bring in some businesses from outside agriculture was an I would have loved like a family building company, I like to count on to the world or something. But we got Phil from Mango boats, which is interesting. Fifth generation is three generations currently working in it have been making boots in Australia for however long 100 plus years or something. And what they go through in terms of succession and decision making is actually really similar to family businesses. And then on top of that, as well, they have a huge native a workforce and and how could, and that's where stories come in. It's like, Well, is there something that they could learn from Phil's story and how they've approached something? And if it's one thing that benefits someone else, then it's worth doing? 100% 100%?
Speaker 1 47:07
That's yeah, that would be awesome. And I think that's the thing, right? Like, boots or beef? Actually, the humans in the businesses are very similar. Yeah. And so how do we take those learnings and share it across, I think, is really important. 100%?
Oli Le Lievre 47:27
So a couple of questions to wrap like, for, for you and being involved in in the Gundy era? What if you had your magic wand and in this area have started to thrive? What would be some of the things that you'd love to see happen in here? So
Speaker 1 47:41
I think we are lucky that we're a community that already thrives, and that means we can't take our foot off the accelerator. I think the opportunities here are around, you know, how do we bring manufacturing back this whole piece around national capability and national sovereignty? So what does the value add? And the manufacturing look like? How do we how do we really kind of see where there's opportunities for that? And then what that brings in terms of the logistics and the transport and all of the opportunities, we've got some great examples here that I think we could be adding to and supporting more, I think this piece around, what else can we offer in a regional setting like this? And so, you know, the regional tourism is a really great opportunity. I think the whole piece around first nations tourism and understanding and opportunities there is really exciting. And I think there's still a whole lot of opportunity to look at what's happening from an innovation perspective. What are people working on or tinkering on around the edges here, that actually has a commercial opportunity? And how do we help them commercialise those trials that they're doing? I think regions like ours are ripe for the picking in some of those opportunities. So value add manufacturing, you know, some of the regional tourism and and other opportunities that we've got, and really looking at commercialising and seeing what we've got that we can scale or some of the areas that I reckon the next 10 years of candy will be super exciting.
Oli Le Lievre 49:14
And watch this space. So one final question, you get the chance, and I'm just gonna say, You 10 Students anyway. Yeah. So they're all watching anyway. Yeah. If you had the chance to chat to your 10 students about let's just agriculture, rural Australia, what would you say to them about the opportunities?
Speaker 1 49:27
I would say that there is no job that you can do in a Sydney Melbourne or Brisbane that you can't do in the regions there is any career that you want can happen in regional Australia. And the diversity that you would have working in that role is is really great. That living regionally and working in agriculture should be seen as a Korea and a really profitable Korea. You know, crudely, you can make a lot of money working and living in the regions and I think that's something that we need to be able to explore. And I think the last thing What I would say to them is, if you try before you buy, you know, ask your networks use your networks, people are far more generous than anybody's ever led to believe that networks will help you with anything that you want. You just got to ask,
Oli Le Lievre 50:16
on top of asking, is there anything that you're curious or wondering at the moment that you would love to throw it to the humans of our community? And see what comes back?
Speaker 1 50:24
Yeah. Okay, are you ready for another hour? No, I promise I won't ask for an hour. So there's a couple of things for me, I, I am really curious around hearing from people who have, you know, who want to help broadly promote businesses in the bush? So that piece of what does it take to run a successful business? I would be really keen to hear from people about that. And I mean, in light of the recent conversations that we've had, and your experience here, how do we handle some of the negative issues that we have in our community? So your experience with crime at three o'clock this morning? How do we in our regional and rural communities? How do we work on some of those challenges? And some of those situations, and at the same time, keep promoting our communities? Right, so so that we, there's that balance for me at the moment around? We can't just say, Oh, no, come to Ghana, we need to most awesome place. Actually, chances are, you might lose a car, or your door might get that's a real thing at the library. That is a real thing at the moment. And so how do we not be so Pollyanna and unblinded about all of the goodness and still manage that? So I, my question is in a very badly constructed way, my question is, how other communities might have managed that or balance that? And and again, how other small communities might be dealing with some of the challenges that they've got in their communities? And what could we learn from that as a candle in the region?
Oli Le Lievre 51:57
Well, I think we're really interested. And I think it's part of the conversations, which I think it's like, acknowledging the bruises that different areas have and go like, well, this is the reality of it. And I think it's, but then it's saying, well, we want to make it better, and how do we make it better? And make it a bump in the road as opposed to just a roadblock?
Speaker 1 52:15
Yeah, yeah, that's right. And I think, you know, this is not a quick fix, right. And I think it's not as easy as some might be, you know, some might talk about it. And we have our own challenges here as across border town, and all of the things that we spoke about before, but I am really keen to see and hear about how other communities have been able to manage it, or deal with it or not deal with it. So we don't, you know, make the same mistakes that other communities have. I genuinely think that the crime and some of the challenges that we're seeing in community are a symptom of some much bigger issues. And and how do we genuinely make sure that everybody feels connected to place, I think, you know, if people feel a connection, and, and a love of place and loved by a place that might help solve some of those problems. That's a long term fix, because we've ended up here after a lot of other challenges. Yeah. Well,
Oli Le Lievre 53:15
we'll see what comes back from that. But just thank you so much for sitting down. It's been a little while in the making. I reckon we'll be back for more. Ah,
Speaker 1 53:23
I'm so excited about what you're doing, Ali. And I know lots of people say this at the end of the podcast, but you know, kudos to you and your team that you now have. This is part of this is part of how we are going to get good, positive, intelligent conversation out into the mainstream is the work that you're doing and that other people are doing. But yeah, thanks for having me.
Oli Le Lievre 53:44
Thank you. Well, that's it for another episode from us here at humans of agriculture. We hope you're enjoying these podcasts. And if you're not, let us know hit us up at how humans of agriculture.com Get in touch with any guests recommendations topics, or things you'd like us to talk and get curious about. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend. Right subscribe, review it, any feedback is absolutely awesome. And we really do welcome it. So look after yourselves. Stay safe, stay sane. We'll see you next time.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai