FULL SHOW 6th MARCH 2026

0:00Good morning and welcome to Rural Queen's Land Today on Friday morning, a very good morning to everybody listening to us across the Resonate Broadcast Network through 4SB in Kinga Roy. 4ZR in Roma, 4VL in Charleville, 4H Iron Emerald, 4LM Mount Isle, 4LG Longreach, 4GC Charters Towers, and the Hot Country Network. Good morning to you. Well, a lot to get through this morning. Senator Susan McDonnell will join us. Jim Wilmot, property rights Australia will check in. We're going to have a look at a fundraiser taking place in Julia Creek and Hewarden for flood-affected victims and also have a look at how Emerald Sar went along with some of these freedom of voice and freedom of speech laws that are coming in are really concerning. So much to get through on this busy Friday, a very good morning to everybody through 4SB in Kinga Roy, 4ZR in Roma, 4VL in Charleville, 4H Iron Emerald, 4LM Mount Isle, 4LG Longreach, 4GC Charters Towers, and the Hot Country Network. Good morning to you. Look, if you're a Melbourne storm fan,

1:02did we have any doubt? They did a very, very, very nice job last night. I think it was 52 points to 4R over Paramata, and every Paramata fan is crying in their week weeks this morning, just unbelievable. They were flogged, humiliated, you name it. It was just a brutal, brutal killing. We always start on a Friday morning. Senator Susan McDonnell joining us. This is Rural Queen's Land Today with Ben Dobin, and you are across the Resonate Broadcast Network on Friday morning, the 6th of March. Friday morning, Rural Queen's Land Today, you're with Ben Dobin across the Resonate Broadcast Network. It is the 6th of March. Can you believe that the 6th of March? And we have a lot going on in our country and around the world. Senator Susan McDonnell, who's been a regular on this show since I can remember, she joins me. We didn't get to a last week because we didn't have a show, but she joins me this morning on Rural Queen's Land Today. Great to hear your voice, Senator, and thanks so much for being with us. Thank you, Ben. I'm looking forward to hearing all the news from football in Las Vegas,

2:03and note out you've heard all about the flooding and everything that's happening over here. Yeah, we spoke with John Speed yesterday on the show from Tabamore, and look, the rain in Northern Australia. I mean, have you done your three-week suspension has it been lifted to you back in the right position now? Are you right now? I am. I am. The moment I think Tyler became the new leader, he lifted it and he said, you're back. Okay. Well, Northern Australia is getting drenched. Look, look, the flooding of Baduri, and look, the work that's going on with the levee banks in the water there, the long-term gain is unbelievable, but gee, there's some devastation going around, but Jesus some water going through Northern Australia at the moment. Yeah, it'll be interesting at the end of this wet to go back, and I always remember the seventies as my point where it just would not stop raining all year. There was so much water around. Of course, we had the 1974 floods, 1978 cyclone tared. There was so much moisture around

3:12to see if this is comparable, but it is extraordinary. And you're right, the pictures of Tabamore, the impacts on those small western towns and into the territory, and of course, rip into the the goals and what's happened at four sites. And, you know, I mean, just huge water. And, you know, everybody's in my thoughts because now, it's been part of the parliamentary wing is we have to make sure that we are helping people get back on their feet, reestablish, get going again for a whole lot of reasons. It's not only because they grow the food of the nation, but they sustain these important regional towns on our northern front lines. Our defensive capability is made up by the backbone of the Northern Australia. And of course, for mental health and all those reasons, the more that we get the right support in place early means these communities not just get back on their feet, but they start running

4:14again, supporting all the jobs right, a quick round Australia that supports Red Meat. It's so important that we have that. It's so important we have that. And we need to look at that. I'm going to start with what's going on around the world with Iran. And the effects it has on Australian fuel. That's the first thing oil prices. The scare mongering that's going on and the price gouging that's already taken place is very concerning in my opinion. How serious is our fuel supply in your opinion with what is going on in the world stage at the moment? Well, it is serious. We import about 90% of our fuel. And that's because we use to produce so much oil in this country. We use to produce it from the best rate mostly. And as those fields have declined, thanks to anti oil activists, anti oil and gas activists,

5:19we've stopped supporting and encouraging the big projects that would bring on more oil and gas to this country and secure our future. The Canadian Prime Minister was here yesterday, Ben. He spoke to the joint sitting of parliament. And he talked about how important it was that a nation be able to feed itself, fuel itself and defend itself. The three points that I could not agree with more. And so in fueling ourselves, we need to be thinking about where are we going to be extracting more oil to be doing the refining in this country? In the 1960s, we used to have subsidies and incentive for companies to go out and drill. You know, I wonder if we need to get back to that point so that we can reduce our reliance on overseas fuel. But right now today, the Straits of Hamas limited blockades to full blockades, it's going to be a constant management of having US escorts ships through there to make sure that the oil gets from the

6:27Middle East around to Singapore and India, those countries that do the refining. And then, of course, back down to Australia for us. For so many reasons, whether it be fuel into trucks and graders and mining gear, we are already seeing fuel being being limited and being managed, but in its distribution. We're seeing domestic retail houses with people, you know, you can't buy a jerry can in towns where people are worried. We may be able to manage all of this. If the ward doesn't go on too long, if the ships keep coming, but the government needs to be telling people that they have a plan. This is what the plan is. But at the moment, all that they'll say is that there's no worry. And that is, of course, not true. Fuel prices are already up 10 cents a liter

7:29for petrol. Diesel is being rationed and we know that the Brent oil price is already up to $80 US a barrel. It's expected to go as high as $100 to $120 US a barrel. That will affect not just fuel prices. It's roughly one cent for every US dollar that the price goes up at our bousers. And it'll also inflict effect inflation, which is not just fuel prices, but it's also food prices. Every single thing we do in this country, so should we be rationing our fuel? Well, I think we need to be pacing it, but this is. Why won't that do that then? I have no idea, Ben. Yesterday, I suspended the Senate to try and have this discussion, to have this debate, to talk about places in North Queensland where this is already happening, because distributors are having to do it for what the government. But they won't discuss it.

8:33They won't talk about it. And so what does that do? It leads to more uncertainty, and people not feeling confident that there is a plan. And I think it's because Labor doesn't have a plan. Yeah, that's the real area that I think they don't have a plan. Mate, how have we let? And I don't want to get too bogged down. And these ISIS brides back into our country. I can't believe after what happened in Bondi, after our country being brought towards these by an act of terrorism, that we would allow these brides to come back, who openly fleed our country to join ISIS. And then now, they claim to be rehabilitated. And we just say, hey, welcome back. Welcome back. You can come back into our country. You deserve it is. You tried to absolutely attack us, but no, you're allowed to come back. So I have very strong views on this, if you leave Australia to be a part of a war and fight and support people who are fighting against

9:39Australia and Australians, then you'd negate your right in my mind. And these women who've been in the camp, some have already been assessed as not being suitable for coming back to this country because they are extremists. There are others who the children have now grown into adult. And I am not confident that there has been a proper assessment done that we understand what their views are. We have no clarity around what sort of supervision would happen in Australia. Remember that there's two groups that Labor has already brought back. There are two smaller groups that have come back. This is, we know that the IRGC has been putting operatives into Australia. This is incredibly dangerous. We have been warned about it. And the government seems to

10:40through Tony Burke. We've lost all faith in Tony Burke. Absolutely. He is now the laughing stock around the world with just how he's, I know America are an extreme level, but like no other country is like him at the moment. No, I think he is, we are, we're putting question marks over Australians, security and safety here in this country when we don't have strong, tight borders and we don't talk about what sort of security mechanisms are in place and pretend that there is no risk. There is risk. There is huge risk. And so we will be prosecuting that again about you have to level up with Australians and tell them what plan again, what plan do you have in place to make sure that these people don't come back to Australia. And if you are crazy enough to allow

11:40it to happen, then what mechanisms will be in place to supervise them, to ensure that they are rehabilitated, that they're not going to be meeting with other activists that have come in from Iran or other places in the world and seek to do Australia harm. Yeah, crazy, crazy, crazy. We appreciate your time. I know you've had a big week when we were great to have you back on the show. Have a good weekend. We'll talk to you again next week, a lot going on around the world. We just hope everybody remains safe and that this can, this conflict can get resolved and we can all move on. Because it's not good for the world to be in war and crisis and at the moment, there's a lot of angst, but we really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks, Ben. On a positive note, we're celebrating International Women's Day in Townsville tomorrow with Janine Fegen, the mayor of Julie Creek, the guest speaker and a whole lot of the other wonderful North Queensland mayors will be coming to to give their views about how their communities have managed

12:45flood this wet season and and just to to celebrate all the great women and there'll be a lot of great men there as well, Ben. Try and control Kate Petal. She's the warrior in all that. Have a good one. It's a very, very, very, very important day tomorrow. Appreciate your time. Thanks so much for being with us. Thank you, Ben. Senator Susan McDonnell, this is Rural Queensland today. Welcome back to Rural Queensland today on the Resonate Broadcast Network. That meeting last week in Cumbia, the community meeting was just quite unbelievable and I want to congratulate what was a extremely impressive article written in the Queensland Country Life by Bella Hanson and this is off the back of the standing room, only meeting that took place at Cumbia Hall. Now we spoke to the mayor last week but Jim Wilmot, who's been a regular on this show, is the Vice President of Property Rights Australia. He joins me this morning and to talk through

13:46this renewable fiasco that is going on in their neck of the woods. Jim, good morning and thank you so much for being with us. Morning, do I look good to be here? Mate, firstly, standing room, only meeting. We thought it would go that way with residents demanding the Queensland Government call in all projects until this setback and enforceable decommissioning rules are written into the law. Now I want to start by saying that that meeting with Cathy Duff with more than a hundred people there was delivered respectfully. Yes, people are angry, over noise, over bicycury risks, over damage, over water security, over setbacks, over safety concerns, decommissioning, but it was a very positive meeting. Look, it was like standing room only, only double, and well, we had people from outside the region too. Like you said, people from Wombo came over, but also as far as Melbourne. People were respectful. I just think people

14:49were scared and I think with what's happened at Wombo and in a few other areas and just in regards to wind farms, so people were scared that they haven't got enough protection and that there really is policy gaps that still need to be plugged. People want these projects stop and making sure that these protections are turned up in place before these projects get approved and carry on. So what was the big thing and can I understand the decommissioning and we've seen the Attorney General in a time saying that it was going to get written in and Bryson heads also prior, as said, that there's been some changes, but we haven't seen anything. Is the setbacks for noise from a resident and the decommissioning the biggest factors? I mean, there are one of the biggest factors and the other thing that came up was the impact on groundwater. So and there were experiences there with the amount of water used in the turbine

15:56bases at Wombo and people and for dust depressions. So people are really I guess concerned that with limited groundwater in that area of Toronto West, West of King Arroy, where these companies are going to source the water from the build the bases and produce depression. And people, I did see a few comments on the Queensland Country life story. Well, you know, it's just a drop in the ocean, the amount of water used, but you've got to remember that these giant wind turbine bases, there's enough concrete in there to build 800 house foundations in each base. So look, look, there's nearly a roughly 100 turbines in Toronto West. And so, you know, that's 80,000 owns equivalent foundation bases. So that's a lot of water and reds and the people there, but they couldn't answer where they were going to get the water from. And people and farmers from

16:59the local area, they survive on that groundwater. And when you look at the Winco 23, there is nothing in there about the protection of groundwater. So that was a new issue. That's the continue things. Every time you peel the onion back, there's another layer to this. Now, we haven't mentioned groundwater at all, but they've got to do that. We've talked about a lot and I've been big on this and you've been a big part of this. The 1.5 setback from a dwelling and the noise. And we know fundamentally at Wombo that that's an issue. Now, Tara wind farms, I'm speaking to Kieran Cook, he said, listen, we want three kilometres. Absolutely. And we've also got the air strip situation where, you know, we've got planes and are very, very concerned about landing with that with that ability as well. But the decommissioning to me and the guarantees is the biggest issue now, because unless the government is prepared to give us that written guarantee, surely these can't go

18:02ahead. Agreed. And that kept on coming. I stopped and talked to people afterwards and still the decommissioning was the biggest issue because you've just got to look at Premier Men's in New South Wales on a different state. His comments about a recent solar farm that went belly up and when asked who was going to be responsible for the cleanup, well, he said the land owner, the owner of the land. And this is similar here where wind farms are tied to the owner of the land for the cleanup. And it's an interesting fact. I've been doing a bit of research when you look at offshore wind farms and the legislation around that that really enforces proponents owners to actually put security up front. So this legislation, it's called the Offshore Electrical Infrastructure Act 2021. And what that does is states that

19:04security must be up front. And also, and this is a really good part of that act, is saying, well, when they come up with the amount of decommissioning that the company puts forward, they've got to explain how they came to that bigger job. And then it's regularly updated over the life of that program. And that's what we want. If you can do it for offshore wind farms, you can do it for onshore wind farms. So, you know, just get on with it. And this is what people are asking for. So were there any politicians in the room? Was Dev Frecklington there? Was Bryson head present? Was Jared Blay present at all? No, there was no state politicians there only, Kathy Duff and the Councillors, that did a good job. But as we know, now all this sits with the state government. And it was very disappointing not to see them there, or any of

20:06their staff there. So, and people, I saw that as well. A lot of people asked, where was Dev Frecklington? This is very area. This is what's going on. And where is Bryson head? So I think Dev Frecklington did right to a number of people expressing the changes. And so, as Bryson head, expressing the changes that their government has brought in for the wind code. No question. I've seen those leaders. I've seen those letters she definitely has. And I've spoken to Dev recently about this, but they need to be present at this. This is a huge issue that is affecting their electorate. They absolutely need to be at those meetings. Well, look, there was people from Black, but they're saying, well, we want to be meeting down there. There's a solid farm down there that's been approved. They've got concerns. And I tell you what else that came out, Dobbo, that people are concerned, well, how many renewable projects are going to be approved in this region?

21:06Just in the South Burnett alone, like, what's the trigger? How many is enough? People don't want to build out. They realize our balance and energy mix is necessary. But just how many battery packs, how many solar farms, how many wind farms are going to be allowed to be built in the South Burnett area to change, that will eventually change the whole character of the area. Unbelieveable, unbelievable. It is just crazy. What is property rights Australia and this group? What's the next step for you? Like, you had that meeting? Is there a follow-up? Can you petition the government? Where is the next step? Well, I know Council is looking at holding other meetings in regards to renewables across the region. And people were saying that, well, we should have a main meeting in King Arroy to discuss this and actually get the politicians there to explain the detail.

22:09Because if you look at the letters sent to them, people say, there's no detail there. So we want more detail. We want to meet with the politicians. The people that make their decisions and say, hey, there are still major policy gaps, planning gaps in the current procedures in the current code that dictates what these wind farms, battery packs, and solar farms that need to have in place. So I think generally people just want to meet with the politicians out in the regions where these impacts are being felt and where people have concerns. And I think there's a growing movement of people that really want to hold those politicians to account because they feel that the politicians aren't listening to them. Yeah, and I agree with them. We really appreciate your time this morning, Jim. That needs to happen sooner rather than later. Thanks so much for being

23:10with us. Well, they're going to be able to handsen for that article in the country life that really gave everybody a real good look and insight on what's going on because it's coming to a stormy EU. Make no mistakes about that. Thanks for being with us this morning. Thanks, Tom. Good on you. We're going to take a break. Come back to Rural Queensland today. Welcome back to Rural Queensland today. Just an update on the Emerald store and Prime sale yesterday. All thanks to RBV Rural. Emerald combined agents yarded 1,600 header cattle in a mixed quality offering with the majority of cattle presented in prime condition. This supported the prime market which held firm to slightly dearer and some isolated stale standing out in the cow sector. So the cow job has been rolling along very well all week across Queensland. Secondary type C slightly as it was evident that the weight was being rewarded. The store section comprised of a very mixed quality yarding experience general softening largely due to the quality,

24:10despite large buying battles being there. In the prime section, Bullocks over 550 sold the 460 to average 443 cents per kilo. Steers 500 to 550 made to 484 to average 447 cents per kilo. Heavy heppers over 400 made 445 cents per kilo to average 413 and heavy cows over 520 topped the 399 to average 378 cows lighter cows 450 to 520 made as much as 385 to average 371. While the bull market was very strong, 600 kilo bulls sold the 413. In the store section, heavy feeders 400 to 500 made 496 to average 455, 350 to 400. Steers top 530 to average 428, 280 to 350 kilo steers made as much as 530 cents per kilo to average 479, 200 to 280 kg winnest years reached to 548 to average 484. There was no steers under 200 equate on trade heppers. Sold the 415 to average 392.

25:17A lot of heppers around that 430 to average 393. Weiner heppers 200 to 280 made as much as 423 but average 395. Some of the sale highlight lights, charmer's family, Janet Rice, Capella Rockman and sold a run of drought master cross Bullocks that reached 446 weighing 615 kilos, $2,700 per head to really good result. Gordon family, Bernmitte as Emerald, sold young brangous cows to top of 399, averaging 575 kgs, that's $2,295, almost $2,300 a cow. Great result, great result and a lot to like about that. Look, the prime job very, very dear. They will have a prime and store sale next week and obviously Emerald Auction Centre, Relocatable House Auction on the 23rd to the 26th of this month and there's a lot. Now, just for people wanting to know when their weiner steers take place, 5th of May is their first one,

26:21so not far away but there is obviously still some time there. That was RBV Rural, Maddie Beard, Terry Ray and Co. This is Rural Queensland today. It's been a strong week in the prime job, the store job, just a fraction softer this week but we roll around the next week. This is Rural Queensland today. We'll come back with plenty more across the Resonate Broadcast Network. Rural Queensland today, Ben Dober with you this morning and look, the Tobier land grab from the Bigamble people has really, it's probably going on a little quiet at the moment because of the legal action that has been taking place against Michael Offordau and obviously there's a lot going on in that place and a power has been on the show before and she's completely frustrated with the whole situation. She's been very passionate about a community and what they need and what has been going on in that part of the world. She joins me this morning on Rural Queensland today. Good morning and how are you? Hi, Ben. I'm really good. I'm coming to you from Sandtop where the Appling Great Festival

27:27is happening at the moment and I highly recommend going. Yeah. If anyone's interested, finishes up this weekend. Big festival this weekend as well. Disappointing would be an understatement I suspect for how you're feeling at the moment. Well, Ben at 16 months after since I talked to you last, I think they've only got worse. I think they've actually only got worse the entire country and Tobier to me is an example of everything that's happening in this country. I did tell Michael Offordau who has settled with defamation case with Lawrence Springborg to be very careful about what he says publicly and the actions he takes, the reason being. It's been in the news a lot lately. These hate speech laws that keep getting strengthened. The LNP actually strengthened them at the beginning of this year. Obviously that's not defamation but defamation, vilification laws. They're all about I think shutting people up who speak truth

28:29power. I'm really happy that you've given me the opportunity to have another say on this matter because it is actually really hard for people like me to get any media. I appreciate that, Ben. What's the truth in your opinion? I've said everything that Michael has said. I will say everything I'm saying today is my opinion. If I say it's my opinion, if I say I alleged, that means that I can't be sued for defamation. Lawrence can sue me for defamation. I will win because I will stand by everything I've ever said. I've listened to the interview I had with you October 24 and I stand by everything I said. Ben and what I said was pretty much what Michael Offerdale has said. I just said it in a different way. Just a few facts I'd like to point out, Ben, is that the Spring Borgs and Bing and Bull go back to 2009 when their first

29:30native title claim was rejected. When a native title claim is put in, people who are affected by the claim can actually be joined as claimants. The Spring Borgs have a 28,000 acre lease hold wet, called Wetstone, that joins their property. They are actually on the first native title claim and probably giving reasons for it not to go ahead. That's in a federal search. Once again, I have all the paperwork like last time in front of me. That was rejected, but the Bing and Bull kept going. Russell Doctor, who was one of the instacators, was removed. I've talked to him personally. He's not happy about how he was removed. He has misappropriated funds, but that's a whole other story. Justin Saunders came along. By 2017, they got a 17,134 square kilometre area of Crownland, which Wetstone, which is the Spring Borgs lease hold, was part of. That was

30:31declared Big and Bull Country, which when native title originally came about, it was supposed to be just for cultural activities. It sent more to commercial agreements, so we have Indigenous Land Use Agreement. It literally says the native title is for cultural activities, but somehow over the years this has changed. Now, these IELUAs have to be done. If you have a forestry lease or a pastoral lease or the government wants to put the inland rail through, they actually have to do a confidential commercial agreement with the native title corporation, or if the native title has not been settled, they have to actually do it with acclaimant. It's gone from this cultural activity to actually a commercial use of one's Crown Land, which makes it very complicated, because it leaves renewables companies. Anyone who wants to use one's Crown Land now has to

31:35negotiate a commercial agreement with whoever the native title. So it's very interesting that Lawrence also had broken River Hydro and a wetstone solar. So his whole defamation was around Michael and this wetstone solar deal, but the fact of the matter and once again, I have it in front of me, is that wetstone solar farm, Lawrence, it was a director of and a past director was Peter Burstland, both those people mentioned in the post-Michael put up and he actually took it straight down when he received the legal letter, but he didn't do the other things that the lawyer asked of him. You can talk to him about that. But anyway, it's very interesting that these renewables have been coming along. They're all subsidised by our taxes. Obviously, politicians are privy, and remember, this is my opinion. A privy to a lot of information that we don't have,

32:36the regular, Australian taxpayer doesn't have. So it's interesting how a lot of these politicians, and I'm talking about a lot of politicians seem to have financial interest in things that like we didn't know were coming. So, broken river Hydro, wetstone solar, Lawrence now has gallowate energy. I don't know what that is, but it's a registered company. He's actually deregistered broken river Hydro and wetstone solar since the Tobia stuff kicked off. So I find that very interesting. He was also taking money from cornerstone government relations, which is actually a company that uses expoliticians and ex-government people to basically get insider information to sell on to people so they can get better deals or connections into the government. Is that a

33:40complex of interest when you are being paid by the tax payer to represent our region? Actually, this is what cornerstone, you can look them up, go in front of me, what we deliver, clear strategy delivered after consultation with our preparation back by experience. Access with purpose, relationships with relationship dealing with ministers, advisors, senior officials, industry bodies, interest groups, policy influence, position development, submission drafting, targeted legislative engagement, reputation and trust issue preparedness messages to discipline and credibility with key stakeholders, leadership positioning, thought leadership and targeted communications to establish authority in your field. I mean, I alleged that's a direct conflict of interest. And if you look at cornerstone government relations, they literally have expoliticians that lines isn't an expolitician, he still is. How frustrated are you? This is a man who is taking out Michael Offerdale, who, as I said, I didn't approve of what some

34:47of the things he did and I told him and I told him again yesterday, but he is a very small fish in a big sea of people with power and influence. And the fact of the matter is you speak up to these people, they come for you. I've been come for. I sent two letters to the council saying cease and deceased because they were defaming me and I'll put a lawyer on to them, but they've got all my money and all the time in the world to fight, you know, to fight, they didn't fight me because they know I'd win, but, you know, if they did, probably not their money they're using, but our rate pay a money and our state, whatever money they're taking at the time. So yes, I am frustrated then. Can, can Lawrence Springborg, and I like Lawrence Springborg, when you say these allegations, these are alleged, as I say, in your opinion, but can he be held to account for what you're, you're, you're alleging. Well, I don't know how. I mean, you try, you ring the

35:52triple C, you get an extra machine and they say, don't abuse us. I'm wondering why they're getting abuse, maybe it's because nothing ever happens. I mean, you know, the obvious, the obvious, sorry, hard word to say, when a complaint goes to them, they literally just ring up the people that are being complained about and ask them. I mean, and also, like, if you want to talk again about the liquor accord that was running illegal group bans and they'll be delivered by the police station, by the sergeant and the deputy mayor of our town, who, you know, has a long relationships with Lawrence Springborg, who you like. I emailed the council because on the rules that they gave us, it said that the council was supposed to take the minutes. Well, I got a complete denial, I got words valid. The deputy mayor's involved. Lawrence has never once responded to one of my emails

36:52then. In two years, not once has he responded to my emails. Not once has he rung me and said, Anna, you know, you've got a great business trying to do the right thing in our community. You've volunteered. How can I help you, Anna? Not once, Ben. Not once. And yet we pay and he was, he ran uncontested, so I didn't elect Lawrence Springborg. But, you know, we pay for these people to serve us. And I'm sorry, I'm not sure how after all these years, you can say that's happening. I mean, not council, state, federal, have we had any help from our elected members? None. I just hope this can get, and I hope that this doesn't break Michael off at Albert Jesus a lot, there's a lot to this. There is a lot to it. We appreciate it. As I said at the beginning, Ben, the truth is complicated lies that is to tell. And as I said to Michael yesterday, you know what would have stopped all this if we'd never had a partite in our country.

37:57If we had never privileged people based on their ancestry and identity, it's destroying the country, it will continue to destroy the country. Thanks for being with us this morning. Anna power, I can hear the frustration in your voice. Thank you so much for being with us. Thank you very much for your time, Ben. I appreciate it. Good on you. We're going to take a break, come back plenty more to get through. This is Rural Queensland today. Welcome back to Rural Queensland today. Ben Doblin with you this morning. And on the 18th of March, the rapid relief team is putting an event for farmers impacted by the floods in Northwest Queensland. And they need farmers and grazes to register. Livestock producers who registered a come along will get a bag or more depending on their livestock of XLR8 pellets. And it's a great chance, obviously, to get off the farm, have a barbecue, talk to others. There's a lot going on there at the moment. A lot of water being pushed around. Mick Dunn joins me this morning. And the rapid relief team is

38:59keen to try and get these registration numbers happening. Mick, good morning. Thank you so much for being with us. Thanks for having us on, Ben. This is a really great initiative. And so important, trying to get farmers, though, who have been devastated, to come force to Julia Creek to connect. I mean, you want to do 201 ton bulk of bags of cuddle pellets. If farmers register, it's important to try and get the message out there that they actually, it's okay, you can come forth, you can say you need help, it's available. Yeah, that's right, Ben. Farmers community connect is really about bringing together people who love to help farmers, with farmers who need help. There's a lot of it goes on across Australia. Lastly, we're in Victoria, just to being a fencing water. People have lost their fences to the fire impacts there. And we know that farmers don't need to look at this as a hand out. It's a hand up. It's something to help them and support them in their road to recovery. This is just 37th vet for RRT and these farmers community connect. And

40:08Julia Creek has been a melting pot and there's obviously more water going through there at the moment and a lot of rain in northern Australia. How are the people on the ground like you just talked about Victoria and the tragedies of the bushfires? Like when they're there and just to give people an idea how devastated are they and how long was the recovery? Yeah, look, it's a long road, it's an overwhelming road. And really that's what this is about to make a tangible donation of something that'll make a difference. We can't fix their problem, obviously. I had a woman say to me yesterday, look just knowing that the support is coming, means I can get up tomorrow morning and keep going. So we do understand it's tough mentally. And that's what we're saying to farmers, just come out and have a good morning out. You'll go away feeling a lot better and you'll have some good quality pellets for your calves. We came to Julia Creek about six weeks ago just to see ourselves. The situation there and we found not just crazy as shopkeepers, everybody's kind of feeling the effect in their own way and

41:08people are very resilient in rural communities. But there's just a sort of underlying sense that people are getting to the end of their tariff. Farmers will never wish the rain away, but you've had a lot of it. So yeah, hopefully this is some good support in very timely. rrtglobal.org is the website. This is a charity and it's obviously rrt support front line workers and emergency services by providing food donations to other resources. But they will be a Macintyre park via the Julia Creek corner in a road between seven a.m. and 12 p.m. on Wednesday, the 18th of March. Now grazes and livestock producers can register go to rrtglobal.org. It's all there for more information and this is their 37th farmer community connect event and it's a hand up not a handout. And that's the big thing. People it's not, you know, no one's judging you. This is actually to help to make a difference. And you've got 200 one ton bulk of bags of

42:14cattle pellets to register farmers. That goes a long way to help calves. And obviously, you know, people, but you need to register. So if you're there and you're a bit concerned, what Barbie going on as well, Mick, my suspect. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Coffee and coffee and burgers are great for conversation and just want to grow the community together as well. Yeah. Appreciate the call to register. No one's going to miss out. No one's going to miss out. The rapid relief team encouraging farmers impacted by the devastating summer floods will be in Julia Creek on Wednesday, the 18th of March. They'll distribute 201 ton bulk of bags of cattle pellets to the registered farmers. But the as Mick, Mick done the general manager rrtg said, you have to register. That's the big thing. No one's going to miss out, but you have to register. And there's a lot of cattle being lost rrtglobal.org.au. You thank you for doing this. You'll be there from 7 a.m. to 12 a.m. We appreciate your time. Thanks so much for being with us.

43:17Good on you, Mick done. What a great thing. That's in Julia Creek on the 18th of March. We'll make sure we promote that and very important. Mrs Rural Queensland today. Well, that's it from us here this morning at Rural Queensland today for the 6th of March. A Friday morning across Rural Queensland today. Best of luck to the Brisbane Lions tomorrow night. The dolphins on Sunday, the Queensland Reds over the weekend and the Broncos tonight. Titan's also taking a lot of sport going on around this country. Winter sport is back, which is a great thing. Have a great day. We'll be back on Monday morning. The best of is on tomorrow morning, but Jason Matt is to join you next to take you through from 10 o'clock all the way through till lunchtime. Stay safe on the roads. Remember when the weed is ripe, keep the headers rolling in the paddock. We'll see you again on Monday morning for Rural Queensland today across the Resonate Broadcast Network. See you later.