Etta Plains Field Day

Approx 70 attendees with a good mix of industry participants from NSW/Southern Qld

Etta Plains Field Day

Dan Korff (NAB Hughenden) and Jamie Walker NAB Business Banking Executive were out at Etta Plains on Thursday for a Field Day hosted by Greg Mason at DAF.

Approx 70 attendees with a good mix of industry participants from NSW/Southern Qld and local graziers interested in their cropping options.

Tour of irrigated and dryland cotton, with commentary throughout the tour from Lucas Findlay

Dryland cotton due to be harvested by 30th June

Etta Plains was purchased by Lucas & Robyn Findlay off of Alistair McClymont in 2019 and has been under development since, being 1,100ha of bank-less irrigation.

10,500ML of storage; and Levee bank around critical infrastructure (fields, homestead and machinery shed complex)

By Dec23 continued development will add an additional 900ha of bank-less irrigation 10,500ML of storage; and Commencement of Housing complex.

Ideal crops for the North West, as the Findlay’s see it are Cotton, Sorghum, Forage sorghum and Corn. Currently working on trials of Sesame

The end game for the development is 8,000ha of bank-less irrigation.

The economic, political and financial context of the Budget

The 2023-24 Budget is framed under the following circumstances:

✓ Near 50-year lows in unemployment

✓ 32-year highs in inflation

✓ High, but declining commodity prices

✓ The highest interest rates in 11 years

✓ An economy that is expected to slow over the coming year, contributing to a rise in unemployment

✓ A Government that wishes to provide extra support to the most vulnerable in society

✓ A Government that is supporting a large increase in minimum wages to protect the lowest paid from real wage declines, given very high inflation

✓ A much faster than expected return to surplus in 2022-23, but building medium-term pressures on the budget from higher interest rates, the stage III tax cuts (from 1 July 2024),
defence spending, the NDIS, health and aged care.

✓ Surging rents and strong population growth

✓ And a political environment where it is still very difficult to make major structural reforms to taxation policy

Ivan Colhoun is Chief Economist, Corporate & Institutional in the Markets division of National Australia Bank.

Ivan Colhoun spoke at the Breakfast.

Ivan has had a long and varied career in Economics. He received a Bachelor of Economics with Honours from the University of Tasmania and commenced his career at the Reserve Bank of Australia. He spent 15 years at Deutsche Bank before following his passion for aviation by joining Qantas as Chief Economist. He has also consulted to SEEK, Virgin Australia and IATA.

CLICK ON IMAGE ( The economic, political and financial context of the Budget )