Milk Road podcast

Glynn Williams is a fifth-generation farmer, barrister and solicitor in Central Coast. 

In this conversation, Glynn talks about growing up in a dairy-farming family, the ups and downs of Tasmanian agriculture, what it takes to stay on the land and why he’s running for mayor. 

He also talks about council rates, farm costs, food sovereignty, data centres, and free trade versus fair trade.

Recorded on Friday 23 October 2026.

Aaron Wilton is running for a seat on Central Coast Council. He talks about why, how it fits his goal for a life of service, and that he’s been doing community work since his teens, from the Navy Cadets to youth programs, not-for-profits and the army signals corps. He also shares what he’d push for if elected: a dedicated youth centre for Ulverstone, better public spaces along the coast, and a council that tells people about deferred projects and bad news as readily as good news.

They also cover:

• What Aaron has found while campaigning, including that small businesses are mostly happy with council and the real gripe is communication.

• What a council can and can’t do about the Wesley Vale data centre, and why he thinks the planning scheme isn’t fit for purpose.

• Why he sent a right-to-information request to Tasmania Police about local policing numbers, and what he found.

• How he’s learning from farmers, including the pressure on potato growers.

• Adam’s idea that when residents ask AI to solve their problems instead of their local community, then that can create something important and new: Information Trade Deficits.

• Aaron's email is: [email protected]

Cheryl talks algorithms, exhaustion, and why she thinks pride is infectious.

We recorded this in the middle of the local government election, so Cheryl is speaking as a candidate and as herself, not as a council spokesperson.

Cheryl Fuller has been Mayor of Central Coast about four years.

She grew up in Ulverstone in the 1980s, when the ambition of her whole friendship group was to get out as fast as possible.

Outside of Tasmania, she built a career in logistics on the mainland and then came home.

We start where we met: a Devonport Chamber breakfast on red tape, where a local business owner explained that her sparkies fill in forms in triplicate, by hand, from books of 25, available only two at a time from Service Tasmania.

Cheryl's head, by her own account, just about exploded. Her question to the room was why the state wasn't using the AI tools some councils are already using.

Our conversation opens into something bigger: her view that state and local government "don't take enough opportunity to actually learn from each other and problem solve together" in a very small state.

We also get into what the current economic development strategy is actually for (measurement, not marketing), why Central Coast is the home of the glass and a half of full cream dairy milk and almost nobody knows it, the $106 million of agriculture tucked away in the hinterland behind the Bass Highway, why she has no interest in a Bunnings, and her completely unverified claim — unchallenged for four years — that Central Coast has more volunteers per capita than anywhere else in Tasmania.

Near the end, Cheryl describes a young man at the recent candidates' night asking each candidate in the room why people his age feel disconnected from government.

Her advice for anyone with a problem, a dream, or a business idea:

Don't get crabby. Get helpful.

Tasmanian farmers sell into a market with very few buyers, which is a weak position to negotiate from.

Dr Mark Cooksey runs ABx Group, exploring for rare earths in northern Tasmania — some of it under farmland he would like access to.

That's a trade.

This conversation is about what a fair version looks like.

Mark is direct about what farmers might fear: damage to land, losing access to it, groundwater.

He explains why he thinks mining could leave some land better than before mining.

Whether the trade is worth making is the farmer's call.

Contact Information:

Dr Mark Cooksey

Managing Director and CEO

ABx Group Limited

+61 447 201 536

[email protected]

www.abxgroup.com.au

Every private-sector employee in Tasmania receives eleven legal public holidays each year.

In Central Coast, they receive just ten.

And the strange thing is: nobody actually decided to take that day away.

When the federal Fair Work Act replaced Tasmania’s state awards in 2009, the Show Day entitlement that had existed in those awards for generations quietly disappeared.

The Statutory Holidays Act 2000 had never listed Central Coast because the awards already provided for the day.The result was a circular gap in the law — and a public holiday that simply disappeared by accident.

Seventeen years later, Hon Casey Hiscutt MLC, Independent Member for Montgomery, is trying to put it right.

In this episode, Casey takes us through the full history, from the 1919 Bank Holidays Act, to the 2000 Hansard debate where legislators explicitly said existing entitlements would not change, and ultimately to how that promise unravelled.

He discusses polling of 500 Central Coast residents, explains why his proposed amendment would restore a flexible, locally agreed day rather than impose a fixed date, and openly addresses the one legitimate argument against restoring the holiday.

But there’s more to the story than legislation.Casey talks about growing up in a family that has served the Central Coast community for nearly a century, winning his first council election by just 1.84 votes, and what those experiences taught him about politics, numbers and the power of storytelling.

Because sometimes changing the odds starts with telling the story.

The amendment is due to be debated in the Tasmanian Legislative Council in early September 2026.

1,300 new visitors came to Queenstown last year. $840,000 is how much they spent. Why?

Lincoln created a new type of tourist for the Tasmanian tourism industry.

We talk about why, how, and what these high- spend tourists enjoy.

What else should local business owners offer on the journey to their own Tasmanian dreams?

About Trail Ventures

George Elkhair invests his time in board of director roles that tackle youth homelessness, migrant support, and cancer care across Tasmania.

In this conversation, George and Adam explore why people who control the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors must work together, why the best investment a community can make is in people, and the hidden financial cost of staying silent about fairness.

Contact by connecting with George Elkhair via LinkedIn

Paris shares invaluable thoughts, insights, and vision across the board.

Links to content discussed:

Dr. Paris Buttfield-Addison ⁠

Secret Labs

Yarn Spinner

Tas Game Makers

Level Up Tasmania Event

8 Kind of Fun Paper

Everything Is A Story: Journalist Nick Bilton Thinks AI Might End Humanity

www.danrepacholimp.com

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Sign Up Here - www.mrctas.org.au