There's an Elephant in my Paddock!

Renowned Australian rural journalist Peter Lewis asks about a rising level of frustration about existing political representation. What needs to happen to the Australian political landscape to address the big challenges that the bush faces now and that they will face in the short to medium term?

It's a big question but our guests tackle it with fierce passion and intelligence.

A daughter of a Singaporean migrant, author and journalist Gabrielle Chan grew up in Sydney but followed her heart to a rural area to live. Her latest book Rusted Off delves deep into the issues and disgruntlement with rural voters with their political representation.

Vaughn Johnson was the member for Gregory in Western Queensland for 25 years. A staunch National Party member, he sometimes flirted with controversy when towing the party line. He says things will get worse before they get better.

He's also a grazier and not only grew up in the bush, but has lived there ever since.

Dr Kim Houghton is a co- CEO of the Regional Australia Institute.Having worked on regional economic development in Australia for almost 20 years, he has a passion for advocating for people who live in remote and regional Australia. He says politicians and policy makers need to take more risks if they want to reach out to their rural voters.

What measures can be taken to taken to stop people leaving small towns? It's a question that bothers many small communities all over the World, but in this episode of There's an Elephant in my Paddock we shine the spotlight on a small town in Western Queensland has come back from the brink.

Matt Bennetto is a grazier and small business owner in Charters Towers and also chairs AgForce North. He joins our host Nicole Bond to ask the tricky questions about the PR problems in rural Australia and what can be done to keep businesses in the bush.

They are joined by Jane McNamara- the Mayor of the Flinders Shire in North-Western Queensland. She's taken an innovative approach to diversifying industry in the area and it's paying off dividends.

Neil Argent is a Professor of Human Geography at the University of New England. He's done extensive research on understanding the factors and processes that make robust and sustainable rural communities and Ross Maclean is the managing partner of Maclean Partners in North Queensland, who financially advises and services a huge rural and regional client base.

Julia Telford is one of the most influential women in Australia in 2018, according to the Australian Financial Review. She's also the founder of Engage & Create Consulting- working with rural and remote businesses, industry groups and community organisations across Australia.

Her Elephant in the Paddock is about making difficult decisions... and really honing in on exiting the rural industry gracefully.

To talk about- and hopefully answer her question, we've enlisted the expertise of

•Alison Larard- an agribusiness and finance specialist. She's on the board of the Rural FinancialCounselling Service and has recently wrapped up a Nuffield Scholarship

focussing on better business management and succession planning in north

Queensland beef businesses.

•Mark McGovern- visiting fellow at the school of economics and finance at the Queensland University of Technology with substantial experience government, trade and rural industries.

•Dr Lisa Patterson Kane- a psychologist, specialising in regional and remote issues for over a decade.

AgForce's new President Georgie Somerset ponders a question that's been irking her for some time. What hinders rural Australia from finding its voice? Join host Nicole Bond as she engages some brilliant minds in conversation to try and get some answers!

Georgie Somerset is the President of Agforce in Queensland. She is also a cattle grazier and a fierce advocate for remote and regional businesses, women and development.

There's an Elephant in my Paddock host Nicole Bond put Georgie's question to a number of experienced professionals in the hope of finding an answer!

Susan Lyons is an independent strategy consultant who has developed marketing and customer strategies for 15 years. She's worked on some of the country's largest brands while a Director at PwC and previously lead advertising strategies for Australia's most successful and effective advertising agencies CHE Proximity and Clemenger Melbourne.

Sue Francis is a cattle producer from Dorrigo in New South Wales with a far ranging experience in social media and story telling from the paddock!

Chris Earl is a Bendigo-based rural and regional affairs consultant and a former newspaper editor.