AUGUST 2025
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four months as well as external dramas with international trade. Sussan Ley FEDERAL OPPOSITION LEADER W ill Sussan Ley be Australia’s answer to Margaret Thatcher or Liz Truss? Taking over the reins of the more of a mountain to climb than either Maggie or Liz had during their tumultuous time in British politics. Like the Iron Lady, Australia’s first female opposition leader has gained her party’s top job at a time when it’s desperately in need of electoral relevance. While the Liberals, and particularly the Nationals, held most of regional Australia at the 2025 election, getting the centre-right message across to suburban Australia has never been more challenging. How does Ley balance the climate concerns of wealthy voters in beachside Sydney and Melbourne while maintaining the Coalition’s hold of rural constituencies angered by the rollout of billions in electricity infrastructure over their farmland? The former aerial stock mustering pilot has some turbulent times ahead. Tony Mahar ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE Liberal Party at its lowest ebb, it’s fair to say the Albury- based MP has
has to strike the right balance between farmer concerns and the ever-growing list of renewable projects that dot the regional Australian landscape. Murray Watt FEDERAL WATER MINISTER Q uick with a quip, Murray
Harris oversees the nation’s largest beef herd of 455,000 cattle across 6.5 million hectares in Queensland and the Northern Territory. The
Marc Drouin PSP INVESTMENTS W ith a total Australian
Watt has held more than his fair share of portfolios since the Albanese government came to power in 2022. Originally balancing
agricultural investment portfolio worth more than $8 billion, Canada’s goliath pension fund PSP Investments is by far the largest
ASX-listed company has total assets of $2.4 billion, including property assets valued at $1.5 billion, including 19-owned cattle stations, four leased stations, two owned feedlots, two owned farms and one leased farm. Harris was appointed AACo CEO in September 2022 after joining the company in 2016. This year AACo posted an operating profit of $58.4 million, up 14 per cent year on year. Its total revenue increased 15 per cent to $387.9 million. The company hasn’t paid a dividend since 2008. Kristina Hermanson NUVEEN NATURAL CAPITAL C onsidered the third-largest assets, Nuveen Natural Capital, backed by the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA- CREF), holds a serious stake in the nation’s farming sector. Born and raised on a dairy farm in the American state of Wisconsin, Kristina Hermanson oversees an Australian agricultural platform that includes 350,000 hectares in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia combined. This includes Nuveen’s 66 Australian farms, of which, 60 are operated under the tenant model, handing the keys of production back to local farm and asset managers. agricultural investor in Australia with $2.5 billion in
agriculture and emergency management, the Queensland senator then shifted to the tricky area of workplace relations. Following Labor’s 2025 victory, the Prime Minister clearly sees the former Brisbane lawyer as something of a troubleshooter, switching his responsibilities yet again from employment to environment and water. Taking over the role from Tanya Plibersek, the Murray-Darling Basin and the issue of water buybacks reinserts Watt into the orbit of agriculture and potentially another tussle with the National Farmers’ Federation.
investor in the nation’s farming sector with assets valued at $12 billion. At the helm is Marc Drouin, who oversees PSP Investments’ Australian agricultural vehicles including cropping giant Altora Ag, which runs 45 properties across 153,000 hectares of Queensland, NSW, and South Australia, plus Australian Food and Fibre which is run by the Robinson family, whose investments include Auscott Limited. PSP also owns Aurora Dairies, which comprises more than 50 farms running 40,000-plus cows to produce 253 million litres of milk, plus major walnut, pecan, macadamia and almond producer Stahmann Webster. Adam Giles S. KIDMAN & CO T he former chief minister
ALSO ...
Natalie Collard Farmers for Climate Action CEO Julie Collins Federal Agriculture Minister Tania Constable Minerals Council of Australia CEO Will Evans Cattle Australia CEO Tracey Hayes Royal Flying Doctor Service chair Tanya Jolly Country Women’s Association (NSW) president Catherine King Federal Regional Development Minister David Littleproud Nationals leader Cathy McGowan Agrifutures chair Jock Laurie Australian Wool Innovation chairman Hamish McIntyre National Farmers’ Federation John McKillop Red Meat Advisory Council chair Fiona Simson World Farmers Organisation vice president Liz Ritchie Regional Australia Institute CEO Georgie Somerset National Farmers’ Federation Andrew McConville Murray Darling Basin Authority CEO
COMMISSIONER A fter more than eight years as National Farmers’ Federation chief executive, Tony Mahar went from the visitor side of the bureaucratic desk to the public service swivel chair. His
of the Northern Territory, Adam Giles now serves as Gina Rinehart’s agricultural lieutenant, leading her two enterprises to now be worth
more than $2 billion. S. Kidman & Co, a historic Australian cattle company, has dramatically reshaped its landholdings in recent years, offloading 10 iconic outback stations, covering a combined 6.7 million hectares and marking a shift in strategy. Giles has led this charge with Kidman recently making its first property acquisition for 20 years with the purchase of 7000-hectare Jindabyne station north of Inverell NSW, which was quickly followed by a $75 million deal for the 5003-hectare Wirribilla, near Walcha. David Harris AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY R unning Australia’s oldest continuously operating company, AACo, David
2024 appointment as Australia’s Energy Infrastructure Commissioner, replaced interim tsar John Sheldon, who kept the commissioner seat warm following the retirement of inaugural appointee Andrew Dyer. Dyer made the position his own — originally working as National Wind Farm Commissioner when the role was established in October 2015 as an independent voice to the federal government reporting on the impact of wind turbines to the environment and human health. Dyer’s role was expanded three years later to include large-scale solar farms and underwent another redesign in 2021 when the federal government announced the remit would be expanded to focus on the rollout of major new energy transmission projects. Mahar’s appointment means he now
Peter Hughes HUGHES/GEORGINA PASTORAL GROUPS R egarded as Australia’s Wagyu cattle king, Peter Hughes with wife
Jane and family have established one of the largest privately
owned Wagyu beef herds in the world, spanning almost four million
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