Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Earlier this year, I received an email. As members of parliament know, we receive many emails, but this one caught my eye, and I'd like to read it here tonight:

Hello Dan …

How are you? I'm reaching out as an Ararat resident and one of the producers (VAM Paddock Productions) of the local feature film 'Just a Farmer', which was filmed at Tatyoon in 2023. I've met you several times at the local polls and your appearances at my place of work, Marian College, and consider you to be a genuine advocate for issues affecting regional Australians. Farming is the most important job in the world, and so undervalued, especially by urbanites and many politicians.

Tatyoon farmer Leila McDougall works tirelessly in regional communities to advocate for mental health and suicide awareness and education. She formed the foundation Live Rural to raise funds to support farmers in need, organising hay runs to NSW and QLD during drought, and creating the beloved annual event, Mellow in the Yellow, with a focus on farmers' mental health, whether it be depression, suicide, or alcoholism. Live Rural funds are allocated to rural issues and education (for example, rural educational workshops about having a frank conversation with someone about their mental health, about being suicidal).

The mental illness stigma , the absence of real talk about suicide, the quiet male bravado, needs to change.

In a demonstration of true country grit, Leila wrote a script, and endeavoured to produce a film that would take audiences into the heart of farm life, showcasing the true spirit and strength of farming communities, as well as the realities they face every day and the shattering silent disease that is mental illness.

Leila has done just that. 'Just a Farmer' will premiere in Melbourne on March 14th and in Ararat on March 16th.

As someone in your position to advocate to communities in your electorate, to advocate in Parliament, and to voice rural issues within governmental teams and with access to media, we ask for your support in spreading the message that the mental health of farmers and rural people needs to be a priority. The rates of suicide are not going down; what is currently being done to prevent suicide is simply not working. The conversation needs to be made loud and made now. Farmers around the world now face the additional pressures of taxes, fuel and fertiliser restrictions from governments ignorant about the farming industry.

We would love to have a conversation with you about bringing this issue to the forefront of the government narrative. The story in 'Just a Farmer' provides a timely segue into a real and raw dialogue.

Finally, on behalf of VAM Paddock Productions, we'd like to invite you to the Premiere of the Australian independent film, 'Just a Farmer' on March 16th at Astor Cinema in Ararat.

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Please find attached the official 'Just A Farmer' poster and link to the official 'Just A Farmer' trailer, which was released on February 5th.

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Kind regards, we hope to hear from you soon.

Erica McConachy.

I went to the premiere of Just a Farmer in Ararat on Saturday night. It is a compelling film that tells a compelling story, and what it has led to is that the film will now be shown in 200 cinemas across Australia. I encourage everyone who is listening tonight to please take the time to go and see this film. It deals with an incredibly important issue that people in rural communities are facing on a daily basis, and it deals with it in an honest and in a raw and in a truthful way. It will enable you to have a conversation with those you love, with your friends, with the broader community about the issues which people in rural Australia are facing right here and right now. It will enable you to have a discussion about the types of supports that we need to continually be providing to people in rural communities, especially those who are working and living on a farm. Go and see Just A Farmer. You will be doing Australia a favour.