Australia's first female Australian Rugby League first grade referee, and Rockhampton girl, Belinda Sharpe, has talked of her experiences, pressures, pleasures and career successes with about 350 diners at ANZ Banking Group's Beef 2024 dinner.
The "Tender steaks and tough talks" event put the spotlight on farming's anxieties and pressures, as part of a focus on mental health awareness.
It also highlighted how difficult periods on the farm invariably could be also appreciated for their satisfying and treasured moments.
South Australian farm life psychologist, Steph Scmidt, who's family crop 5200 hectares and run 5000 sheep near Burra, led the discussion with Ms Sharpe and Consolidated Pastoral Company chief executive officer, Troy Setter.
She said agriculture was often "incredibly hard" and some of the talk in more recent times about "the tough stuff" was giving rise to more mental health awareness, but the discussion needed to be broader.
Mental health issues in agriculture were about far more than "a man standing in a dry paddock, looking sad" - they involved women, families, and others in farming industry jobs.
Tough times, like the current prolonged dry run on the Schmidt farm at World's End, where crops are still unplanted and sheep feeding continues well after dark, also produced moments of satisfaction and family co-operation.
These small joys - even quiet late night moments talking about farm business decisions and family - needed to be appreciated.
They were positive opportunities and counterweights to those tiring, difficult and anxious times.
Referee and former journalist on the local Rockhampton newspaper, Ms Sharpe, reflected on the intense physical and mental load encountered by match officials in an 80 minute football game, including the to two days it generally took to unwind before clearing her head to prepare for the next weekend clash.
While invariably being the most unpopular person on the field, whose every decision - and mistake,- was watched by thousands, she said it was only 18 months ago that the ARL appointed a mental health professional to help match officials cope with the pressure, and their doubts.
She said it was difficult to stop replaying the last game in the mind, and then have the clear headspace and mindset to prepare for the next one.
Ms Sharpe started her rugby league playing touch football in Rockhampton.
When her father halted her schoolgirl ambitions to play seriously in a local league competition, she took up refereeing, starting with an under eight-year-olds game and rising up to reffing men's grade games.
Payinjg attention to good nutrition and making the most of family and friendships to keep the mind focused on positive moments, or distracted with a game of golf were imported to her wellbeing.
CPC's Mr Setter said mental health awareness was about far more than stereotypical suicide prevention strategies.
It required an active leadership role from anybody working in a sector where 50 per cent of farmers had suffered from depression, abourt 70pc struggled with anxiety, 66pc had considered self harm and a third of those had attempted suicide.
"It's actually a business opportunity for us to have a high performing team - mental health is part of a bigger picture," he said.
"It's about being alert and identifying bad behaviour, or animal welfare or fire management strategies.
"Mental health is a $10 billion opportunity cost to Australian business."
CPC's number crunching also identified that staff on its big northern Australian pastoral operations who did not take sufficient leave were more likely to not meet budget expectations and have workplace injuries.
But while he wanted to see more people in agriculture talking about their concerns and anxieties, it was important to let them make mistakes and learn from them.
Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
