Making Christmas count for flood-ravaged bush businesses

In flood ravaged parts of Australia, there’s a common refrain, says Buy From the Bush founder, Grace Brennan.

“The community sentiment has been the same: that they would take the rain over the drought any day,” she says.

But that positive spin on weather events that have devastated regional communities is starting to wear thin. And rural businesses need all the support they can get right now.

Based on a farm in the NSW town of Warren, 120km west of Dubbo, Ms Brennan started Buy From the Bush as an Instagram account in October 2019 to connect city dwellers with small businesses in drought-stricken regional areas. The idea was to create second income streams for farming families, as well as creating new markets for regional businesses who were trying to maintain an income in communities with considerably less disposable cash.

The response surprised everyone, as BFTB garnered more than 450,000 followers across Facebook and Instagram and city shoppers voted with their wallets, providing additional income, as well as hope and support, to struggling communities. Since launching, $10 million has been generated for small businesses in rural Australia as savvy shoppers seek fashion, homewares, jewellery, skincare and more.

Three years later, the source of the crisis is different, but the need is greater than ever, as farms and businesses try to deal with widespread damage and isolation.

In Ms Brennan’s case, Warren and the surrounding region have been experiencing heavy rainfalls which have flooded the Macquarie River, isolating communities and individual families for weeks or even months

“We have not had a bus running since July,” she said.

But she’s quick to point out that many are dealing with much worse.

Throughout recent years, many in regional communities have tried to maintain a positive mindset. That’s getting a harder proposition as areas are repeatedly inundated with water.

“The attitude until recently was stoicism and optimism because rain presents opportunity for next year (for sowing crops),” she said.

“But the more it goes on, the more I see that same feeling from the drought. What the flood brings that the drought did not is constant disruption. You can’t access roads and people can’t get into town.”

The impacts of being cut off from town are felt across the community. Where the floods have swept through the main business district, businesses have struggled to reopen, while access to services like the post office have made filling online orders difficult. Maintaining a sense of normality for families has been hard.

“Parents are thinking about how to get their kids to school,” Ms Brennan said. “At the moment, for me it would be a 400km round trip to get my kids there for drop off and pick up (to avoid flooded roads). So you plan differently. You know you’ll be in town for the day on those days.”

At the same time, Ms Brennan said many are aware that there are others in regional communities doing it tougher this time round.

“With the drought, we were in this shared experience,” she said. “But with the floods, there’s a spectrum of impact, and how much debt each farmer is carrying. Some people have big loans because they were expecting an enormous crop and prices are amazing.
“It’s devastating because you can see that crop, you can touch it. But it’s flooded.”

Next month, 20 creators, makers and designers from regional areas will be making the journey to Sydney for a Christmas market at The Rocks on December 9 and 10. Some will find the trip harder than others.

“Some who are coming to the Christmas market will be kayaking out or taking a dinghy out and relying on friends,” she said.

Stallholders will be travelling from Molong, Condobolin, Dubbo, Warren, Minja, Narromine and Quambone, among other towns.

The market will also host An Hour for Eugowra, a live auction to raise funds for the small town positioned between Forbes and Orange in the NSW Central West. Eugowra was completed flooded last week by a volume of water from Mandagery Creek that left the town looking, in the words of mayor Kevin Beatty, like a bomb had gone off.

Not everyone will be able to make it to the Sydney market. Ms Brennan urged shoppers to consider Buy From the Bush businesses this Christmas. There are more than 185 creators, makers and designers to choose from.

“It’s a longer term commitment,” she said. “We need small businesses to be robust enough to survive these downturns.”

The gallery is a selection of product on offer from bush businesses attending the market including: Bright Threads, Dumble Collective, Kennedy the Label, Note Couture, Seeking Summer, Castleden Co, French Soda, Riverina Gin and Cathy Hamilton Artworks

The marketplace has spoken and, at least for now, it’s showing preference for hybrids and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) over battery electrics. That makes Toyota’s foot dragging on EVs (and full speed ahead on hybrids) look fairly wise, though the timeline along a bumpy road still gets us to full electrification by 2035.

Italian supercar producer Lamborghini, in business since 1963, is also proceeding, incrementally, toward battery power. In an interview, Federico Foschini , Lamborghini’s chief global marketing and sales officer, talked about the new Urus SE plug-in hybrid the company showed at its lounge in New York on Monday.

The Urus SE interior gets a larger centre screen and other updates.
Lamborghini

The Urus SE SUV will sell for US$258,000 in the U.S. (the company’s biggest market) when it goes on sale internationally in the first quarter of 2025, Foschini says.

“We’re using the contribution from the electric motor and battery to not only lower emissions but also to boost performance,” he says. “Next year, all three of our models [the others are the Revuelto, a PHEV from launch, and the continuation of the Huracán] will be available as PHEVs.”

The Euro-spec Urus SE will have a stated 37 miles of electric-only range, thanks to a 192-horsepower electric motor and a 25.9-kilowatt-hour battery, but that distance will probably be less in stricter U.S. federal testing. In electric mode, the SE can reach 81 miles per hour. With the 4-litre 620-horsepower twin-turbo V8 engine engaged, the picture is quite different. With 789 horsepower and 701 pound-feet of torque on tap, the SE—as big as it is—can reach 62 mph in 3.4 seconds and attain 193 mph. It’s marginally faster than the Urus S, but also slightly under the cutting-edge Urus Performante model. Lamborghini says the SE reduces emissions by 80% compared to a standard Urus.

Lamborghini’s Urus plans are a little complicated. The company’s order books are full through 2025, but after that it plans to ditch the S and Performante models and produce only the SE. That’s only for a year, however, because the all-electric Urus should arrive by 2029.

Lamborghini’s Federico Foschini with the Urus SE in New York.
Lamborghini

Thanks to the electric motor, the Urus SE offers all-wheel drive. The motor is situated inside the eight-speed automatic transmission, and it acts as a booster for the V8 but it can also drive the wheels on its own. The electric torque-vectoring system distributes power to the wheels that need it for improved cornering. The Urus SE has six driving modes, with variations that give a total of 11 performance options. There are carbon ceramic brakes front and rear.

To distinguish it, the Urus SE gets a new “floating” hood design and a new grille, headlights with matrix LED technology and a new lighting signature, and a redesigned bumper. There are more than 100 bodywork styling options, and 47 interior color combinations, with four embroidery types. The rear liftgate has also been restyled, with lights that connect the tail light clusters. The rear diffuser was redesigned to give 35% more downforce (compared to the Urus S) and keep the car on the road.

The Urus represents about 60% of U.S. Lamborghini sales, Foschini says, and in the early years 80% of buyers were new to the brand. Now it’s down to 70%because, as Foschini says, some happy Urus owners have upgraded to the Performante model. Lamborghini sold 3,000 cars last year in the U.S., where it has 44 dealers. Global sales were 10,112, the first time the marque went into five figures.

The average Urus buyer is 45 years old, though it’s 10 years younger in China and 10 years older in Japan. Only 10% are women, though that percentage is increasing.

“The customer base is widening, thanks to the broad appeal of the Urus—it’s a very usable car,” Foschini says. “The new buyers are successful in business, appreciate the technology, the performance, the unconventional design, and the fun-to-drive nature of the Urus.”

Maserati has two SUVs in its lineup, the Levante and the smaller Grecale. But Foschini says Lamborghini has no such plans. “A smaller SUV is not consistent with the positioning of our brand,” he says. “It’s not what we need in our portfolio now.”

It’s unclear exactly when Lamborghini will become an all-battery-electric brand. Foschini says that the Italian automaker is working with Volkswagen Group partner Porsche on e-fuel, synthetic and renewably made gasoline that could presumably extend the brand’s internal-combustion identity. But now, e-fuel is very expensive to make as it relies on wind power and captured carbon dioxide.

During Monterey Car Week in 2023, Lamborghini showed the Lanzador , a 2+2 electric concept car with high ground clearance that is headed for production. “This is the right electric vehicle for us,” Foschini says. “And the production version will look better than the concept.” The Lanzador, Lamborghini’s fourth model, should arrive in 2028.

Making Christmas count for flood-ravaged bush businesses

These bush businesses are going to Sydney, even if they have to kayak their way there