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Opinion - fuel and fertiliser crisis
When ideology meets the fuel tank
In the 1930s, Winston Churchill warned that Europe was sleepwalking into danger. Across the chamber, Neville Chamberlain insisted all would be well. “Peace in our time,” he said—a comforting line, right up until Hitler crossed into Poland. We are seeing a modern version of that same delusion play out today.
Talking rural and regional
ANZAC Special, plus we get the debrief on Buddy suiting up for Dowerin with Tracy Jones!
A great ANZAC show today! We caught up with Tracy Jones from the Dowerin Footy Club for a full debrief after Buddy Franklin pulled on the boots for the Tigers! Plus your rural news (fuel and fertiliser update) with Fiona L Fox from ARR.News...
Flora
Rare native lilies spotted flowering on stock reserve north of Deniliquin
A striking patch of native Garland lilies has been found flowering on a Travelling Stock Reserve north of Deniliquin, discovered by a NSW Government Murray LLS staff member during routine work in the area. The lilies, known scientifically as Calostemma purpureum and also referred to as Wilcannia lilies, are a native species...
Media
Editor is Lismore Local Woman of the Year
State MP Janelle Saffin visited Mallanganee on Friday, April 24 to present local writer and online editor of IndyNR.com Susanna Freymark with her Lismore Electorate Local Woman of the Year Award.
Gun buybacks
Gun buyback hits wall as majority of states refuse to sign up
A national gun buyback scheme introduced in the wake of a terrorist attack at Bondi Beach has stalled, with a majority of Australian states and territories declining to join the program by the March 2026 deadline set by the federal government. The buyback was announced by Prime Minister Albanese in December 2025, days after a shooting at a Hanukkah celebration...
Critical minerals - Vic
Work begins at Fingerboards demo pit following mobilisation by local contractors: Gippsland Critical Minerals
Work has begun at the Fingerboards Project Mining and Rehabilitation Demonstration Pit, following local contractors successfully completing site mobilisation and pre-start inspections. Six additional East Gippsland businesses have now been engaged to support activities at the MRDP, with more than 20 local contractors sharing in procurement contracts now valued at more than $1.4m.
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ANZAC commemoration
110 Years of ANZAC Hill
On 9 January 1916, the nine-month campaign known as the Gallipoli Campaign ended with the evacuation of the last ANZAC troops from Gallipoli. It was only four months later that the Maldon Progress Association met to ‘improve the surroundings of the town ... The first goal achieved was the renaming of Garfields Hill to ANZAC Hill. This became one of the first ANZAC memorials in Australia.
The Salvation Army Corps 106 year participation in Allora’s ANZAC Day commemorations comes to an end
Trevor Neale. The time was 2pm on the 25 April 1919 - Lieut. Robert Brown (Ret. AIF) marshalled the gathered groups at 53 Warwick Street, (now Historical Museum) for the Anzac Day march to the Fallen Soldiers Memorial via Forde, Drayton, Herbert and Warwick Streets. Main service was at 3pm ... This was the start of a 106 year association of the Salvation Army with Anzac Day in Allora.
ANZAC Day preparations
Getting Ready for ANZAC Day 2026
Last weekend, members of the Nhill RSL Sub-Branch, Nhill Lions Club and the Lowan Lodge spent a busy afternoon erecting a great many of the Australian flags at the gravestones of military persons who had served in conflicts across the world. Mrs Jenny Blackwood is to be congratulated on her rigorous research as well as those who have made suitable the boring of holes for the Australian flags.
Leadership & You
Charity
Gina Rinehart commits $200 million to tackle veteran homelessness
Hancock Prospecting. In a move to recognise a national crisis and national disgrace, Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting is contributing $200m to buy properties to help Australia’s homeless veterans and war heroes, the biggest ever private commitment for Australian veterans.
Marine wonder
Family to donate ‘treasure’ beach find to museum
Patricia Gill. Ryan Clarke made the find of a lifetime, a 328g lump of mostly black substance, ambergris, or ‘floating gold', last week on Ocean Beach. Ryan was walking his dogs on the beach and casting a lure to catch some salmon at low tide when he spotted the lump washed up in the shallows at the sand bar.
Arts administration
Meet Liane Wendt, the new Executive Director of the BAAKA Cultural & Arts Centre
The BAAKA Board is very pleased to announce the appointment of Liane Wendt as the new Executive Director of the BAAKA Cultural & Arts Centre. Liane comes to Wilcannia from Derby in WA, where she led the Mowanjum Arts and Cultural Centre.
Hospitality
Iconic Kincraig reopens
Naracoorte's iconic Kincraig Hotel has officially come back to life, reopening its doors on April 14 after 18 months of extensive restoration by new owners, the Dean Group. The multimillion-dollar, five-star redevelopment delivers a fresh, family-focused venue for the town, featuring 24 modern accommodation rooms, corporate meeting spaces, an open bar, and a dining area complete with a children's play space.
Food production
Kooka’s closer to completion
A highly anticipated project in Donald's industrial estate is nearing completion, with the new factory for Kooka's Country Cookies entering a transitional phase between the old location and the new. The impressive facility has been under construction since 2021, with international specialists engaged to install equipment along the production line.
Yield booster
Making every kilogram of fertiliser count: Australian silicon solution aids farmers amid urea shortage
Queensland company MaxSil is converting waste glass destined for landfill into ultrafine silica that improves plant uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium helping farmers do more with the fertiliser they have. ARR.News found out more from MaxSil founder David Archer and Oscar Ledlin, co-founder of parent company Sustainable Concrete Group.
Seedbed Conditioner
New machine improves soil fertility and increases crop yields
A new machine designed and exhaustively tested at a field-scale over 15 years and 32 sites in Western Australia, Queensland and Pakistan has been shown to increase crop yields by 25 per cent, on average (range 10 to 40 per cent).
Renewables infrastructure - Vic
Farmers brace for VicGrid visits
Patrick Tucker. Farmers across the region are preparing for a series of VicGrid visits to properties in the coming weeks, as part of ongoing efforts to conduct ecological studies linked to the proposed VNI West transmission project ... "This is the second attempt from VicGrid to get access to our properties to do the ecological study," he said.
Fuel crisis - NSW
“Price crunch” – societal implications of conflict
The economic impact of the conflict in the Middle East is and will continue to have wide ranging impacts on all facets of Australian society with costs increasing due to the nation’s reliance on trucks and diesel ... 71 years later, current owner Robert Blanchard said the industry is facing its toughest times in decades and his first diesel delivery since the Middle East crisis erupted was $68,000 more than in early March.
Fuel crisis response - tourism
Will the grey nomads come this winter? The fuel crisis puts outback tourism on the line
Winter is normally the season that outback NSW towns look forward to most. The tourists arrive, the caravan parks fill up ... This year, the question being asked by operators from Broken Hill to White Cliffs to Menindee is whether that migration is actually going to happen.
Tourism - Classic craft
Stansbury and Port Vincent turn it on for Saltwater Classic
Ned Thomas. The biennial Yorke Peninsula Saltwater Classic returned to Stansbury and Port Vincent across the weekend, April 17 to 19, delivering a high-energy celebration of boating in all its forms — sail, steam, electric and human-powered. Classic cars and coastal culture also helped lure the crowds who rolled in from across South Australia and interstate.
Koala research
Narrandera’s koalas strengthen landmark NSW research
Narrandera’s koala population is contributing to a major scientific study, with researchers from the Koala Sentinel Program back in the Riverina for its final round of fieldwork ... Researchers are investigating factors such as health, disease, genetics, nutrition, habitat, and ecology across six very different landscapes...
Input costs
Norco lifts farmgate milk price, warns more support needed for farmers
Norco, Australia’s oldest and last operating 100 per cent farmer-owned dairy co-operative, has announced a five cent per litre increase to its farmgate milk price from May 2026, while calling on the wider industry to step up and better support farmers as soaring input costs intensify pressure across the sector.
Tourism - birdwatching
Winter draws the twitchers – Bruny Island offers birdwatching and seasonal escapes: SeaLink
Bruny Island, off the coast of southern Tasmania, continues to attract birdwatchers from around the world. Its diverse habitats and rich birdlife offer unique year-round experiences, but winter reveals a quieter, more immersive side.
Major projects - Qld
Renewables - End of life
Renewables - End of life
Cash
Cash is coming back as revealed by RBA survey: National Seniors Australia
National Seniors Australia’s campaign to Keep Cash is working and cash is making a comeback as demonstrated by the RBA’s 2025 Consumer Payments Survey that shows cash usage is on the rise. The survey reveals cash usage has increased by number of transactions (15 per cent in 2025 compared to 13 per cent in 2022) and by the total value of transactions.
Regional theatre
Play offers rare glimpse into view from the edge
The latest in the list of varied and engaging productions by Castlemaine Theatre Company is about to hit the stage, offering a rare glimpse into a singular place and time. Set at the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility during the Covid-19 pandemic, Camp Darwin brings together a diverse group of Australian characters who are trying to return home.
The Man from Snowy River Festival
Gun makes it ten titles
The undoubted highlight of the Man From Snowy River Bush Festival was the performance of Emma Webb in the Ladies Challenge whose victory gave her a 10th title ... Despite the current fuel crisis, crowds were comparable to previous years and once again, camping on the Corryong golf course and nearby properties was booked out.
Soccer
Dunoon United Football Club women flying high
Simon Webster. Dunoon United has a women's Premier League team for the first time in the club's 32-year-history. The prems team took to the field at the end of March to kick off their historic season, and everyone is right behind them as they represent our community at the highest level in the local leagues.
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Farm crime
Farmer left bone dry after fuel theft
Patrick Tucker. A local farmer has been left out of pocket and frustrated after more than 1000 litres of diesel is believed to have been stolen from his property. Benjeroop farmer Lindsay Schultz said the fuel went missing sometime in March after a fresh delivery ... he believed the scale of the incident pointed to something more organised.
Event
Property rights
Farmers’ rights eroded
Carey Brennan. More than 100 farmers attended the recent VFF community meeting held by the St Arnaud branch on Thursday, April 9, to listen to legal experts speak about the effects of the new Victorian Treaty Act and the land acquisition procedures for transmission lines, all of which will adversely affect farmland in this district.
Transmission lines - Vic
Fertliser supply
Fertiliser security
Fertiliser shortage at home, subsidies for exports abroad
At a time when Australian farmers are facing a major fertiliser squeeze, Canberra has decided the priority is not supply, not affordability, and not domestic resilience—but underwriting a green ammonia export dream ... while farmers are being told to accept decile 10 nitrogen prices, or even decile zero availability, taxpayers—including those same farmers in the years they make money—are being lined up to help fast track a plant that will help foreign farmers access fertiliser.
Whale spotting - Central Coast
Whales are making an appearance
The first of the migrating humpback whales have been spotted off the Central Coast but the best is still to come, says Marine Mammal Specialist with Marine Wildlife Rescue Central Coast Ronny Ling ... "The first whales to start travelling are the juvenile males, then the pregnant ones and the mothers with calves from the last few years. The big breeding males then leave and are the fastest travellers."
Rare lizard
Hidden in plain sight: Meet Australia’s newly identified skink species
A lizard known to Wiimpatja Aboriginal Owners as Kungaka “the Hidden One” has been formally described as a new species, acknowledged in research published today in Zootaxa. With fewer than 20 individuals of the species known to exist, the Kungaka is also now one of Australia's most threatened reptiles.
Algal bloom - SA
Algal bloom on the move
Caitlin Menadue. Algal bloom levels are shifting along northern Yorke Peninsula, with concerns growing for local marine life — including the region's well-known stingrays. Recent footage captured in Moonta Bay showed a large fever of rays moving through shallow waters late last month, with locals suggesting they may be trying to escape the bloom.
Volunteer
Young leader
Naracoorte’s rising star
Leadership, determination, and the courage to step outside one’s comfort zone propelled Jack Barker to a major regional honour. The 17-year-old Naracoorte High School Year 12 student and 2026 school captain has been named the Upper South East Lions Youth of the Year, a recognition that celebrates academic excellence, leadership, and public speaking ability among young people.
Sheep - WA
Elders bales on WA wool growers – Just the tip of the iceberg: Geoff Pearson WAFarmers
WAFarmers consistently advocated to the Federal Government during its consultative process on the phase out of live sheep exports, including in our 2023 submission that this decision would be significantly detrimental to the Western Australian wool industry. We hate to tell you that we told you so! Three years on, we are seeing that prediction become reality.
Renewable energy - SW REZ
Farm loans
Low-interest drought loans open with a warning for growers
Sebastian Calderon. Riverland farmers are being urged to look closely at South Australia's newly opened drought loan scheme, with Riverland Lending Services agribusiness (RLS) senior manager Jeff McDonald warning the concessional finance could bring both short term relief and long-term complications.
Murray-Darling - SA
Seedbed Conditioner
New machine improves soil fertility and increases crop yields
A new machine designed and exhaustively tested at a field-scale over 15 years and 32 sites in Western Australia, Queensland and Pakistan has been shown to increase crop yields by 25 per cent, on average (range 10 to 40 per cent).
Bean breeding
Renewed effort to supercharge faba bean breeding and expansion: GRDC
A new national Faba Bean Breeding Program will provide growers with improved higher-yielding varieties of faba beans with better disease resistance, quality traits and adaptation across Australian growing regions. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of faba beans, supplying around one-third of global trade, with key markets including Egypt, the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.
Koalas - sustainable numbers?
Killing koalas with kindness: Vic Jurskis
Landline’s segment about koalas last Sunday, "Need for Trees: Charity plants half-a-million trees to help save koalas" would have been better directed at the need for common sense. It referred to the preordained finding from the NSW Inquiry in 2020 that koalas were headed for extinction by 2050. This finding was ridiculous because koalas were invisible when Europeans arrived. Now there are many more koalas over a much wider area ... ARR.News asked a few questions of Vic too.
Carbon credits - waste and recycling
Flood recovery - Lismore
Flood-prone house demolition continues
Miriam Torzillo. Just when we thought the Reconstruction Authority (RA) had got the message that the Big Scrub homes should be deconstructed, salvaged or relocated, reports are coming in from residents about the ramping up of demolition in Lismore. Locals have been recording the destruction and sharing it on social media. The community is not happy.
Tourism - Red Centre
Record crowds kick off Parrtjima 2026
Parrtjima 2026 has celebrated its biggest opening weekend yet, recording the largest opening weekend attendance in the festival’s history, including the second-largest opening night, as visitors flocked to the Red Centre. Across Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the festival attracted nearly 8,300 attendances, with a program that’s still got plenty for all to enjoy until 19 April.
Tourism - The Territory
NT tops nation in tourism earnings
Results for overnight trips were flat for most states and territories in the year ending December 2025 when compared with the year ending December 2024, except for the Northern Territory which saw an increase of 151,000 trips or 18 per cent. The NT is the only to state or territory to see an increase in overnight spend when compared with 2024, up by $523m 43 per cent.
Talking rural and regional
Chatter about some farmers are not going to get a crop off this season…
On today's No Drama Farmer with James Blundell and Carzo......... Fiona L Fox (ARR.News) talks about potentially turning Canola to Diesel, plus some other potential fuel sources...
Diesel - WA
Diesel stockpile for WA – announcement and response
The Western Australian Government has announced that it has secured a stockpile diesel. The Opposition is sceptical.
Legal fees
Broken Hill council wins millions in Supreme Court battle over impossible legal bill
Broken Hill City Council has been awarded several million dollars following a successful NSW Supreme Court action against a former lawyer whose billing records claimed up to 36 hours of work in a single day. The court found that Keith Redenbach, principal of Redenbach Legal, charged the council $10 million to litigate a building dispute over renovations to the Broken Hill Civic Centre...
Fertiliser security
The case of the missing urea
Some of you may have read my previous articles on Summit’s Force Majeure Gamble: A Pattern Emerges and CSBP’s Force Majeure Gamble ... The response on social media has been staggering, with the algorithms going off the charts — which tells me I have hit a nerve. Even more interesting are the stories of urea...
Environmental laws
A plan for Queensland’s future – Inquiry to probe impact of Federal environmental legislation on Queensland: Janetzki
The Crisafulli Government is committed to unlocking productivity for Queenslanders with an inquiry into the impact of the Federal Government’s 2025 environmental legislation. Changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 have raised concerns with stakeholders about increased regulatory burden, compliance costs, uncertainty and delays.
Net zero policy impacts
On the road with Nathan Lyon
Have You Got What It Takes tour with Nathan Lyon, April-June 2026
Nathan Lyon is bringing his "Have You Got What It Takes" roadshow to regional Victoria and New South Wales — and it's not one to miss.
Polocrosse
Ramsay local to captain Queensland Polocrosse team
Chosen to lead the mixed junior team at the national championships from the 22 through to 28 June this year, with a costly trip ahead of her, Piper Mortimer and her family are looking for sponsors to enable her to get there ... Piper's mum Leah Mortimer told On Our Selection News about how the sponsorship would be a two way street.
Equestrian
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Water skiing
Cohuna turns out for barefoot titles opener
Cohuna is back on the national barefoot waterskiing map, with Sunday's Oz Open drawing locals to Gunbower Creek ahead of the Australian titles' long-awaited return to town. The free exhibition event gave spectators an early look at the speed and spectacle to come before the 64th Australian National Barefoot Waterski Championships got under way on Tuesday at the Cohuna Ski Run Reserve.
Military history
HMAS Whyalla’s journey home remembered through crew member’s story
The story of how the iconic HMAS Whyalla returned home in 1984 has been brought to life through the memories of crew member George Cook, who played a key role in the historic voyage. George served as a deckhand under Captain A. Ekblom, joining a crew of experienced shipyard and tugboat workers selected to sail the vessel from Melbourne back to Whyalla after its purchase by Whyalla City Council.
Sailing
Coffs Yachtie hoists new colours for a revitalised future
Coffs Harbour Yacht Club has set course for an exciting new era which will focus on growing sailing and associated water-based activities for the community.
Allora
Old wool table now looks classy
The Allora Men’s Shed has done a magnificent job of giving new life to this old wool classing table. During the past month Graham Hickson has been the main man to work on this unusual project.
Mural artist
Public artwork commission to celebrate Loddon riverbanks
Mount Alexander Shire Council is excited to announce a public art commission by local artist Kirsten Moegerlein ... “Kirsten is a wonderful artist and brings great skills in collaborating with the community. We look forward to seeing how she commemorates the transformation of a degraded river habitat into an oasis of plant and animal life": Mayor Toby Heydon.
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