The Editor

Grass and crop fires are the greatest concern for the NSW Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS), with the official bushfire season across NSW underway. After spending two months assisting with wildfires burning in the northern hemisphere, the 737 Large Air Tanker (LAT), ‘Marie Bashir’, has returned to NSW, and will be ready to assist firefighters to save lives and properties here, as part of the RFS aerial fleet.

The $13 million Next Generation Simulator project at Waurn Ponds will allow students, researchers and industry to do cost-effective prototype testing, engineering and commercial product design of driver and driverless cars.

The Tasmanian Government welcomes the first sightings of Orange-bellied  Parrots as they return to Tasmania for the breeding season, following the record-breaking success of last year’s breeding season. Four Orange-bellied Parrots marked to return to Tasmania for the breeding season have been sighted in the past week.

Up to 60,000 tonnes of softwood logs will start to be shipped off Kangaroo Island to support South Australia’s forestry sector and booming housing construction industry, with applications to the Construction Softwood Transport Assistance Program (CSTAP) now open. The CSTAP is jointly funded by the Morrison Coalition Government and Marshall Liberal Government and provides assistance to freight bushfire-affected softwood logs salvaged from Kangaroo Island to the South Australian mainland and then to sawmills with immediate capacity to process structural timber.

Shelly Hancock, NSW Minister for Local Government, announces that the NSW government will introduce a population growth factor in the annual rate peg from July 2022 to raise additional revenue for councils to fund key infrastructure in growing communities.

In a first for the Southern Hemisphere, researchers have shown a bacteria can successfully sterilise and eradicate the invasive, disease carrying  Aedes aegypti  mosquito which is responsible for spreading dengue, yellow fever and Zika.    The breakthrough could support the suppression and potential eradication of Aedes aegypti worldwide.

Bendigo’s Telstra Exchange building and neighbouring Bendigo Creek will be transformed in early November with the spectacular night time display Djaara Lights, featuring neon artworks, street art and digital experiences telling stories from Dja Dja Wurrung People.

Tasmanian fine timber reclaimed from the depths of Lake Pieman and crafted into artistic furniture by London-based Tasmanian designer Brodie Neill, will be on display to around 115,000 people at London Craft Week.

Racing SA has announced that jumps races will not be scheduled in the South Australian racing calendar as of next year. Despite the efforts of all industry stakeholders to maintain a jumps racing program in SA, declining participation levels and horse numbers have made the industry unsustainable and unworkable.