Business

The National Farmers’ Federation’s (NFF) Horticulture Council is calling on the Federal Government to ensure its much-heralded solution to the growing workforce crisis works for the whole of the sector. Following Covid-19 disruptions, there was a swift shift towards a greater reliance on the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, but with that came headaches for smaller employers who previously relied mostly on backpackers.

The Federal Government’s Treasury Department now has in its possession pages of first-hand accounts from bank staff admitting that they have been working under orders to move customers away from face-to-face banking and on to digital channels ... It is the first time hard evidence has been available to prove these long-suspected practices exist, yet the information, provided to the Regional Banking Taskforce through the Financial Sector Union, was ignored by the Government in its final report.

Kaiser Reef’s 100th gold bar was poured at The Porcupine Flat Processing Plant in Maldon last week. The  Times  was lucky enough to be there to record the exciting moment ... Processing Manager Dylan Morgan, dressed in his protective fireproof coat and PPE, poured out the molten lava-like mix which was the liquid gold.  

A History of the Castlemaine to Maryborough Railway  is a recently published book written by Ken James and David Langley. At 428 pages, it’s a doorstopper of a book that is painstakingly researched, well-illustrated and comprehensive in its scope. For railway tragics and history buffs, it’s a must-buy; and for others, it’s a cracking good read.

Maldon Inc held a special Christmas celebration at the Panacea Estate Winery last Saturday for members to meet and mingle with the new committee.  The new Maldon Inc committee’s mission is to bring members together to build ‘Stronger Business, Stronger Community, and a Stronger Maldon’, and the committee is looking forward to putting many of its plans into action in 2023.

The large number of Darling Downs locals who help make up the throng at Woodfordia for the annual Woodford Folk Festival will notice a touch of luxury has been added for a lucky few this year. Twenty luxury glamping tents with ensuite bathrooms and kitchens have been launched with the help of $1.2 million from the Queensland Government Growing Tourism Infrastructure fund.

A number of state forests across south east Queensland will be conserved earlier, the Palaszczuk Government has announced ... Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon said it’s part of the Palaszczuk Government’s election commitment to transfer 20,000 hectares of state forest to Queensland’s protected areas.

CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, is part of a nappy recycling trial announced today to help address the 1.5 billion disposable nappies that end up in Australian landfill each year ... The trial has been underway in South Australia since July 2022 and uses anaerobic digestion to turn the organic materials in used nappies into nutrient-rich compost, as well as bioenergy which is captured and used to power the recycling process.

Australia’s farmers are heading towards the end of 2022 with signs of growing optimism, following a year where challenges around high input costs, excessive rainfall and biosecurity concerns had taken the edge off otherwise generally very positive seasonal conditions and commodity prices. The latest quarterly Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, released on 14 December 2022, found sentiment was edging back up after four consecutive quarters of decline...

David McPherson, NSW DPI. Dr Law is one of Australia’s leading forest ecologists, with the sustained excellence of his research and distinguished service to Australian zoology recognised with his appointment in 2021 as a Fellow of the Royal Zoological Society of NSW. In the history of the Society there have been fewer than 100 Fellows elected ... Criticisms of the scientific excellence or objectivity of the research undertaken by Dr Law are unfounded.

The Northern Regional Planning Panel chair Penny Holloway heard 38 people speak for or against the development application for the Bentley Quarry expansion at an online meeting on Wednesday, December 7 ... Ms Holloway announced that the quarry expansion DA was considered to be in the public interest and the DA was approved.

Australian consumers are seeing significant price increases across dairy products – based on the national Consumer Price Index (CPI) data – with milk prices having risen at the fastest rate since records began, according to a new report by agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank. In its Global Dairy Quarterly Q4 2022 – Walking the Tightrope into 2023, Rabobank says while the Australian consumer has shown resilience in the face of cost-of-living pressures, signs of dairy demand weakness are emerging as a willingness and ability to spend on discretionary items softens.

Katter’s Australian Party is flagging a proposal incentivising Year 12 students to take up the forgotten “wet” trades of bricklaying, concreting and scaffolding in a transitional schedule strategically-timed with the winter weather. In response to predictions that North Queensland would face an alarming lack of willing workers in the “wet” trades of bricklaying, concreting and scaffolding in the next decade, the KAP proposed to incentivise and provide employment pathways for an annually-set number of Year 12 students.

If you understand the difference between 5G low and high band, fixed wireless, repeaters and extenders, then you don’t have to read this. While the tech savvy know their way around digital connectivity, the vast majority of us are staggering around in the dark when it comes to getting information on how to get a couple of extra signal bars on our mobile phones or stop the download lag on our broadband.

The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) is calling on Australian energy ministers to make sure the transition to renewable energy is overseen by a national code, so we don’t sacrifice food security for energy security ... NFF CEO Tony Mahar said energy, agriculture and food prices were inextricably linked and at a time when food security was high on the agenda, careful consideration had to be given to how the energy and farming industries could work together.

Jason Dunemann. Tennant Creek Darts hosted its annual Darrell “Bear” Logue Memorial Golden Nugget Tournament last weekend. The 34th edition of this fabulous tournament brought players from all over the country – 53 men and 20 ladies, including 10 locals, 18 from other parts of the NT and 45 from interstate.

Vic Jurskis responds to ARR.News questions including about the different methods for monitoring koalas, sustainable koala populations, koala habitat and the relationship with timber harvesting ... "Gathering numbers should not be an end. Deliberations of the TSSC assume that more is better. The koala’s ecological history of irruptions and crashes in numbers after European arrival clearly shows this not to be the case. Effective monitoring requires an understanding of the reasons for any real changes in numbers."

A partnership between Forestry Corporation of NSW,  Pentarch Forestry and the Tumbarumba community has seen donated timber enhance facilities at Tumbarumba Carcoola Children’s Centre and Tumbarumba Public School. The partnership has seen renewable resources used to benefit children and the community, said Forestry Corporation’s Billie-Jo Brown.  

Chris Oldfield. The Liberal Shadow Cabinet will continue to support a moratorium on fracking in the SE which runs until 2028. It will also continue to work on land access through agricultural properties to mines because “both agriculture and mining are important to the economy”.

Sometimes, an action that has been carried out with the best of intentions can have unintended consequences. That would appear to be the case when it comes to the red Christmas Shop/North Pole signs that have been added to the wooden direction post on Bank Corner.