Business

The Tasmanian Government has signed a Partnership with the Australian Government under its Rewiring the Nation initiative to take the next steps in a Tasmanian energy package comprising of Marinus Link, the North West Transmission Development and Battery of the Nation.

It was a joyful, heartfelt gathering at Woodfordia on Saturday night. Around 300 organisers, producers, staff, committee, volunteers and friends launched our programme for the festival this year. It felt like a new beginning.

“It is the fight of the fundamental industries – food and power. We should never plan for one to miss out over another.   If the past few years have taught us anything - pandemics, geopolitical unrest and floods, it is we don’t know what is around the corner. Uncertain times call for brave infrastructure investment decisions": Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers CEO Hugh Christie.

Ahead of National Barramundi Day, Queensland fishers, restaurateurs and pro-Aussie politicians are imploring the Palaszczuk Labor Government to lead the way on Country-of-Original-Labelling (CoOL) labelling laws. A bill currently before the Queensland Parliament, known as the Food (Labelling of Seafood) Amendment Bill 2021, will go to a vote next Tuesday 25 October.

Kirstin Nicholson. Turn back the clock three years and Cassidy Bullock was unaware that her life path was about to take a different direction ... Cassidy was encouraged by her trade school teacher to enter the Victorian Apprentice of the Year competition run by the Australian Meat Industry Council ... “I was so nervous – it was very nerve wracking. A lot of them were Melbourne butchers, so they were a bit more fancy than a small town butcher" said Cassidy.

Western Australians can now have their say on the draft Forest Management Plan 2024-2033, which delivers on the McGowan Government's historic decision to end native logging in our South-West. The move will preserve at least 400,000 hectares - an area 1,000 times the size of Kings Park - of karri, jarrah, and wandoo forests.

The Business Council for Co-operatives and Mutuals said the worsening flood outlook across the state underscored the need for greater collaboration on disaster and resilience planning, as it launched the NSW Parliamentary Friends of Co-operatives and Mutuals. With scores of flood warnings in place across New South Wales, the BCCM said its members’ community values would once again be in action in coming days and weeks.

Largest Australian ceramic tile producer saves almost half a million dollars annually in energy costs using OFS sensors on production lines ... “Forecasting penalties and trying to manually count energy usage is incredibly expensive. OFS has automated that entire process and positioned us to mitigate the surges in energy prices and optimise how we buy our gas”: NCIA Factory Manager Craig Oliver.

Located in WA’s deep south with a population of around 6,000, Denmark has always been known as a creative kind of town. Now home to one of Australia's newest community radio stations -  Denmark FM - station manager, Matt Sivyer, said he first started looking into the idea of putting local voices and local content on the airwaves more than a decade ago ... But Matt had no experience in radio so he knew he’d need help. As luck would have it one of Australia's most experienced radio directors was living in Denmark. Sue Howard, ex National Director of Radio with the ABC, had been with the ABC for nearly 30 years and to say she knew a bit about radio is an understatement.

Shadow Minister for Northern Australia, Senator Susan McDonald has warned the Federal Government to cut the “bull” and not the national cattle herd ahead of signing up to an international methane reduction agreement ... Senator McDonald warned that any move against cattle and sheep herds would be met with fierce resistance, especially from Northern Australia’s $1.35 billion live cattle export sector which supplies much-needed beef to South East Asian countries ... Senator McDonald said attacks on methane emissions ignored the contributions made by herbivorous and ruminant feral animals.

Over my life I have come to the conclusion there are two type of people: the “could have, should have, would haves”, and the helpers. The “could have, should have, would haves” are the majority. They would have handled things differently, ie, “you should have done things differently and then you could have not been in the trouble you are in”. They were out in force this week when television stations showed the frantic efforts to save broodmares in the Goulburn Valley floods.

Emma Pritchard. The phenomenal beauty of the blossoming jacaranda trees in See Park, Grafton, is an extraordinary sight to behold during the day. And their astonishing colours will once again light up the night sky during the 2022 Grafton Jacaranda Festival ... the event encourages locals and tourists to wander through See Park after dark and enjoy a twilight picnic or relaxing visit ...

If you see an advertisement for livestock that sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn’t. True, that is. The Rural Crime Prevention Team has warned farmers to be cautious of scammers pretending to sell livestock online through social media and other marketplace platforms.  

ACALS has opened in Casino in a prominent position near the roundabout at Centre and Barker streets. ACALS stands for Accessible Care and Lifestyle Services.  The Casino office has 10 staff who help people in all kinds of situations.

Australia is on track to harvest a near-record winter grain crop of 61.9 million tonnes, according to Rabobank’s 2022/23 Australian Winter Crop Forecast. But what will be a record for some farmers will be heartbreak for others, due to the impacts of excessive rainfall on grain volume, yield and quality in parts of the country.

The 2022 Muval Index has revealed that the desire to live in a better home or location is the main reason Australians relocate, that rising cost of living has overtaken Covid as a motivating factor to move, that the search for affordable housing is prompting new waves of internal migration from capital cities into the regions and interstate, and that west is a popular direction to go post-pandemic.

Rabobank's Marcel van Doremaele said while assessment of damage was still in a very early phase, farmers would be dealing with a range of issues including damage to grain and horticulture crops, as well as pasture and feed. In addition, he said, there would be impacts on summer crop planting programs, disruptions to milking, as well as flooded sheds and damage to other farm infrastructure, machinery and access roads. "Added to this, there will be logistical concerns in relation to harvest and getting livestock to market,” he said.

Samuel Davis. Simmering tensions between Queensland Health and a Cape York medical service over a major cyber security breach have surfaced in a leaked email sent to community leaders. Apunipima Cape York Health Council staff have been locked out of information systems since the remote service suffered a ransomware attack two weeks ago.