Business

The NSW Government is hanging regional councils and koalas out to dry with their latest plan to remove the right of local government to be involved with approvals for private native forestry. The koala wars that have defined the last 4 years of this coalition government are being refuelled under the noses of Liberal ministers and democratically elected councils by The Nationals: Sue Higginson, Greens NSW MP.

NSW Farmers CEO Pete Arkle has criticised environmental politics holding up rebuilding efforts across the state, saying we need less talk, more action ... Mr Arkle said the independent Natural Resources Commission described the new Private Native Forestry Codes as a significant improvement over the previous codes, with a number of additional environmental protections relating to koalas, unmapped streams and harvesting intensity limits.

Clarence Nationals MP Chris Gulaptis has welcomed the certainty the Bill provides to the timber industry and the significant koala protections included. “Farm forestry is a vital component of the NSW timber industry, generating about $482 million and employing 835 people on the North Coast alone,” Mr Gulaptis said.

It’s back! Buda brings the Traditional Arts Fair to Castlemaine on Sunday 20 November from 10am till 4pm. Buda will showcase traditional arts, cooking and gardening  in as many and varied forms as possible in the spirit of the Leviny daughters ... New this year is Gold Panning!

A record number of Australian Catholic University pre-service teachers have headed into regional, rural, and remote areas nationally to complete their teaching placements this year. More than 250 teaching students will have travelled far and wide to learn on the job by the end of 2022 ... “We are hoping they will love it so much they will want to return to these regions as teachers on graduation.”

Patricia Gill. Denmark's first St Ayles Skiff headed through the channel at the Rivermouth on Saturday marking the end of the 10-month community project to build the boat. Organiser David Cliff reflected on the project, quoting Ratty telling Mole in Kenneth Grahame’s classic children’s novel, Wind in the Willows: “Believe me my young friend there is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much fun as simply messing about in boats”.

Serena Kirby. The Denmark Surf Club season has officially started and the first day on the beach was held in cold and windy conditions ... “No disrespect to the other clubs but this is the best surf club I’ve been a member of because it’s just like one big family”: Sam Williams.

Like a scene from yesteryear, a number of timber-built boats recently descended on Lake Talbot. The Classic Australian Wooden Powerboat Association members are fond of Narrandera and have had their “annual gathering” at Lake Talbot since 2002.

Emma Pritchard. There may be a few new faces and a name change on the horizon as the business continues to grow, but Celtic Coastal Hearing is proud to remain a family owned and independent practice, dedicated to providing the highest level of quality patient care while upholding the same values and principles it has been delivering to the Clarence Valley community throughout the past 10 years.

Livingstone Shire Council and leading e-scooter operator, Neuron Mobility, have announced the city’s first e-scooter programme is due to start on Thursday, 10 November. The 12 month trial will see the gradual roll-out of up to 150 of Neuron’s distinctive orange e-scooters throughout the city, including central Yeppoon, Farnborough Beach and Rosslyn Bay Harbour.

The Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party leader, Robert Borsak, warned Coles  supermarket group that their request for farmers to "cut costs" rather than increase prices would propel NSW  into a food security crisis ... "Telling farmers to "cut costs" is beyond condescending and risks farmers dropping out of the market altogether, which puts our food security at risk.  

The Scenic Rim's reputation as a leading destination for food tourism was reaffirmed at the 2022 Queensland Tourism Awards on the Gold Coast. Winning a silver award for Excellence in Food Tourism, the region has added to this year's accolades after being named as Best in Travel 2022 by the Lonely Planet guide and the Scenic Rim's Tamborine Mountain taking the title of Top Tourism Town in Queensland in June.  

The future of two iconic tourism destinations is unclear as the state government fumbles over deals to keep them running beyond the end of the month ... “I have no idea who is taking over and I’m not even sure they do,” Ms Kozicka told Cape York Weekly on Sunday.

Tropical retreat Cape York Peninsula Lodge has won gold at the annual 2022 Queensland Tourism Awards. The Bamaga-based business also earned silver for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tourism category ... the Lodge had a record-breaking year in 2021-22 with a 92 per cent increase in visitors and a 54 per cent rise in group bookings.

A proud Gamilaroi man who recently started his own native grains business is partnering with a research team from the University of Sydney to share knowledge, revitalise country and help grow the emerging native grains industry. Les Knox, who owns and operates Garaah Gundal, will this summer lead a harvest collaboration with local farmers as part of a project to modernise Indigenous native grain processing and produce flour from the region’s traditional grain varieties.

Australian engineers from global company RingIR will visit the US Department of Agriculture in Boston next month, to test whether their revolutionary technology can be used to ‘sniff out’ pests that attach themselves to containers or other cargo (known as hitchhiker pests).

Farming community Mypolonga has been named the 2022 Ag Town of the Year during Friday night’s Regional Showcase event at the UKARIA Cultural Centre at Mount Barker. Located in the heart of the Murraylands, the entrepreneurial community finished ahead of Crystal Brook, Kapunda, Orroroo and Waikerie to take the prized title of South Australia’s premier agricultural community.

The Opposition has slammed the McGowan Labor Government’s failure to see flow-on effects of banning native forestry on industries which rely on timber to provide goods and services. Opposition Leader Mia Davies said more than a year had passed since the announcement to end the native forestry industry yet many businesses still don’t have clarity on what their futures hold.

The Tasmanian horse community has been given a one-month reprieve after being cut off from the mainland following a decision by the operators of the only sea link to the island state, the Spirit of Tasmania, to ban livestock transport ... The decision by TT-Line to ban livestock on the Spirit of Tasmania threw the horse community into chaos and led to some horses missing racing in Melbourne on Cup Day.

When Karen Parrish decided to run an online youngstock show, judged on photos by the noted British judge Gill Wright, the show got entries not only from each Australian state, but from Germany, the US, France, UK and New Zealand. Almost every Mountain and Moorland breed was represented in pure and part-breds, up to three years of age.

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Victoria has found state-owned logger VicForests has logged illegally, and ruled for the first time that VicForests must protect threatened Gliders. Environment East Gippsland and Kinglake Friends of the Forest brought the case in 2021, to protect endangered Gliders in East Gippsland and the Central Highlands ... The groups are calling for the state Labor Government to end logging now, not in 8 years’ time.