Business

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.

Samuel Davis. War in Ukraine is accelerating the UK’s interest in plans to build a spaceport in Cape York, Space Centre Australia’s chief executive James Palmer says ... “Our connection with the UK has been part of our strategic road map since day one,” the CEO told Cape York Weekly.

The release of the Australian banking regulator’s annual points of presence data this week will be an integrity test for both its chairman Wayne Byres and Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and Treasury are both in possession of a list of 149 bank sites that do not meet the legal definition of a branch under federal legislation. Most of them have been falsely listed in government data by their Australian and foreign owners for years.

People in cardiac arrest will have a greater chance of survival thanks to a $2.5 million partnership between NSW Ambulance and the pioneering smartphone app GoodSAM. Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the technology alerts trained responders to someone nearby in cardiac arrest, so CPR can be started before paramedics arrive.

The state’s peak agricultural advocacy body says it is opposed to Australia signing up to a global ‘methane pledge’ that is killing small towns across the ditch ... NSW Farmers CEO Pete Arkle said while the federal government had been quick to promise no tax on farmers if it signed up to the Methane Pledge, the experience of New Zealand’s farmers proved talk was cheap.

Kristin Murdock. A new approach to managing shearing teams is paying dividends in the Mid North of the state and helping address the skills shortage which is being felt by the entire livestock industry. When Sarah-Jane Abley’s shearing team steps onto the boards of shearing sheds around South Australia, out goes any hierarchy and instead the team just gets to work.

It’s just a kilometre or two off the New England Highway at East Greenmount and easy to miss if you don’t know it’s there, but Steele Rudd Memorial Park is a must visit attraction for locals and tourists. Arthur Hoey Davis, better known by his pen name of Steele Rudd has certainly left a legacy, not just for the our local area but for the whole nation as his fictional work ‘On Our Selection’ has helped shape Australian culture.

Serena Kirby. Denmark FM has been named as a finalist in four national community radio awards. The annual Community Broadcasting Association of Australia awards are designed to recognise innovation, programs and initiatives that contribute to the industry and the local community.

A teenager was ensuring the blacksmithing trade was front and centre for the millennial generation at the Good Old Days Festival in southern NSW. Joe Reedy, of Wallabadah in northern NSW, donned his leather apron and was kept busy working the hot forge and hammering out draught horseshoes and fire pokers for an appreciative audience at the festival at Barellan on October 1-2.

The Moulamein Bowling Club hosted a Gourmet Fare on Saturday, October 8. This was the second event, the first was held during a short reprieve in the Covid-19 clamp down. The government rules of being allowed to stand but not sit, as apparently Covid-19 knew the difference, was a distant memory.