Business

Alice Melita. Appreciating a cocktail or two while creating their very own Van Gogh-inspired art piece was how about 40 Mount Isa residents spent their Saturday night. The Paint and Sip experience, hosted by Winton-based artist and painting instructor Emma Read, took patrons through step-by-step instructions in painting a field of sunflowers under a blue sky.

Kirstin Nicholson. Leitchville’s Matthew Hawken is part of a new program designed to strengthen the future of regional communities through capacity building and collaboration. The Drought Resilience Leaders Development Program is an initiative of the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund offered in 12 regions around Australia. The Mallee region program includes 25 people working in agriculture, financial service providers, irrigators and self-employed business consultants.

Incitec Pivot Fertilisers (IPF) has announced it has reached an agreement with Yara Australia to acquire the Yara Nipro liquid fertiliser business in Australia. The acquisition is subject to ACCC clearance. Jeanne Jonns, Incitec Pivot Limited (IPL) MD & CEO, said the Yara Nipro business is complementary to IPF’s broader business, and the acquisition of Yara Nipro operations in Moree and Whitton in New South Wales and Boundary Bend in Victoria will provide excellent liquid fertiliser options and enhanced security of supply for farmers across the east coast of Australia.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released the official livestock and production figures for the second quarter of 2022. The data also provided insights on slaughter, production, value and carcase weight for sheep and cattle for the 2022 financial year.

Lockyer Valley Mayor, Cr Tanya Milligan recently hosted Federal Member for Wright, Mr Scott Buchholz MP, for a tour of the region’s current federally funded projects. Council was successful in securing grant funding of $675,000 from the Australian Government’s Bushfire Recovery Grants Program. The cash injection is designed to reduce the risk of catastrophic bushfires in the Lockyer Valley ...

A new op shop opens on Wednesday, August 24 in Walker St, Casino. In a town with six op shops, St Mark’s Anglican Church will have prime spot ... The space won’t only be an op-shop. It will have the parish and priest’s offices and there will be a drop-in area where people can have a coffee or tea and a chat.

The Minister for Small Business, Ballarat based, Jaala Pulford, has tried to downplay her refusal to support Sebastopol businesses that her Government is destroying. Since February, state roadworks in Albert Street have effectively cut off access to the businesses. Some have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars ... “It is a terrible condemnation of the project, of the complaint management, that these citizens may be forced to sue their own government to get a fair hearing”: Bev McArthur MP.

Back in those dreary days of 2021 when we were still being locked down, Atlassian announced that its workers would need to attend at the office just four (yes, 4) times per annum ... So why has the NSW Government kicked-in $48.2m to assist in providing an office for… people who won’t be there? Especially when, as Atlassian management states in their latest Shareholder Letter, they are "Running a software company with nearly $3b in revenue".

South Australia is getting closer to finalising its bid for World Heritage status for the iconic Flinders Ranges National Park, with the lead authors of the nomination touring key sites in the region ... More than 600 million years old, the Flinders Ranges is one of Australia’s magnificent landscapes.: Minister for Climate, Environment and Water, Susan Close

In anticipation of the return to a pre-Covid summer, the Australian Lifeguard Service is recruiting new Lifeguards to bolster its team of beach safety professionals ahead of the raising of the flags that signifies the start of the season, taking place in the September school holidays. It presents a fantastic opportunity to engage yourself in a rewarding role which will keep you fit and on the beach across the summer.

Construction work on the Northern Rivers Rail Trail is ramping up with work starting this week on the final gravel surface for the Tweed section of the trail. After an extended run of dry weather, work to lay down the new compacted gravel surface is starting at several points along the trail including at Burringbar, Stokers Siding and South Murwillumbah.

Offshore wind turbines are getting bigger every year, a trend that already helps offshore wind reduce costs all over the world. Whilst recent research suggests that costs will continue to dip as wind turbines get bigger and are deployed further offshore, the challenges to the design of the floating platform that supports the wind turbine increase.

Toowoomba Regional Council’s ambitious and cost-saving plan to power most of the city’s wastewater treatment plant with gas captured from the city’s nearby landfill is a step closer to reality ... Cr Sommerfield said the energy re-use project would allow the gas-fired generator to supply up to 70% of the power to run the Wetalla Water Reclamation Facility, along with ongoing environmental benefits.

Tennant Minerals has announced its latest drilling results at the Bluebird Copper-Gold Prospect near Tennant Creek revealed a discovery of a rich new gold shoot with bonanza grades. The company says the results highlight Bluebird’s potential to rival other high-grade copper and gold deposits including Peko and Nobles Nob, located just 20 kilometres west of Bluebird.

Following its public campaign to get a child care director in Julia Creek, McKinlay Shire Council is now trying to get a new GP to live in the community. The otherwise burgeoning town is emphatically seeking a new doctor at its brand-new health facility.

Hughenden and the Flinders Shire region attracted a record number of tourists in the last financial year, according to new data released by the council. A total of 27,467 visitors came through Flinders Discovery Centre from July 2021 to June 2022, an 11 per cent increase on the previous year and a huge 42 per cent increase on 2019-20 during the travel restrictions of the pandemic.

Cambooya's iconic Bull & Barley Inn has a new owner with Mick Dewar taking over from Bruce Dell, who has owned the hotel for the last 15 years. The historic pub was built in 1902 when it was named the Cambooya Railway Hotel.

The Narrandera Shire Council will formally object to the closure of the National Bank branch at Narrandera and will review its banking arrangements following the procurement of a new enterprise management system later this financial year. The bank advised that the decision to close in October was predicated on a decline in physical transactions conducted in the branch...

On Friday 5 August, a SETA member raised the alarm on a motion to be voted on by Eurobodalla Shire councillors. The motion was titled “Eurobodalla Shire Council supports an end to native forest logging in Eurobodalla Shire.” ... In the lead up to and on Tuesday, 9 August 2022, the Eurobodalla Shire Councillors have spent significant time dealing with the Greens party deputy mayor, Alison Worthington’s motion to end native forest harvesting in the shire.