Business

Andy Marson and Craig Faulkner are at a property at Bungawalbin searching out feral pigs. They use sweetcorn and molasses to lure the pigs out. “It’s like chocolate for us,” Craig said. As consultants working for ReconEco, an environment consultancy firm based in Lismore, the men are working with the Envite team at Jimmy Malecki’s place, as part of a post-bushfire program to restore the land.

Regional Queenslanders will soon benefit from improved air service frequencies between Charleville, Roma, and Brisbane and coach services with stronger route connections following the signing of new regional transport service contracts starting in December and January.

Eighteen of Australia’s small news publishers who produce public-interest journalism, are banding together, to negotiate collectively to secure commercial agreements with Google and Facebook for supply of news content on their platforms. Called the Public Interest Publishers Alliance, these important Australian publishers, from around Australia, attract multicultural audiences, focus on issues at a local and regional level, and cover news that affects LGBTQI communities. The group includes valued titles such as: The Australian Jewish News, Australian Rural & Regional News, Australian Chinese Daily, Out in Perth, Q News, Time Out and more.

The immediate need for the development of a Desalination Plant on the Eyre Peninsula was fully supported by the District Council of Cleve at its November Council meeting. However, the Council also decided that it does not support SA Water’s proposed location of Billy Light’s Point in Boston Bay, Port Lincoln.

More details have emerged about a proposed spaceport that would result in a billion-dollar industry in Cape York. Space Centre Australia visited Weipa and Napranum last week to meet with stakeholders and community members and discuss plans for the project, to be built near RAAF Base Scherger.

Greg Westcott. More than 40 years on from the demolition of the historic Portland Roads jetty, the community is divided by persistent lobbying by a minority of local property owners for the construction of a rock wall and boat ramp that, when completed, will extend out from “the point” about 190 metres into deep water.

The  Imparja  Cup will draw Aboriginal cricketers to Alice Springs to celebrate cricket, country and culture from 13-18 February 2022. The format of the 2022  tournament will be consistent with previous Imparja Cup events.

The whole landscape needs maintenance by mild fire. But academics and fire chiefs talk of asset protection zones, strategic zones and management zones with different fire regimes. They just don’t get it. Firebreaks don’t work in extreme weather. They can’t stop firestorms and long-distance ember showers. If you need to reduce accumulated fuel, you haven’t been maintaining the landscape properly.

The Tasmanian Government will today lodge its official funding submission with the Australian Government to initiate the Tasmanian Green Hydrogen Hub Project at Bell Bay confirming it as one of Australia’s strategically important locations for the development of the emerging green hydrogen industry.

Peter Rutherford. The Sydney Morning Herald, the Age and other outlets published an article regarding a freedom of information (FOI) request lodged by the South East Timber Association on 28 April 2021. The initial request was for emails and letters between Professor David Lindenmayer and 17 journalists and 4 other parties ... It is flattering that the named journalists and Professor Lindenmayer are so overwhelmed by the FOI request that they have made a national news story. As every single exchange between the Professor and the journalists has been redacted, what is the point of the story?

Renewable energy and renewable timber may soon be produced side-by-side, with the passage today of legislation to enable clean energy developments such as wind energy to be established in State forest pine plantations. NSW Parliament passed amendments to the Forestry Act 2012 as part of the Energy Legislation Amendment Bill to facilitate the opportunity to establish renewable energy infrastructure in State forest pine plantations.

Kaiser Reef Limited (ASX:KAU) is extremely pleased to announce the first exploration results for the high-grade Maldon historic gold mine.  Managing Director, Jonathan Downes stated, “We are delighted that we are finding high-grade gold in our first trial drilling campaign.  Maldon is one of the great goldfields and it has received extraordinarily limited modern exploration."

Two Maldon businesses are finalists in the Mount Alexander Business Excellence Awards. Warral Maldon and Maldon Takeaway were both selected for demonstrating excellence in their fields ... Since 1896, when the great-great grandfather of the current owner of Warral Maldon, Lindsay Callaway, fell in love with bees, this one family has spent more than 125 years perfecting the art of apiculture ... Maldon Takeaway strive for excellence each day.

Over 100 artworks from Central Goldfields Art Gallery now can be viewed online on Google Arts & Culture by people around the world, due to a new partnership between Google and the Gallery. Central Goldfields Art Gallery is the latest Australian partner to join more than 2,000 cultural institutions from over 80 countries across the globe, bringing important works from regional Victoria online, for the world to explore and enjoy.

Walgett Shire Council, Media Release, 17 November 2021

The $22m expansion of the Yanchep Central Shopping Centre has been approved by the Metro Outer JDAP after a short delay due to Main Roads WA’s concerns about future vehicle queuing along Peony Blvd during peak periods ... The shopping centre expansion is estimated to result in 106 construction jobs and up to 723 centre positions.

Mulpha Australia has snapped up a vineyard in Lovedale, growing its tourism reach in NSW’s Hunter Valley wine region. The boutique Emma’s Cottage Vineyard is located on Wilderness Road and comprises a three-hectare established vineyard on 12-hectares of land,   with a fully licensed cellar door and 40-seat café with a commercial kitchen.

Experimenta Life Forms reveals how contemporary artists are exploring notions of life, at a time when technological change and new research findings are making definitions of ‘life’ increasingly difficult to pin down.

Greater Shepparton City Council is excited to announce the official virtual opening of the new Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) building on Friday 19 November at 7.00pm. The virtual opening will be available online for everyone to view and will feature some very special guests and presenters.

A massive expansion is underway at the DPI’s Narrandera Fisheries Centre courtesy of a multi-million Government investment in native fish breeding. The world class centre is Australia’s largest native fish breeding and research facility producing hundreds of thousands of fingerlings annually to stock dams and waterways in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Nicholas Rupolo. The NSW Farmers Association has grown tired of the state and federal government’s inaction on agricultural labour shortages ... The state’s grain harvest was forecast to be worth $6 billion to the state economy but harvest forecasts have been revised down as a result of worker shortages ... The inability to access labour is made worse by growing costs associated with harvesting that have proven to be a major issue.