Interview

This piece emerged from an extended dialogue with the WA Minister for Police regarding the new firearms regulations released just before Christmas. I revised my original opinion article to incorporate the Minister’s direct responses, as they address many of the key concerns raised during the reform process.

In this interview with ARR.News, Jo Wills shares some insights into museum practices that can inspire and inform the sustainability of museums in regional Australia.

Henry Tan discusses with ARR.News his project to identify effective food safety and biosecurity risk controls in the production, and processing of chicken meat that will result in a reduction of consumer exposure to Campylobacter, the leading cause of foodborne illness in Australia.

The Betts/Barbour/Hume family’s 157-year-old agricultural and biodiversity conservation property is at a critical point. It may not survive this latest challenge to its viability. If it fails, it will take with it decades of labour and investment expended on protecting an extremely environmentally, historically, agriculturally and culturally important area.

In this interview with ARR.News, Churchill Fellow Kelly Lees shares insights from her experience with the intitial attempt to eradicate Varroa destructor, a parasitic mite of honeybees, and a little of her passion and vision for their successful management in Australia by our beekeepers who, as described by Kelly, are hard working, resilient and resourceful.

Churchill Fellow Dean Gilligan discusses with ARR.News the conservation of Edgbaston Springs in the Great Artesian Basin, key threats to springs ecosystems, such as invasive pest fish, and how he hopes his research in Ash Meadows in the USA and Cuarto Cienegas in Mexico will inform the management of Australia's endangered springs ecosystems.

Dr Matt Hill (PhD, Music technology and composition) was a Dunoon identity for many years: a fixture of the Dunoon Football Club as a player and committee member, a member of the Dunoon Primary P&C and a music teacher at his home in James Street. He wrote a song about the Dunoon tornado which ripped through the village in 2007 ... He is a composer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.

Urbanisation has a negative impact on the Ukrainian family and the renewal of the population of Ukraine. In the conditions of catastrophic population decline, Ukraine needs to renew the ancient family values ​​laid down by rural residents hundreds of years ago.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) (Queensland Section) is this month celebrating 60-years of service from its Mount Isa base. Established in 1964, the Mount Isa Base covers a waiting room of more than 800,000 square kilometres, connecting the residents of this significant north-west Queensland region to leading, and often lifesaving, health services ... ARR.News found out more from RFDS Mount Isa Base Support Manager, Ducky Jeacocke.

Number 8 Bio has successfully raised $7 million in its seed round, marking a significant milestone in its mission to dramatically reduce methane emissions in the livestock sector. ARR.News asked some questions of Dr Tom Williams, CEO and Co-Founder of Number 8 about 90 per cent reductions in stock emissions and, goodness, even carbon negative cattle.

Dave Gallagher, Tom Kennedy and Darriea Turley are the mayoral candidates for the Broken Hill City Council election on September 14. A Home in the Outback's founding editor Katherine Waite sat down with the three candidates to hear their Broken Hill story, learn the values that drive them and give their election pitch.

It’s a long way from the small town of Carnarvon in WA’s Gascoyne region to the picturesque Italian city of Venice. But that’s exactly where WA glass-artist Sabrina Dowling Guidici will be heading this September. Sabrina is the only Australian to be exhibiting at this year’s prestigious Venice Glass Week where she’ll showcase a unique glasswork collection titled ‘Saltwaters’ ... inspired by seagrasses found in WA’s World Heritage Site of Shark Bay ...

Booming investments into biofuels, set out in government’s ‘Future Made in Australia’ plan, presents a huge opportunity for Australia’s regional agricultural producers and farmers, according to Airbus. Airbus Chief Representative for Australia and the Pacific, Stephen Forshaw, recently warned that a “Future Made in Singapore”, not Australia, could be a reality if local industry does not embrace these opportunities now to tap into domestic gains. Australian Rural & Regional News interviewed Stephen and learnt a good more about just what's involved and the prospects for Australia and Australian farmers.

The elephant in the room is poverty, says Greens candidate for Namatjira, Blair McFarland, in the election campaign mostly focussed on what to do about crime. “We’re already the most over policed region in Australia. If public safety depended on police numbers we’d be one of the safest places in the world.”

BeeHero's updated sensing solution, already in use worldwide, enables first-of-its-kind, high resolution heat mapping of bee activity, and features improved sensing and pollinator monitoring capabilities that enable predictive models for pollination success. ARR.News found out more about PIP 2.0 from Yuval Regev, Co-founder and CTO of BeeHero.

"Every project a surveyor is supposed to work on will be delayed if they are unable to upgrade in time.  Notably that would be infrastructure such as bridges, roads and rail.  But also housing developments in regional and rural areas.  If the 4 and 5G coverage doesn’t take in all the areas formerly covered by 3G then there will be new blackspots.": Michelle Blicavs, CEO Surveyors Australia.

Sixty five thousand years. The world’s oldest living culture. One of the things that make Australia great. Aboriginal people and the tourism industry are clearly made for each other. Well, no.

How come the value of cattle stations is skyrocketing? The bar of the Centralian Beef Breeders Association was a good place for a pub test ... The [Alice Springs] News spoke to several of the bar’s patrons on the condition of not naming them, about what is clearly a historic switch from a 150 years old family-based industry to investment opportunities for big companies, some from overseas, and superannuation firms.

It’s time parents of delinquent young people took control of their offspring, and if they don’t, laws need to be brought in to oblige them to do so. CLP Member for Namatjira Bill Yan said this in an interview with the Alice Springs News on Show Day, two days before “about 20 male youths” allegedly assaulted, at 2.15am, four off-duty police officers, including three women, walking home at the end of night on the town.

Naracoorte’s Stacey Windsor is on a mission to change mindsets on pole dancing and promote the popular artform in town. Also known as Dee-Dee, Stacey is opening a new pole dancing studio in Naracoorte ... The Naracoorte News recently caught up with Stacey and spoke to her about why a pole dancing studio in Naracoorte.

Australian drone operator Ninox Robotics has boosted its capability for capturing aerial intelligence to be used for conservation efforts with the acquisition of the Sierra-Olympia Vayu HD longwave infrared (LWIR) camera. Ninox Robotics will put this high resolution compact camera to the test for the first time this month in the second phase of its koala spotting program ... ARR.News asked Daniel Vogelnest of Ninox Robotics more about drone monitoring of koalas.

Susannah Begbie grew up in Eden Monaro, practises as a rural doctor, and has written a prize-winning debut novel, The Deed, set in the Riverina. Australian Rural & Regional News contributor, Aedeen Cremin, strongly recommends The Deed, which she concludes is "ultimately a morality tale - a highly enjoyable one" and was able to quiz Susannah about her work, her characters and some plot choices.