Land & environment

Central Coast Councillor Jared Wright has ramped up calls for State Government action on shark control following the recent release of the International Shark Attack File, which confirmed that Australia recorded the world's highest total of fatal shark attacks on humans in 2025. "Of 12 fatalities, nine were from Australia."

The NSW Government has announced an expansion of their Drought Plan and while welcome, more needs to be done, according to Country Mayors Association of NSW (CMA) Chairman, Mayor Rick Firman OAM (of Temora Shire). "Our farmers in south-west NSW are struggling and they need support with fodder and water freight costs. Keeping core livestock alive is a priority and simply enabling bigger debts is short on insight," he said.

NSW Farmers says plans to pollute rural and regional communities with Sydney’s rubbish should be immediately rejected. The proposed Parkes Incinerator would burn 700,000 tonnes of Sydney's red-bin rubbish each year if approved, and NSW Farmers Vice President Rebecca Reardon said it was totally unacceptable to force any regional community to be the dumping ground for Sydney waste if they did not agree.

Rural Aid has released its 2026 Farm Recovery Event (FRE) program, delivering practical, hands-on support to farming communities impacted by floods, fires, cyclones and ongoing drought. These week-long events bring together volunteers from across the country to help restore damaged farm infrastructure, improve productivity and support the wellbeing of farming families doing it tough.

Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud said Labor’s environmental reforms have created a confusing and costly mess, with farmers unable to get the information or help they need ... “Unfortunately, farmers are struggling to get information about what they can and can’t do under the new requirements. Machinery operators have also said the requirements will damage their business and cut jobs..."

The Murray River Group of Councils (MRGC) met in Melbourne last week for a dedicated strategic forum to discuss and shape its initial response to the 2026 Basin Plan Review. Mayors and CEOs from the MRGC … received a comprehensive briefing from Murray–Darling Basin Authority CEO Andrew McConville and senior executives on the MDBA’s recently released Basin Plan Review Discussion Paper.

Wheatstock (Kalannie Oval Feb 28 2026) gets turned up to 11, Jack Brennan explains why!

The Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) met for the first time this year on 19 February in Canberra on the Lands of the Ngunnawal people with all members present.

For years, residents of Wilcannia and Menindee say they have been living with the consequences of a government mapping error they had no part in creating. A one-metre inaccuracy in state-provided flood mapping has incorrectly placed large sections of both towns inside flood-prone zones, with consequences that have quietly devastated the ability of ordinary people to insure their homes and develop their land.

The Parliamentary Committee into the State’s algal bloom crisis has been unable to reach a consensus, with Labor members blocking the Committee including its findings in the formal report. The Committee was forced to publish multiple dissenting reports, from the Liberal team and Committee Chair, Greens MLC Rob Simms.

Net zero is another step closer to being achieved, as the City of Greater Geraldton commences work to begin gas flaring at Meru Waste Management Facility. The project will help reduce emissions from landfill by abating the potent greenhouse gas, methane.

The Victorian Minister for Planning, the Hon. Sonya Kilkenny MP, has decided that an environmental effect statement is required for the Fingerboards Critical Minerals Project and given reasons for her decision. Gippsland Critical Minerals Pty Ltd, the proponent of the Fingerboards Project, has responded to the decision. The community action group, Mine Free Glenaladale, has responded to the decision and GCM's statement.

More than a quarter of a century's worth of volunteer work to restore the timber trestle bridges on the old Cudgewa-Wodonga railway line was gone in a flash when the Walwa-Mt Lawson bushfire laid waste to the structures last month. A strong wind change pushed the out-of-control bushfire towards the bridges near Shelley, Koetong and the Tallangatta Valley on January 8th and within 24 hours, 15 of the 16 bridges had been destroyed.

Member for Murray Helen Dalton said 25 dead Murray Cod were left stranded in a remnant pool barely 60 metres long in Bullatale Creek. "Some were close to a metre in length - fish that would have taken decades to grow now gone," she said ... "So here is the question. What exactly is that two billion dollars a year being spent on?

Barkindji representatives travelled to the United Kingdom to share the Menindee fish kills film with international audiences and connect with cultural items. In the summer of 2018-2019, a million dead fish floated to the surface of the Baaka (Darling River) near the town of Menindee. The shocking sight was the result of a mass fish kill.

In Australia, the use of animals to solve various human problems is neither increasing nor decreasing. This process is becoming more humane and effective. This change is driven by public opinion and advances in science and technology.

Harvest was a huge success, can we back it up? We ask special Guests Mick Daw (CBH) and Ben Boekeman. In this Bumper episode, not only do you get all of your farming weather and your country news, we also catch up with Mick Daw from CBH off the back of a CORKER 25/26 harvest.

Preliminary test results have confirmed H5 avian influenza (H5 bird flu) in additional wildlife species on Australia’s sub-Antarctic external territory of Heard Island following confirmation in southern elephant seals in November 2025.

A feasibility study in 2014 looked at the cost of bringing a sewerage system to three of Kyogle’s villages — Tabulam, Wiangaree and Mallanganee. The Three Villages Water/Sewer Update report is back on the Kyogle Council agenda ... Mayor Danielle Mulholland said, “We’ve been talking about this for a long time.”

The Ocean Film Festival World Tour presents an extraordinary collection of short films that capture the raw beauty, untamed power, and majesty of our oceans. These carefully curated films showcase stunning cinematography from surface to depths, transporting audiences into underwater realms and atop towering waves.

A tiny, threatened marsupial not known to have inhabited South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula may exist as a relict population and still be clinging to survival, according to new research that has re-examined historical field data from one of the region’s most important conservation areas. In a study published in Australian Zoologist, researchers report compelling evidence that the Little Pygmy-Possum (Cercartetus lepidus) may exist in Dhilba Guuranda–Innes National Park...

VFF Water Council Chair Andrew Leahy said the lack of acknowledgment demonstrates a clear failure to strike an appropriate balance ... VFF analysis found ... an enormous imbalance in the individual mentions of the below terms: Environment: 434 mentions; First Nations: 152 mentions; Community: 34 mentions; Agriculture: 11 mentions; Food: 7 mentions; Landholder: 5 mentions; Farmer: 3 mentions; Employment: 1 mention; Food security: 0 mentions; Manufacturing: 0 mentions