Land & environment

The NSW Environment Minister has just approved Water Sharing Plans that will enable floodplain harvesting licences to be handed out in the Northern Basin. Cate Faehrmann, NSW Greens MP and water spokesperson, says this is a gift for big irrigators in the northern basin and will spell the end of a healthy Darling-Baaka River and Menindee Lakes.

Water allocation prices in the southern Murray–Darling Basin are likely to remain low for a third consecutive year, according to the latest ABARES Water Market Outlook. ABARES Executive Director, Dr Jared Greenville said based on the current climate outlook from the Bureau of Meteorology, ABARES considered the wet scenario to be the most likely, with prices expected to fall to $58 per ML.

Chris Oldfield. Existing trees and vegetation will be bulldozed and an avenue of 47 London Plane Trees planted along the footpath of Stewart Tce – from Park Tce to Playford Dve. The decision comes despite fears that it could ruin $1 million worth of hockey turf.

An advocacy group has slammed what it calls “inaccurate and harmful” reporting of an issue that is crucial to rural communities and the national prosperity. Speak Up Campaign chair, Shelley Scoullar, said rural Australians are ‘fed up’ with unacceptable media standards and the lack of effort to ensure crucial issues are reported accurately and with balance. Mrs Scoullar said the latest example was from the ABC’s national environment and science reporter, Michael Slezak, and his reporting of Australia’s State of the Environment document, in which he used selective information that presented a false picture of Murray-Darling Basin Plan progress in broadcasts and online, including ABC National News.

With Australian biodiversity under significant threat, the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) is urging the federal government to look to investment and collaboration with farmers. The call from the NFF comes after the recent release of the State of the Environment Report which revealed biodiversity across the country is experiencing a massive decline and currently remains under threat of further deterioration.