Media Release

The six councils of the Wimmera and southern Mallee region have joined forces in a new Alliance to advocate for the needs of their region. Representing Buloke, Hindmarsh, Horsham, Northern Grampians, West Wimmera, and Yarriambiack, the Wimmera Southern Mallee Alliance was formed to deliver enduring social, economic, and environmental value for local communities through collaborative leadership and coordinated action.

Food & Fibre Great South Coast (FFGSC) announced the release of its 2024-2025 Annual Report, showcasing a year of unprecedented growth, innovation, and strengthened community bonds across the Great South Coast region. The report highlights FFGSC's unwavering commitment to championing a thriving, resilient, and sustainable food...

The Albanese Government has signed a landmark tax treaty with Croatia – the first ever between our two nations – marking a major step forward in our growing bilateral relationship. Once in force, the agreement will make it easier for Australian and Croatian businesses to trade, invest and innovate together.

Lapunyah Art Gallery president Helen Dennis said ‘Reparative Threads’ will explore the cultural and material residue of cotton, while working with renowned artist Dr Karike Ashworth and communities across the Western Downs. Ms Dennis said it is a joint initiative between Dogwood Crossing at Miles, Lapunyah Art Gallery at Chinchilla, and Gallery 107 at Dalby, culminating in a multi-site community exhibition and the creation of a large-scale 3D wall.

Tasmanian farmers manage almost a million hectares of forest and are responsible for its fire safety, ecological integrity and long-term health. TasFarmers maintains that private native forests must be actively managed through fuel reduction, cool burns and evidence-based forestry practices that support their natural ecology and community safety.

The surge in usage of ‘GLP-1’-style weight loss medications is seeing a "ripple effect" begin to unfold, impacting eating patterns in a number of countries around the world, Rabobank says in recently-released research.

Rural Aid has released its 2024/25 Impact Report, revealing a year where practical assistance, mental health and wellbeing and community-led recovery helped thousands of farming families withstand worsening pressures across rural Australia.

...There are now 18 volunteers contributing to the work of running the Op Shop, each person has unique skills and creative talents to contribute ... Overseas donations have been sent to Indonesia, supporting a child who has been able to attend school and receive helpful items, and to Ukraine and Niger with boxes of jumpers, beanies, scarves, bandages.

Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories, and Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster says Friday afternoon’s quiet shelving of Labor’s proposed default speed limit reduction is a victory for Coalition advocacy and common sense.

Regional Cities NSW (RCNSW) has led a delegation to Sydney to progress joint solutions to the most pressing issues facing regional cities across the state. With talks centred on housing, infrastructure, regional aviation and water security, the delegation sought to strengthen its partnership with the Minns Government to ensure regional cities continue to grow and prosper.

The ambitious trial to reintroduce native marsupial species into Sturt National Park is on track, say Wild Deserts conservationists. Western quolls, bilbies and golden bandicoots are slowly taking back a ‘low-cat’ area of the desert – the massive Wild Training Zone of more than 100km2 in Sturt National Park in NSW.

Queensland’s horticulture sector is doing far more than feeding the nation – it’s contributing more than $6 billion to the state economy each year and supporting almost 45,000 jobs, according to a new report released today by the Queensland Fruit & Vegetable Growers (QFVG).

Last Friday night the Minns Labor Government voted down NSW Nationals amendments to strengthen laws for repeat youth offenders. While the Government’s Bill essentially adopts the Victorian position - the machete capital of Australia - our amendment would’ve seen NSW adopt the Queensland position that has been in place since 1899 ... ARR.News asked a further question of Mr Kemp.

The Western Queensland Alliance of Councils (WQAC) has called on the Australian Government to reject proposals to reduce the default speed limit on unsigned roads outside of built-up areas, warning that such a change would impose unnecessary costs, undermine regional productivity and fail to address the real causes of road trauma in rural and remote Queensland.

The Crisafulli Government currently subsidises and regulates seven air routes to ensure Queenslanders living in regional and remote communities can continue to have access to essential medical, educational, social, and business services. Over the coming weeks, 22 consultation sessions will be hosted across regional Queensland to hear directly from locals about how future air services can better meet community needs.

The designated fishing sessions for the 2025-2026 Roe's abalone season have been released, with recreational fishers reminded to fish safely and sustainably this summer. The highly popular one-hour fishing sessions are scheduled to occur over four Saturday mornings between 7am and 8am, dependant on conditions, between Busselton Jetty and Greenough River Mouth.

Leader of The Nationals has thanked Australian farmers on Agriculture Day for producing the nation’s food and fibre. Mr Littleproud said it was important to acknowledge farmers needed extra support this year, after being forced to bear the brunt of Labor’s race to all-renewables and reckless net zero ideology.

On National Agriculture Day, the Albanese Labor Government acknowledges and celebrates the incredible success of Australia’s world-class farmers and producers as the industry heads towards a record-breaking year. Australia's agriculture, fisheries and forestry production is forecast to reach a record value of more than $100 billion this financial year.  

Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster has released the views of over 5,300 Mallee voters showing strong opposition to Labor’s energy policies and highlighting that her advocacy is consistently in harmony with what Mallee voters believe ... Mallee’s Biggest Survey was circulated within Mallee to every letterbox and online in the wake of the May election and took months to receive, manually process and analyse over 5,300 responses.

If you’re still on the hunt for an Ag Day plan for tomorrow, fear not! We’ve picked some of the juiciest public Ag Day events … From seedling giveaways, to farm tours, nation-wide meditations, to entire towns painting themselves green, there is something for everyone this Friday!

The National Schools Food and Fibre Education Strategy was launched today, marking an unprecedented collaboration between 15 rural research and development corporations to transform how Australian students learn about the nation’s $80 billion food and fibre sector.