Media Release

Preparations for a large-scale limestone shellfish reef – the first delivered under the Malinauskas Government’s Summer Plan – are underway on the Yorke Peninsula, in one of the biggest marine restoration projects ever undertaken in South Australia.

The countdown is on for the Grains Research and Development Corporation’s (GRDC) 2026 Grains Research Update series for growers and agronomists seeking practical, science-backed strategies to boost profitability. The events return to New South Wales and Queensland starting next month, with registrations now open for forums in Wagga Wagga, Corowa, West Wyalong, Dubbo, Goondiwindi and Narrabri.

Michelle Freeman. Victorians are living through another black summer, with fires burning through more than 400,000 hectares of forest and farmland and leaving communities from Natimuk to Walwa confronting loss. The scale of the damage underscores the need to continue evolving how we manage our landscapes to better prepare for fire.

The Victorian Farmers Federation has slammed the State Government's continued underfunding of the Country Fire Authority, with today's release of the CFA's 2024-25 Annual Report confirming a funding crisis that is placing regional communities at unacceptable risk. VFF President, Brett Hosking said the numbers tell a damning story that can no longer be ignored.

Brisbane-based, national produce rescue business Funky Food is calling on farmers across Queensland and northern NSW to let the Funky team save more fresh fruit and vegetables from going to waste, by partnering to redirect surplus and cosmetically imperfect produce directly to Australian households.

Satellite imagery and artificial intelligence can detect with high accuracy two invasive weed species in Australia, posing a new opportunity for defense against these pervasive plants. Research conducted by Charles Darwin University (CDU) and Charles Sturt University (CSU) explored the potential for SkySat satellite imagery and AI algorithms to detect and map African lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula) and bitou bush (Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp. rotundata).

Queensland’s Sunshine Coast remains the perennial favourite, but cooler climates are proving popular, with Tasmania and regional Victoria appealing to more Australians looking for a change ... “We are seeing interesting moves in the southern states with Victoria’s Wodonga seeing the strongest annual net migration growth, while three Tassie spots Latrobe, Devonport and Huon Valley – ranked second to fourth.

The Northern Territory Government takes a holistic, evidence-based approach to sustainably managing water in the Territory. The Cambrian Limestone Aquifer (CLA) is vast and plentiful and contributes to water resources across a large area of the Territory.

The NSW Government has called for community input on recreational opportunities in the proposed Great Koala National Park. Regular ARR.News commentator on koala issues, Vic Jurskis, responds and has some questions for the Environment Minister ... Where do koalas no longer exist in NSW? What is the evidence they existed there when Europeans arrived? What is the evidence they are no longer there? Do you intend to reintroduce them?

On Thursday 15 January 2026, the Minister for the Environment and Water, Murray Watt, announced the Federal Government's decision to list the Lower Murray River System as being of Critically Endangered conservation status pursuant to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth). Minister Watt's statement together with early statements from National Farmers' Federation and the Nature Conservation Council of NSW demonstrate some of the points of difference over this contentious decision.

Leader of The Nationals WA Shane Love says if growing unrest to Labor’s demersal fishing bans is any indication, the Cook Labor Government has bitten off more than it can chew and badly underestimated the strength and unity of Western Australia’s fishing community ... "The fishing community is ropeable, and rightly so," Mr Love said.

The Sunshine Coast-based LifeFlight aeromedical crew ... airlifted a man to hospital after a motorcycle crash in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. The LifeFlight helicopter was tasked by Retrieval Services Queensland at 12.15pm to a State Forest near Kenilworth and landed on a dirt road close to the scene.

Members of the public have rescued two swimmers struggling in a rip in the Illawarra on Monday night, with the help of a rescue tube affixed to the Surf Life Saving NSW (SLSNSW) Emergency Response Beacon (ERB) located at the unpatrolled Coniston Beach, just south of WIN Stadium. 

Indigenous Cultural Fire Practitioners and Queensland farmers are working together to improve grazing landscapes using First Nations land management practices, including Cultural Burning - transforming the way food and agricultural systems work.

The Australian public is being called upon to unite and lend a helping hand to our farmers in need, as they battle the Victorian bushfire crisis - one of the worst in years ... In response to the crisis, Victorian Farmers’ Federation (VFF) - the state’s peak farmer advocacy body - has activated its Disaster Relief Fund...

The State only aims to promptly suppress 80 per cent of bushfires, effectively allowing one in five fires to grow beyond initial attack. According to the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) Annual Report 2024–25, the government’s target for “fires contained at first attack and/or within five hectares” sits well below what frontline agencies have actually achieved in each of the past five years.

“I was in a grazier’s chopper being shown around, and he made the clear observation that like the surviving cattle, wild pigs are corralling on the islands that have formed in the inland sea that is the flood water. While the flood water presents many challenges, one opportunity would be for real and effective management of the feral pig numbers throughout the Gulf,” the KAP Leader said.