Media Release

Leading Australian-owned renewable energy company Tilt Renewables has started construction of the 288MW Palmer Wind Farm, 70km east of Adelaide. Construction is expected to take two years and once completed the project will generate up to 288MW of renewable energy, enough to power up to 142,000 homes.

Tasmanian farmers have reacted with anger and disbelief to confirmation that the Federal Government has ignored community sentiment and waved through the sale of Rushy Lagoon, Tasmania’s largest farm, to UK forestry investor Gresham House, clearing the way for 22,000 hectares of prime dairy and beef country in the state’s north-east to be locked up under a pine plantation.

The Government is today releasing a consultation paper on the implementation of the minimum tax on discretionary trusts. These reforms are all about making the tax system fairer by better aligning the tax rate on trust income with tax rates paid by workers, and will help fund income tax cuts for workers.

Testing at CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness has confirmed H5 high pathogenicity avian influenza (bird flu) in a sample taken from a giant petrel found near Hardwicke Bay, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. 

A suspect case of H5 bird flu has been detected in a migratory seabird at Hardwicke Bay on the Yorke Peninsula. The giant petrel was reported to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline and collected and sampled by PIRSA.

The Albanese Labor Government has quietly abandoned 14 water infrastructure and river management projects across the Murray-Darling Basin, with irrigators and water users fearing more devastating water buybacks are to come.

In 2017, Basin governments agreed to a package of 36 projects in the southern Basin that would deliver environmental benefits equivalent to 605 gigalitres per year (GL/y) of recovered water. This allowed the sustainable diversion limits in the southern Basin to increase by 605 GL/y.

Greater Shepparton City Council has marked the conclusion of its inaugural 2026 Greater Shepparton Business Mentor Program ... The program ... brought together new and emerging local businesses with experienced mentors for practical one-on-one guidance, honest conversations and support tailored to their business goals.

When emerging contemporary Indigenous artist and Gomeroi woman Melinda Luscombe painted her latest vibrant creation she meditated on the fragility of life. The traditional painting, an Acknowledgment of Country made up of thousands of dots and dashes, tells the story of LifeFlight in the southwest and is now hanging in the charity's Toowoomba base.

When Sam Rogers joined the AgriFutures evoke Groundbreakers Program and Startup Alley at evoke 2026, he was already working on a challenge he knew firsthand. Growing up on a cattle property in North Queensland, Sam had experienced the labour pressures facing livestock producers and was building GrazeMate, a startup using autonomous drone technology to help farmers save time, reduce labour requirements and make more informed decisions.

Testing at CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) has determined the giant petrel found in the Perth North Metropolitan Area (Whitfords - Mullaloo beach) of Western Australia is presumed positive for H5 high pathogenicity avian influenza (bird flu). 

The Minns Labor Government is launching an NSW Asbestos Plan of Action and will conduct a two-year trial allowing NSW households to have asbestos waste picked up and disposed of for free.

New South Wales is responding to a suspect positive case of H5 bird flu. Samples from a Giant Petrel near Hawks Nest have tested positive for H5 influenza in preliminary testing at DPIRD’s laboratory at Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute.

The Minns Labor Government is driving growth across regional NSW with the launch of a new tourism marketing strategy designed to attract even more visitors, boost local businesses and create jobs across Regional NSW.  The first phase of the campaign will showcase Byron Bay, the Barrington Coast, Shoalhaven, Sapphire Coast and Port Stephens. 

The iconic Gloucester Tree has reopened following a major Cook Labor Government investment, giving visitors the chance to once again experience one of Western Australia's most famous nature-based tourism attractions. Adventurous climbers can now ascend to a new lookout that is as high as a 12-storey building to take in views of the surrounding karri forest within Gloucester National Park.

Regional Australians are finally seeing a clearer picture of mobile coverage, and it confirms what many have known for years: mobile coverage maps and real-world experience do not always match.

The Albanese Government ... introduced legislation to help secure the sustainable distribution of cash in Australia. This is about strengthening the cash distribution system, which is essential for the many Australians and businesses that rely on cash.    

Labor’s proposed national gun buyback scheme has failed its own deadline, with states and territories rejecting to sign up to Labor’s unworkable proposal before laws were meant to be passed by 1 July.

The VFF says new federal environment laws have made it much harder for farmers to manage their own land, with many now facing confusing rules, costly assessments and the risk of severe penalties for everyday farming activities ... The new rules are unworkable for agriculture and place an unfair burden on farmers.

The announcement last week from the Clean Energy Regulator that the Improved Native Forest Management Method (INFM) is now available under the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme, flies in the face of good resource management.

Forest & Wood Communities Australia has called on the Australian Greens to support the proposed Senate disallowance of Labor’s Improved Native Forest Management carbon method ahead of the expected Senate vote on 18 August 2026, saying the vote will expose whether the party genuinely opposes carbon offsets or only opposes them when they deliver its preferred anti-forestry outcome.