Media Release

Australian Manuka Honey Association (AHMA) is celebrating a sweet win as New Zealand Manuka Honey Appellation Society backs out of an appeal over naming rights before the UK High Court and similar legal action in the EU ... Mr Littleproud welcomed the win over New Zealand producers in Europe and the UK, but said the Labor Government and in particular Agriculture Minister Murray Watt had a role to play in supporting our home grown Manuka Honey farmers over their Trans-Tasman rivals.

The youth crime crisis has not only once again revealed the Queensland Labor Government’s ineffective way of dealing with a problem but also exposes their disregard to the regions ... the fact that it took a response for a murder in Brisbane, not the constant high levels of violence and off the charts levels of offences occurring in Mount Isa, Townsville and Cairns, to incite some sort of change, is disappointing.

Sections of the highway around Fitzroy Crossing were completely washed away in the recent one-in-100-year flood event, while the Fitzroy Crossing Bridge sustained significant damage and will need to be fully replaced. The plan will involve the implementation of a barge system across the river, which will initially be operated by tugs, with a cable system to be operationalised shortly after.

Staff and patients in NSW public hospitals are set to benefit from a major workforce boost with almost 1,100 medical graduate interns starting work in city and country hospitals this week – more than any other state or territory in Australia ... Minister Taylor said the new medical graduates will be welcomed with open arms to our rural and regional hospitals, with almost one third or 396 of the positions in the bush.

Giving the gift of variety all while supporting local has come out on top over the festive season with thousands of dollars being injected into the community thanks to the Buy Local Greater Geraldton Gift Cards. Reaching impressive new heights, nearly 900 Gift Cards were purchased in the month of December last year, totalling over $107,000 for the month alone.

With widespread La Niña flooding in the Murray-Darling Basin, common carp (Cyprinus carpio) populations are having a boom year.  Videos  of writhing masses of both adult and young fish illustrate that all is not well in our rivers.

The prestigious Sydney Dance Company joined forces with NORPA last week to mentor young dancers from the Northern Rivers in a week-long dance intensive held at Southern Cross University in Lismore. Working with Sydney Dance Company's Teaching Artists, 30 local dancers aged 13-18 years from across the region were taught Sydney Dance Company choreography and repertoire as well as learning how to develop and express their own experiences through contemporary dance.

"Skip has now travelled more than 2,500 kilometres south, where he’s currently having a feed on the East Tasman Plateau, after spending Christmas week on secluded Craggy Island, north of Flinders Island, where he spent a few days hauled out and making short fishing trips": Minister for Environment, James Griffin.

The Euston weir and lock 15 will be reinstated ... as high flows in the River Murray continue to recede. The weir was removed in mid-September 2022 to allow floodwaters in the River Murray to pass unobstructed.

A muscled up NSW Police Force’s Raptor Squad will now have permanent bases in regional NSW, expanding to the state’s Northern and Southern regions to target and dismantle organised criminal networks. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the launch of the Raptor North and Raptor South squads will deliver an extra 30 staff, comprising investigators, Operations Support Group (OSG) operatives, and Traffic and Highway Patrol officers, to build on NSW’s crackdown on organised crime and criminal networks.

The state government’s program for the collection of sandbags from properties in Echuca and Echuca Village has resumed. Campaspe Mayor Cr Rob Amos is encouraging Echuca residents and businesses with sandbags on their properties to take advantage of the free service, which is provided through Emergency Recovery Victoria’s (ERV) Flood Recovery Clean-up Program.

We are thrilled to announce that Festival of Small Halls is heading out on their Autumn Tour 2023: Port Fairy Folk Festival to Lake Gkula and we would love it if you would join us again ... There are 18 communities across Victoria, ducking into New South Wales and South Australia, flinging open the doors of their halls and welcoming you in this March and April.

Enjoy a trip through the pioneering days of the Australian wool industry at the Jondaryan Woolshed’s Back to the Woolshed event from January 26-28, 2023 ... “The three-day family event opens on Australia Day (Thursday, January 26, 2023) and runs across the following two days”: Toowoomba Region Mayor Paul Antonio

Territorians and visitors are being urged to protect themselves from mosquitoes bites, with mosquito numbers expected to increase following recent heavy monsoonal rainfall. Some mosquito species can transmit viruses including the Ross River and Barmah Forest viruses, as well as the potentially fatal Japanese encephalitis and Murray Valley encephalitis viruses ... three cases of Japanese encephalitis have been diagnosed in the Northern Territory (NT), with the first detected in in 2021.

Taj's Small Fries presented by Board.Store concluded in emphatic fashion yesterday in Yallingup, with eight champions crowned in classic summer conditions in Yallingup marking the end of three days of amazing surfing at WA's biggest, best and most prestigious junior surfing tournament.

Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon visited Maryborough on 17 January 2023 and said a record number of First Nations groups would share in funding of more than $1.5 million, from organisations on Mabuiag and Muralag Islands in the Torres Strait in the north, to near Birdsville in the west and Gatton in Southern Queensland.

Cook Shire Council worked with Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, local businesses and wholesale suppliers to coordinate delivery of essential supplies to the regional land-locked community of Coen, the Shire’s second largest township, and northern-most hub.

The future of fashion is transparent. One of the global leaders in traceability technologies, FibreTrace ®, are set to release a free digital traceability solution to the textile industry, which maps the global textile supply chain from fibre to retail.

The first Australian athletes to qualify for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships have visited the course in Bathurst on 16 January 2023, just over a month out from the event ... "Bathurst is known for adrenaline-fuelled sporting achievements, and the World Athletics Cross Country Championships will be right at home at Mount Panorama with more than 500 athletes competing from 68 nations": Deputy Premier, Minister for Regional NSW and Member for Bathurst Paul Toole.

While the heavy rains that lashed the Shire of Broome last week from ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie caused relatively minor damage in Broome, they have presented an increased risk of exposure to mosquito-borne diseases in town and surrounding communities. The Shire has commenced a pest management program ...