News

Local businesses need to adapt and innovate to keep up with the constantly changing world and build resilience into their business. Advance Rockhampton is teaming up with key players in the business innovation and AI industries to show how emerging technologies can help Rockhampton businesses thrive.

The first of a series of themed animations being produced to debunk myths about the environmental impact of red meat production in Australia has been launched by Meat & Livestock Australia. The animation explains how methane from cattle is part of the natural carbon cycle, demonstrating how the environmental impacts of emissions of methane from cows and carbon dioxide from fossil fuels, are fundamentally different.

The National Farmers’ Federation has welcomed the formal appointment of Troy Grant as Inspector-General of Water Compliance for the Murray Darling Basin. "We expect the role of Inspector-General will deliver improved outcomes for Basin farmers, communities and the environment," NFF CEO Tony Mahar said.

In a first for Australian heritage tourism management, residents in 13 local government areas in the Central Victoria Goldfields region have been taking an online survey to gauge their happiness, quality of life and well-being ... The survey forms an important part of the region’s bid to have the best of its gold-rush era heritage sites included on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Four Hope Vale locals with family ties to the Lama Lama people have begun work as rangers with Yintjingga Aboriginal Corporation thanks to the support of the Hope Vale Community Development Program. Marcus Bowen, Levi Flinders and Dylan and Harold Nipper have now joined the team undertaking land management works in the Lama Lama National Park, 300km north-west of Cooktown.

Organisers of Weipa’s first birdwatching event of 2021 were rapt with the turnout over two sessions, with more likely to be added to the calendar next year.

Patty Mills for Prime Minister – that was the call on Saturday night as the star basketballer drained 42 points to lead the Boomers to their first ever Olympic medal. The Torres Strait Island product was amazing in all the big moments as he led Australia to a 107-93 win against Slovenia to pick up a much-deserved bronze medal. Bronze felt like “rose gold” to Mills.

Grain growers in Victoria’s Mallee region are being urged to ‘walk through paddocks’ to check for signs of mouse activity and crop damage and apply bait where necessary to help drive down numbers before spring.

Groundbreaking festival Illuminate has come to South Australia for the first time and Tumby Bay is excited to be one of just a few regional centres picked to host installations after the Adelaide events.

The Territory Labor Government  and  Aboriginal  and community sector  leaders have today signed a ground-breaking Agreement to deliver a safer community and better justice outcomes for Aboriginal Territorians. The Aboriginal Justice Agreement (AJA) is the first of its kind in the Territory.

Megadon and Sluice Box’s first metropolitan wins together with a convincing win by Bad Wolf gave Gingin trainer Ashley Maley a treble at Belmont Park yesterday ... By the end of the day Maley was positively beaming when Sluice Box won the Congratulations On Your Career Peter Hall Handicap (2000m) handicap by five lengths.

GrainCorp plans to build one million tonnes of new storage capacity at several sites ahead of the 2021-22 winter crop harvest. Following last year’s bumper crop where more than 60 GrainCorp sites broke all-time receival records, the agribusiness is expanding its regional network, which stretches across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

The Rous County Council decision to remove the proposed Dunoon Dam from our region's water security options has again sparked controversy, as you will see from some of the articles and letters to the editor in this edition. It is perhaps unfortunate that we may have lost an opportunity for many social, environmental and community benefits that could have been developed alongside the dam project. It is quite possible to ‘do dams well’, with a vision for 21st-century water security that mitigates or compensates for any losses experienced.

Close to 300km of old barbed-wire fencing along Diamantina National Park has been removed to protect native animals including the rare night parrot ... The fencing was installed by farmers to manage livestock before the park was purchased by the Queensland Government in 1992. “It’s been close to 30 years since the land was transformed into 507,000 hectare national park, and in that time we’ve seen many resident and migratory bird species return to the local wetlands, which act as a haven in an otherwise arid region,” Minister Scanlon said.

Lismore Theatre Company is pleased to announce its next show, Running Up a Dress will be on stage September 10-19. Written in 1986, Running up a Dress, is a play about mothers and daughters, a relationship that shapes young women. The play, written by Suzanne Spunner, originally intended to be performed by two actors, will feature an ensemble cast.

A koala joey has been given a second chance after being rescued from the side of the road with his blind mother. The koala mother was rescued with her pouch joey on May 28 after being found disorientated on the ground by a member of the public in Woodenbong in northern New South Wales. The koalas were taken to the Friends of the Koala hospital in East Lismore where the International Fund for Animal Welfare sponsored vet team conducted thorough health checks on both koalas.

Australia’s Ultimate Festival of Wheels will host of one the nation’s biggest names in Australian music, with Sneaky Sound System confirmed as the headliner for the Red CentreNATS Sun 969 Podium Party.

The Community Hub hosted felting workshops in June to create beanies for the Alice Springs Beanie Festival. Entries were sent down for display, judging and possible sale, and life went on. So it was a pleasant surprise to find three of the entries won awards.

Locals are being urged to share any information with the Limestone Coast Landscape Board about how almost a dozen feral pigs came to be roaming in the region. Investigation by the board indicated the pigs were likely to have been illegally released in the Reedy Creek area south-east of Kingston.