Opinion

The 2024 Victorian duck season has been nothing short of a success, marked by outstanding hunter compliance and an exhilarating experience for participants. As the season progresses, it is clear that responsible hunting is a positive force, not just for those involved, but for conservation and the environment.  

For those who have been following the rewrite of the Firearms Act 1973 (WA), the headlines suggest that farmers have come out well with a provision for Primary Producer Licence holders to possess up to 10 firearms while recreational shooters/hunters are limited to possessing five firearms. As is often the case, the devil is in the detail and the provisions of the proposed Act and the intent of this Government’s Minister warrant further study.

The government’s own research on the north coast has confirmed that forestry does not affect koala numbers ... New data from field surveys of 1000 sites, trumpeted by the incoming Environment Minister and commenced a year ago, will not be released in time to stimulate or inform public submissions on the Koala Strategy ... The result is preordained.

... the water reserves in WA farmers' dams are now running dangerously low and farmers are being forced to quit stock at rates that are competitive with the price of a bullet ... What's the trade got to do with the weather? For our farmers, the link is so obvious they remain dumbfounded that the Government has not joined the dots.

State Member for Hill Shane Knuth welcomed the news that South Korean-owned Ark Energy has withdrawn its proposal to add another wind farm near the small tablelands community of Ravenshoe. Mr Knuth said the company had embarked on an intense campaign last year, including renaming the project from Chalumbin to Wooroora Station Windfarm and reducing the project from 200 to 86, then to 42 turbines.

Oscar Tamsen. As we all know only too well, inflation, the Web and the presence of TV advertising have collectively put paid to many community newspapers in various parts of Australia and elsewhere. Your ‘Clarence Valley Independent’ is, however, committed to continuing printing its weekly edition to carry the latest local news and timely shopping information to you, our many faithful readers. The 30-year-old philosophy of our editorial and management team has always been to serve our community by standing up for your individual rights when needed.

Some rough numbers: 18 million hectares make up Western Australia’s freehold grain belt. Back in 1970 we had 20,000 growers and farms averaged about 1500ha in size, today we have 4000 broadacre farmers with the average farm about 3000ha ... While we may think our version of the family farm will be here forever, think again. The mega global family farms are on the march and so are the corporates.

Notice how there is a deathly silence by the big foreign pension and sovereign investment funds on the merits of the Government's planned end to the live export trade. These are the foreign entities that have been quietly buying up millions of acres of Australian  farmland.

The media releases from the police spin doctors are frequently short of salient information and phone calls from journalists to fill in the yawning gaps are not returned. Law-and-order problems go right to the top, says Independent MLA for Araluen, Robyn Lambley, referring to  the “backflipping on a monumental scale” about curfews by Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Chansey Paech.

During a recent sitting of parliament Wendy Lovell, Liberal Member for Northern Victoria, highlighted the Labor government’s continuing failure to act on the Shepparton Bypass. Following the release of the Shepparton South East Precinct Structure Plan, Ms Lovell urged the State Government to commit to funding at least Stage 1 of the Shepparton Bypass in the 24/25 Budget.

When I started as a young forester in the late 1980s, I yearned for the opportunity to work in our native forests. While assessing a coupe to plan for a tree harvesting operation, I knew I was inheriting a forest structure that benefited from silvicultural practices adopted by foresters a few generations before me. Foresters aim to make the forest more productive by applying scientific principles to aid in the regeneration of the next crop of trees and to encourage the best growth of the retained trees. My responsibility was to continue that tradition for foresters a few generations ahead of me.

About 150 people gathered at Nornalup on March 23 to protest about the State Government’s plan to burn 80ha of nearby mostly-unlogged tingle forest. Nornalup community members are angry about the planned burn which environmentalists say is counter-productive to fire mitigation and destructive to the environment.

First, there was a ban on climbing Ayers Rock, gasp - what did he call it… where are the name police when you need them, or the indoctrinated millennials, I am referring to the rock you know as Uluru, and believe it or not, once upon a time your parents were allowed to climb it. Now the hunt is on to ban the Kimberley's Horizontal Falls experience, no doubt accompanied by a name change to the Garaan-ngaddim Non-Experience ... Are we heading back to the dark ages in Europe when the local lord charged you to cross his land and only the wealthy could hunt and fish on it? You bet we are.

What is it about Australian politics that causes a wave of frustration, tinged with resignation and - perhaps more commonly - an eye roll, a sigh and shrug. “It is what it is.” ... For those wanting to avoid the hysteria on social media soapboxes, the left or right leaning opinions of whichever media outlet is screening at the time or arguments that could fracture a family for years, what options are there? Enter the Voices movement.

"The order was renewed last year for only 12 months, during which time farmers and other stakeholders were promised consultation and a count of the wild dog population across Victoria," said Libbe Paton, North East Wild Dog Action Group. "Neither of these promises have been upheld to date."

"The decision regarding the proposed Great Koala National Park does not belong to a single voice but should involve many voices, mostly from the Mid North Coast. The Labor Government is attempting to blindfold us. Rather than using its chance to engage in authentic discussion with the community, it chooses to undermine us by including carefully curated elitists pretending to be our community representatives": Michael Kemp MP ... A good point that needs to be spelt out in more detail.

The state government’s new policy to fast-track renewable energy projects by accelerating planning approvals has been strongly attacked by Victoria’s peak farming body and one of the state’s leading planning experts. The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) said the policy was a slap in the face after years of sham consultation with farming communities, while the RMIT Emeritus Professor of Environment and Planning, Michael Buxton, said it would lead to “terrible decisions”, with wind and solar farms being “placed in the wrong location".