Opinion

I note that some at Denmark WA object to deliberate burning by the government department called DBCA. On television I have seen the matter briefly addressed by two botanists, Dr Joanna Young and Prof Stephen Hopper. They were showing a politician a recently burnt swamp, with ugly damage to the peat. A nasty sight, but was it the whole truth, or only part? We might remember Aristotle’s discussion of the perils of omitting, deliberately or accidentally, part of the truth (enthymeme).

Just months out from the River Murray Basin Plan 2024 deadline, the Federal Labor Government has just woken up to the real prospect that, despite their election commitment, the Basin Plan might not be delivered in full and on time. It has been revealed that the Federal Water Minister, Tanya Plibersek, has written to the Murray-Darling Authority asking “whether the plan has any prospects”...

AMA (NSW) President, Dr Michael Bonning, said the expansion of the GP Single-Employer Model is a big win for patient access to quality health services in rural and regional communities in NSW. Dr Bonning said the Model, which allows doctors to train in State-run hospitals as well as private clinics, will provide funding for 80 rural generalist GPs in NSW from next year.

Recent research reveals that school attendance in our First Nations communities is declining despite the continuation of the remote schools attendance strategy ... MCERA has reached out to First Nations education experts to invite  solutions towards a responsive education system that strengthens  First Nations culture and student engagement in remote Australia.

Leader of the Nationals and Member for Maranoa David Littleproud has called on Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk  to overhaul the state government’s efforts to eradicate fire ants from the Sunshine State. Mr Littleproud’s call comes after the potentially devastating pest was recently discovered on the outskirts of Toowoomba, meaning the fire ant has made it across the Great Dividing Range for the first time.

Senator Lidia Thorpe and the Indigenous-Aboriginal Party of Australia (IAPA) have joined forces to call on the NSW State Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, David Harris MP, to listen to the voices of Traditional Custodians, the Guringai, regarding the devastatingly destructive development proposal, by the Local Aboriginal Land Council, for land on Woy Woy Rd Kariong NSW, in the area known as Kariong Sacred Lands ... "Do we want to listen to First Nation’s voices or not? Or is First Nations input only relevant if it comes from a state sanctioned Aboriginal corporation?”

Thousands of Northern Rivers residents have been waiting anxiously for 16 months to see whether or not they would receive assistance via home buy-backs, retrofitting or house raising. This week, hundreds are being told they will receive no help from Government ...Members of A Way Forward are calling on the NSW and Federal Governments to urgently provide additional funding to the NRRC to extend their Resilient Homes program.

It should not take 67 days for Biosecurity Queensland (the lead agency for biosecurity) to respond to a report of Fire ants near Toowoomba. “What is needed is a better resourced Biosecurity Queensland and an urgent overhaul of the existing Fire ant program,” Chairman of Property Rights Australia (PRA) Jim Willmott said.

The new WA Aboriginal Cultural Heritage laws will have far reaching consequences to the farming community, many of which are only just coming to light as the WA Department of Heritage workshops the changes across the State. This is how WAFarmers responded to one of the workshops in the central Wheatbelt.        

From 7th July 2017, a temporary ban on the importation of uncooked prawn products was lifted and replaced with import conditions which have consequently failed and once again threatened our great seafood industry. Recent detections of White Spot Disease (WSD) at three prawn farms on the NSW North Coast have the SFF calling on the Federal Government to slam the door shut and permanently ban the importation of raw, uncooked prawns and decapod crustaceans into Australia.

In the face of already numerous adversities, the Northern Rivers of NSW is grappling with yet another concern: food security. Floods, bushfires, and the ongoing impact of the Covid pandemic have exposed vulnerabilities in the region’s food system but also presented an opportunity to re-think how food is grown, distributed and consumed.

It’s not only the timber industry that’s in decline, the government’s forestry agency, the Forest Products Commission (FPC) is also sinking fast. The WA 2023-24 Budget Papers indicate that this commercial business is failing under the Labor Government. It is predicted to continue to make losses in coming years.

A diligent Minister who had applied himself to the detail would have recognised the risks of running with a system that was overly complex and open to abuse. A competent Minister would have delayed the start date when they recognised that neither his department, the IT system, the LACHS or the industry was ready. But Buti did neither.

Promotors of the Voice like to emphasise its benign nature: “We just want to be listened to. We have no veto rights.” A more robust approach has emerged at last week’s writers festival in Alice Springs ... Mr Mayo made it clear that the Voice not only expected to be heard, but that advice given would be carried out by the Parliament and the Executive.

This year, the State Government - as part of its Kangaroo Harvesting Program (KHP) - has set the quota for commercial shooting of kangaroos in the central region of Victoria at 65,100 grey kangaroos. The total 2023 KHP quota for the entire state is 166,750. This means that a significant percentage (around 40 per cent) of kangaroos culled in Victoria will be coming from the central region.

A renowned sustainable river ecologist has identified water management in the Murray–Darling Basin as a model for other countries seeking to support communities and healthy rivers into the future. Addressing the MDBA's annual  River reflections  regional water conference in Narrabri, Professor N LeRoy Poff from the University of Canberra and Colorado State University said the Murray–Darling Basin Plan was a beacon for other nations on how integrated water management at the Basin scale can work.