Opinion

Once every three or so years at the federal level, peak bodies in agriculture line up to present their election wish lists to the major political parties, in the hope of getting them embedded in their campaign platforms ... it’s time to change the tune.

According to Forestry Australia’s Dr Freeman, National Parks don’t guarantee biodiversity ... The Endangered listing of koalas north of the Victorian border and the idea of a Great Koala National Park are farcical. The koala is an irruptive species. High numbers indicate an irruption, not a stable population.

The Federal Government’s callous disregard for rural, regional and remote Australians is on full display in the final business hours before a potential federal election is called, Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster said, after the Aged Care Minister announced an impossible timeline to save regional aged care home care services.

Peter Rutherford, SETA. It is difficult to know how to respond to Professor Lindenmayer’s most recent comments, when he continues to focus on areas subject to timber harvesting and appears to ignore the fact that 855,310 hectares of the iconic Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area was burnt by bushfires in 2019-20. This is over 16 per cent of the total area burnt in NSW in 2019-20.

Rather than engaging with the complexities of fire dynamics, Professor Lindenmayer relies on statistical modelling that confuses correlation with causation, ignores field-based studies that contradict his claims, and overgeneralises the impact of logging without considering key variables such as fuel management and fire suppression efforts.

Jason Perrin. I refer to Andrew Weeks’ article in last week’s Murray Pioneer ... The article is negative, does a disservice to growers, and has glaring inaccuracies, and unless corrected, adds confusion to things we are lobbying for on behalf of growers.

As the U.S. escalates tariffs on key trading partners like China, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union, these nations are retaliating strategically—targeting Trump’s biggest supporters and one of the most powerful lobbying forces in America: its farmers.

At the time of the Clarence Valley election last year, I wrote a column urgently imploring all pertinent authorities to provide ratepayers and tourists with written details on how to combat states of emergency ... only a few months after my written appeal, yet I and other local residents and visitors feel we have once again been left somewhat high and dry.

The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) said the Federal Government’s announced investment in Medicare and GP training will assist more Riverland patients to access affordable care. RDAA president Raymond Lewandowski said any investment in health was welcome, especially investment in primary care…

Andrew Weeks. I write in response to the commentary about the recent Senate Committee hearing, and the impact that a mandatory code for winegrape purchases will have on the Riverland wine sector. It is not surprising there is a strong voice among growers calling for a mandatory code ... However, it is misleading to suggest that installing a mandatory code of conduct will be the answer to all problems, nor is it guaranteed to only have positive impacts.

Robert Onfray completely confuses fire intensity (the amount of heat generated) with fire severity (damage to vegetation and soil). He also misunderstands the difference between empirical studies (based on evidence and real-world data) and modelling (theoretical simulations). Additionally, he fails to understand the difference between a literature review and an empirical study.

SETA suggests that my research on the relationship between logging and fire is merely “opinion”. It is anything but ... SETA makes an absurd comparison between the flammability of national parks and state forests. The proper scientific comparison is between logged and unlogged state forests ...

Somewhere between Trump’s second term, the corporate world rediscovering common sense, and the general public finally tiring of being lectured by the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) zealots, Australia’s universities seem to have missed the memo: going woke is so yesterday.

Steve Krieg, From the Mayor's desk. I write this after last issue’s (Nimbin GoodTimes, February 2025) appalling coverage of the illegal squatters in Pine Street Lismore that three years after the worst natural disaster in Australia’s recorded history is diverting attention and resources away from our recovery.

One of the key drivers of fire behaviour that Professor Lindenmayer seems to pay little attention to is the ground fine fuel load across the forest landscape. The key driver of fire intensity, with a given fuel moisture content, wind speed, air temperature and relative humidity, on the day, is fine fuels.

Dr Fiona Walsh. Why do we continue to allow and accept the deaths of animals on our roads? ... I’ve recently driven more than 6,000 km in a loop from Mparntwe Alice Springs to the east coast and home again. My first holiday in eight years. I saw animals killed on roads in the NT, SA, Victoria and southern NSW.

There was a time, not so long ago, when politicians at least made an effort to pretend they were telling the truth. Sure, they stretched it, massaged it, and occasionally trampled all over it, but there was still some vague expectation that outright, blatant lying was a career-ending mistake. But today? Forget it. Lying is no longer a political liability—it’s a winning strategy.

The day started rather innocuously on 18 March 2018 at Tathra, a serene coastal town nestled amidst the forested hills of southern New South Wales, renowned for its natural beauty near the sea. Yet, by 5 pm, this picturesque setting became the backdrop for a disaster that laid bare systemic failures in firefighting coordination, urban planning and bushfire preparedness.

Large language models (LLMs) like the latest version of X’s Grok 3 have been shaking up the world of information gathering and academia. The ability of these programs to scour the web and gather data is undeniably impressive. But is the data accurate?

More than 150 ancient tingle trees in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park have fallen after a prescribed burn on December 18 last year. This is the finding of a local researcher, ANU environmental science student Uralla Luscombe-Pedro, who surveyed the area burned next to the Valley of the Giants Treetop Walk.

Donald Trump’s Senior Counsel for Trade and Manufacturing, Peter Navarro, has a fantasy in his mind about the dimension of Australia’s exports of aluminium, or aluminum, as he would call it ... Mr. Navarro does not mention that Alcoa Australia, which he singles out in his article, is actually owned by its parent, a US company – Alcoa Corporation (NYSE: AA; ASX: AAI), headquartered in Pittsburgh USA.