Federal politics

The WA Opposition has called for an urgent, nationally coordinated response to the spread of the destructive polyphagous shot-hole borer, following revelations that Western Australia has abandoned efforts to eradicate the pest after more than 5,000 trees were lost in the Perth metropolitan area.

A report released in partnership with Australia’s national science agency CSIRO, Commonwealth environmental water sustaining Murray–Darling Basin ecosystems: 10-year (2014–24) retrospective, outlines how a decade of monitoring, evaluation and reporting is optimising management of Commonwealth environmental water holdings – a public asset with a market value approaching $10 billion.

A new drone test flight facility in the Northern Territory will give manufacturers the chance to test their technology in some of the most diverse terrain and extreme weather conditions in the world. The North Australia Centre for Autonomous Systems (NACAS), based out of Charles Darwin University (CDU), has launched its Airspace Integration Research Facility (AIR-F), the only purpose-designed and built Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) test flight facility based in northern Australia. 

Yorke Peninsula Council has taken its algal bloom advocacy all the way to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Acting Mayor Richard Carruthers was part of a delegation of SA mayors, industry leaders and marine experts that travelled to Canberra to seek more bloom support ...

Premier Chris Minns says it’s unthinkable that koalas are at risk of extinction. He’s spot on. Koalas are not now and never have been at risk of extinction ... Environment Minister Penny Sharpe says the Great Koala National Park has been a dream for more than a decade. Indeed. The Great Koala Park is the culmination of a campaign by NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to extend their empire ... Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty says the Government is committed to a sustainable forestry industry in NSW. I think her ministerial title gives the lie to that.

Clarence Nationals MP Richie Williamson has slammed the Minns Labor Government’s announcement of the 476,000-hectare Great Koala National Park, describing it as “a massive kick in the guts” for regional communities across the Richmond and Clarence valleys and the wider North Coast region.

Forestry Australia, the nation’s leading body representing forest scientists, managers and growers, expresses its dismay at the New South Wales State Government’s decision to create a Great Koala National Park without a clear, science-led plan to deliver measurable outcomes and avoid negative flow on consequences.

The Minns Labor Government has confirmed the next major step delivering on an election commitment to protect koalas in the wild, announcing the proposed boundary for the Great Koala National Park, alongside a comprehensive plan to support workers, industry and local communities ... The park will reserve 176,000 hectares of state forest and connect with existing national parks to create a 476,000-hectare reserve – one of the largest in NSW.

NSW border town of Albury experienced a 16-fold increase in net migration from capitals in the year to June 2025. Regional Australia remains a strong draw for city dwellers, with 26 per cent more people relocating from capital cities to regional areas than vice versa, according to the June Quarter Regional Mover Index (RMI).

NSW Farmers is calling for urgent protections for farmers who host renewables after the former Energy Infrastructure Commissioner warned farmers could be on the hook for millions in the future. In an interview published on Wednesday, former Energy Infrastructure Commissioner Andrew Dyer warned farmers could be left “on the hook” for the costs of decommissioning old renewable installations on their farms, if contracts were unclear on “who pays what”.

Haydays retirement hostel is facing an imminent crisis, due to the building’s ageing infrastructure. The centre, which first opened in 1968, is just two or three years away from closing, unless vital refurbishments can be undertaken, to ensure the facility is compliant with all Aged Care Commission regulations, according to the Haydays Management Board.

Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry production is expected to hit a record combined value of $101.6 billion in 2025-2026, according to the latest ABARES forecasts released today. ABARES Executive Director Dr Jared Greenville said the new record value was mostly down to livestock.

Bendigo Bank closed its last remaining banking service in an Aboriginal community 27 days before celebrating the launch of its Aboriginal Reconciliation Action Plan. The Aurukun agency in far north Queensland was one of 27 to be closed in 2022-2023 under the eye of the bank’s now chief executive Richard Fennell when he was in charge of the consumer banking division.

After more than a century of Federation and countless social experiments, you'd think Australia would have learned from the mother country how not to wreck an economy or an immigration system. Yet here we are in 2025, shackled to laws and institutions that guarantee only one thing: the slow, grinding slide down the global economic ladder.

The Government has been ordered to release an investigation into the Whitsundays helicopter crash that killed four Defence Force airmen. One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts secured a Senate order to have the national workplace health and safety regulator (Comcare) brief of evidence and investigation into the Taipan helicopter crash released.

Hugh Schuitemaker. Peak representative bodies say the Riverland is at risk of "long-term economic" catastrophe, unless direct support is provided for the South Australian wine industry. The Advertiser on Monday reported local grape growers were "grappling with one of the worst crises to hit the industry".

The Covid concerns raised by people at recent community meetings discussing the impact of vaccinations have been recognised by Council now they have to advocate for answers.