Federal politics

Australia’s peak farming body supports today’s announcements on the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct, hoping the action will give the Code the teeth it needs to fix a system failing consumers and farmers ... “We need to get to the bottom of why there’s a growing gap between what farmers get paid and what produce is being sold for on supermarket shelves": NFF President David Jochinke.

Gippsland's hardwood industry is now largely gone, with harvesting of timber from native forests on Crown land no longer permitted. Gippsland's native forest is part of the vast swathe of forest that stretches along the Great Dividing Range from the Dandenongs to behind Brisbane. It’s integral to Australia having the seventh biggest forest estate in the world ...

“Finally, it’s important to remember that no amount of money will suffice for time spent with your family. When you need a holiday take it; the farm isn't going anywhere. You won’t remember the extra kilometre of fence you got up, but you will remember the time spent camping with your kids.” – Adrian Coatsworth, Wycheproof.

The CEO of Barkly Regional Council visited Ali Curung recently to address community concerns over the significantly delayed Youth Centre. The Youth Centre, funded by the Federal Government’s Building Better Regions Fund, remains a key priority for the Barkly Regional Council, said CEO Ian Bodill.

A tunnel boring machine (TBM) working on the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project is operational again, 12 months after getting stuck in soft ground creating a large sinkhole above it.

Goolwa South Australian resident, Ken Jury, sees a better way forward for the basin and believes that governments are risking the viability of the whole basin. Ken, an investigative journalist with a passion for marine and aquatic ecology ... is an expert on the South Australian Lower Lakes and Coorong ...

Currently, 4,622 gigalitres of entitlements is held by government as environmental water, and Australia’s largest irrigator, Dr Simon Banks, Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, was joined by Central Murray Environmental Floodplain Group, community representatives and Paul Madden OAM of Arbuthnot Sawmills for a tour of local farms and forests. John Toll farms at Gunbower ...

The thing that should be worrying farmers is not just the fact that the government has claimed the credit (and credits) for itself of not allowing landholders to clear land to help make the 2030 target, but they are now banking on farmers burying the emissions of the rest of the nation in their soil to help reach the unachievable 2050 target ... don’t sign up to any soil carbon contract until you are sure you won’t need those credits yourself when the inevitable carbon taxes arrive.

Federal Member for Indi Helen Haines has backed recommendations for the federal government to review its funding to local government on road maintenance to improve rural roads following natural disasters.

The State Government’s reckless rush to renewables is threatening Australia’s energy grid and the livelihoods of farmers and their communities, Member for Mallee Anne Webster says. In its draft 2024 Integrated System Plan (ISP) … (AEMO) has brought forward the expected exit of the network’s coal-fired power stations to 2038 - five years earlier than the 2022 ISP.

In response to the extreme bushfire season of 2019-2020, the Royal Commission made 15 recommendations. The recommendations were released in October 2020. The 15 recommendations fell under Federal Government responsibility. They have all been implemented and completed.

A Charles Sturt University legal academic has successfully represented First Nations people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia before a United Nations tribunal ... “The decision concerns the Wunna Nyiyaparli people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia, an area rich in minerals such as iron ore, and basically concerns a miscarriage of justice in the Federal Court in determining their native title rights": Dr Scott Calnan.

Jack Bradshaw. Australia, along with 16 other countries, has recently committed to the “Initiative for Greening Construction with Sustainable Wood” at COP28 in Dubai ... How will Australia support this initiative with insufficient forest resources to service even the present demand?

The Australian Government signed the “30 x 30” target at COP15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022, with a commitment to ensure that 30 per cent of the earth’s land and sea is protected through the establishment of Protected Areas (PAs) and Other Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) ... The WWF has urged the Australian Government to set up a $5B Green Fund to acquire forests, productive land and reforest wheat fields.   The land needed to meet the 30:30 objective has to be “high biodiversity value” land in accordance with the Global Biodiversity Framework.

Most Aussie farmers say climate change is the single greatest threat to their business, according to Farmers for Climate Action’s online survey on the Net Zero Sector Plan for Agriculture and Land. Farmers for Climate Action created the survey to make sure farmers … could easily have their say as part of the Federal Government’s Sector Plan consultations.

The Murray River holds a special place in many hearts and minds of locals. The river brings life to the landscape and the people who live and rely on her. After a trip down the Murray River from Barham to Wellington in South Australia and back, retired land surveyor David Laughlin was left with reflections of natural beauty, lessons from the past and current management by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.

Anyone tracking the media will see the Albanese government is in trouble, from the failed referendum through to promises to reduce power bills by $275 by 2025, to get wages growing faster than inflation and not to raid peoples super, it has a growing list of failed and broken promises ... You can see why the hard heads in government are quietly looking for a way to kick the live sheep trade issue down the road just as they have done with the Murray Darling promise.

Basin states and the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) are jointly celebrating 20 years since the historic ‘first step’ decision to establish The Living Murray program. A forerunner of the 2012 Basin Plan, The Living Murray (TLM) program was initiated in response to compelling evidence of severe and long-term decline in the health of the Murray River system.