Federal politics

Relocation, demolition and site rectification works are powering ahead on Lockyer Valley properties purchased under the Voluntary Home Buy-Back (VHBB) program ... 21 contracts of sale have now been settled in the Lockyer Valley, with more to come, allowing families to move on with their lives out of high-risk flood zones.

Regional and rural Queenslanders are seeking access to voluntary assisted dying (VAD) services at a rate that is almost double their inner-city counterparts – a revelation that should send a shiver down the spine of anyone who cares about the equitable delivery of healthcare, Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter has said.

Leader of The Nationals and Shadow Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has warned farmers face greater costs, more complexities and lengthy delays, if Labor’s push to abolish Commonwealth-funded legal advice for landholders in native title claims is passed. The Native Title Respondent Scheme provided financial support to pastoralists and other landowners for native title claims.

The new laws update the ‘water trigger’ under Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act) (the most important legislation that protects the environment in Australia), so new unconventional gas projects, like shale gas fracking, will be assessed by the Independent Expert Scientific Committee for their impact on water resources.

Those attending put the presenters through a rigorous interrogation about how the project would work and what benefits it would bring. Maldonians are no pushover - even when it comes to issues that most are in favour of – and demanded details while showing an awareness of the finer technical points of battery operations.

Communities who carried the burden of a Basin Plan corrupted by politics are once again looking down the barrel of mass buybacks. The impacts of water buybacks cannot be understated as communities were ripped apart, football clubs closed, huge areas of food production and habitat provision were dried out, industries retracted, driving increased costs and undermining sustainability, and the price of water was sent out of reach of many young farmers.

John Hassell. The ban on live sheep is inherently unfair and Australians can see it. Roger Cook can see it. Let’s hope for the Albanese Government’s sake they recognise it too before the next election. Underestimate Australia’s farmers at your peril.

Twenty-one families have recently moved into homes at Alpurrurulam, and three more five-bedroom homes will be ready in the next couple of weeks. The modular homes, built by Territory company Demountable Sales and Hire have been installed by Wilga Indigenous Corporation, which has provided employment opportunities to Alpurrurulam locals.

In this article Robert Onfray details the lack of environmental scrutiny of the wind factories and pumped hydro projects built or planned in Queensland as the state sanctions the wholesale clearing of remnant native forest on the coastal ranges straddling the Great Dividing Range ... 10,178 hectares of koala and 6,744 hectares of greater glider habitats are set to disappear if all the renewable proposals in Queensland are approved ... "blunt force trauma" is to be used to euthanise injured animals or those that cannot be relocated, particularly koalas.

Community members will continue to be able to access free testing services for rabbits and hares, thanks to an Australian Government funded national disease monitoring program. The National Rabbit Disease Monitoring Program is being delivered by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency.

Even though additional funding for local road maintenance was welcomed last week by Member for Indi, Helen Haines, and she said it must be made available as a matter of urgency. A case in point is the Murray Valley Highway between Corryong and Wodonga where motorists continue to face delays at two locations near Old Tallangatta where traffic lights have been installed and one lane closed where subsidence has occurred.

The environmental, economic and social value of water to our floodplain communities is once again washed away under a tide of political games ... Once again, South Australia leads the Feds around by the nose while glossing over the impacts of the barrages, the south east drainage scheme, the topography and even the estuarine nature of the area. 

The future of residential aged care in Ardrossan is in doubt as the local hospital tackles challenges which forced it to close its accident and emergency, and acute care ... "We also reluctantly realised our ability to provide sustainable aged care was doubtful and it was unlikely any other private provider would be interested in taking over these services": Ardrossan Community Hospital chairperson Margaret Tomsen.

The state government has committed to nominating Moonta Mines for World Heritage Listing. The Australian Cornish Mining Sites: Burra and Moonta Mines is now one step away from tentative listing after Deputy Premier Susan Close announced the government would support the bid...