Federal politics

The entire Central Victorian region has been smashed by catastrophic floods, which appear to be more serious and more widespread than the 2010 and 2011 floods. With many regions experiencing record-breaking rains over catchments that were already sodden, the end result has been devastating. Gutters have turned into creeks, creeks into raging rivers and rivers into churning brown oceans ... Geoff Palmer took this photo of the spillway at Cairn Curran last Thursday.

A landmark new body of work has been released to assist governments and private organisations to tackle Australia’s growing bushfire problem and save lives, land and property. Turning the Goals of the National Bushfire Management Policy Statement into Objectives and Key Performance Indicators aims to guide improvements in bushfire management and provide consistent reporting nationally on achievements.

The Malinauskas government will embark on a six week campaign to ensure River Murray communities are afforded the best possible protection from flood waters heading to South Australia. Latest modelling by the Department of Environment and Water is predicting flows of up to 120 gigalitres per day by early December – the highest flows since the 1970s.

Shadow Minister for Northern Australia, Senator Susan McDonald has warned the Federal Government to cut the “bull” and not the national cattle herd ahead of signing up to an international methane reduction agreement ... Senator McDonald warned that any move against cattle and sheep herds would be met with fierce resistance, especially from Northern Australia’s $1.35 billion live cattle export sector which supplies much-needed beef to South East Asian countries ... Senator McDonald said attacks on methane emissions ignored the contributions made by herbivorous and ruminant feral animals.

Grain producers on the east coast of Australia are on high alert with severe flooding and more heavy rains causing significant interruption and damage to this year’s crop, and loss of critical value. Victorian grain grower and Grain Producers Australia Southern Director, Andrew Weidemann, said this year’s crop was on a knife’s edge and with more rain forecast the losses will only escalate.

“With $350 million allocated for our Voluntary Home Buy Back Program, we expect to be able to purchase roughly 500 homes. We’re implementing this process with eight councils: Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Lockyer Valley, Moreton Bay, Gympie, Fraser Coast and Sunshine Coast": Deputy Premier and Minister responsible for the Queensland Reconstruction Authority Steven Miles.

The Commonwealth and Victorian governments have come together to prepare the Centre for National Resilience at Mickleham to provide crisis accommodation for Victorians affected by widespread flooding. From Tuesday, 250 beds at the Mickleham facility will open to help people whose homes have been inundated.

The release of the Australian banking regulator’s annual points of presence data this week will be an integrity test for both its chairman Wayne Byres and Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and Treasury are both in possession of a list of 149 bank sites that do not meet the legal definition of a branch under federal legislation. Most of them have been falsely listed in government data by their Australian and foreign owners for years.

The state’s peak agricultural advocacy body says it is opposed to Australia signing up to a global ‘methane pledge’ that is killing small towns across the ditch ... NSW Farmers CEO Pete Arkle said while the federal government had been quick to promise no tax on farmers if it signed up to the Methane Pledge, the experience of New Zealand’s farmers proved talk was cheap.

Kangaroo Island’s reputation as a pristine environment will be further strengthened, with a world-first dedicated sterile blowfly breeding facility to be built on the island to help eradicate sheep blowfly. A brownfield site will be transformed into a state-of-the-art insect breeding centre, at which up to 50 million flies a week will be bred and irradiated to be sterile before release.

Some of Australia’s brightest minds are collaborating to finalise a portable device that uses artificial intelligence to help biosecurity officers more quickly identify high-risk brown marmorated stink bugs (BMSB) on the frontline ... This app will help operational staff identify the BMSB (Halyomorpha halys) and other invasive and endemic stink bug species in the field and in real-time.

“Relentless rain and flooding has led to many regional roads falling into severe disrepair and the expected deluge this week will only exacerbate the problem. I have driven on many regional roads recently and have spoken to several regional Mayors and they all agree the roads have never been worse – anywhere you go": Federal Member for Riverina Michael McCormack.

Murray-Darling Basin Water Ministers met on Ngunnawal Country (Canberra) to discuss the next steps to deliver the Basin Plan, delivery of water market reforms, the impacts of climate change on water resources, and opportunities to strengthen First Nations' role in water management and ownership. Most of the Murray–Darling Basin is the wettest it’s been in a long time.

The Victorian Farmers Federation’s United Dairy Farmers of Victoria (VFF UDV) says Northern Victoria’s dairy industry would be further damaged by water buybacks and the recovery of the 450GL up-water target ahead of this week’s meeting of State and Federal Water Ministers to discuss the Murray Darling Basin Plan. VFF UDV President Mark Billing said the group strongly opposed the recovery of the 450GL saying it would lead to losses in dairy production and local jobs.

An aerial cull of feral deer on the Fleurieu Peninsula culled more than 1000 deer from forests, farms and private conservation properties in September 2022 ... Aerial culling is the most effective landscape-scale tool currently available for rapidly reducing the impacts of feral deer.

Public consultation is now open on Australia’s first national action plan on soil ... “As the first action plan under the 20-year National Soil Strategy, it is important that there is a focus on setting good foundations for future actions to halt and reverse soil degradation and improve soil health”: DAFF

The Australian Government has announced the appointment of Dr Kerry Schott AO to lead an independent review into the Inland Rail project ... The review will consider the process for selecting the Inland Rail route, including stakeholder consultation, and assess the project’s scope, schedule and cost.