Politics

Transmission Company Victoria (TCV) today released the preferred easement for the Victorian section of the VNI West transmission project ... The process to refine the initial 50km wide area of interest to a 2km draft corridor and now a 70m preferred easement has been shaped by 18 months of consultation with communities and individual landholders, along with field studies and technical and engineering assessments.

Cr Carol Oataway has been re-elected mayor of Hay Shire Council. The mayor retained her seat after surviving a challenge from newly elected councillor, John Perry in an open vote, 5 – 3. Hay has a new deputy mayor after a tightly contested election between Crs Martyn Quinn, Lionel Garner and Geoff Chapman.

Mrs Dalton wants the NSW Government to take a stand against the Federal Government’s move to take productive water from regions under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan using the water buyback scheme. A petition organised by Ms Dalton needs 10,000 signatures, and Ms Dalton said she’s got just over 5000 so far ... "10,000 signatures will bring on debate in NSW parliament."

The Kaniva and District Progress Association’s Wiregrass Heritage Trail project is progressing well, combining art, history, and community input to bring Australian social history to life. The project launched in July 2023 with an initial community meeting to gather local input, followed by the start of video storytelling, capturing the community’s connection to the trail’s history.

Hugh Schuitemaker. The State Government says the Riverland’s wildlife and plant species are seeing benefits of increased environmental water, however, senior local politicians have described the announcement as "misleading" ... Chaffey MP Tim Whetstone said the increased environmental flows were due to high storage volumes and the 2022-23 flood event.

Four transmission towers have been erected as the clean-up starts after the huge storms that have left the city in darkness ... Once all seven towers are up, the conductors will be strung and once they are clipped in and it is safe to do so, the towers will be energised, according to the Transgrid spokesman...

West Wimmera Shire Council has named Serviceton’s Angela Heinrich as the 2024 Senior Citizen of the Year ... Ms Heinrich has been an active volunteer in her community for many years and continues to make an outstanding contribution to both the Serviceton and Kaniva districts.

The NFF Horticulture Council ... confirmed it cannot support an updated Food and Grocery Code of Conduct that resembles the draft recently shared for comment. Chair of the Council, Jolyon Burnett said ... the core concerns of the fresh produce industry remained ignored ... "despite the time available and keen public interest, neither Dr Emerson or the Treasury appear to have been interested in understanding how fresh produce supply chains work and how best to protect vulnerable suppliers."

The Sunshine Coast’s passion for innovation, growth and commitment to community has been highlighted with three major international awards. Sunshine Coast Council won three Gold awards at the 2024 International Economic Development Council (IEDC) awards ceremony held in Denver, Colorado, in the United States.

The Whyalla community has faced a string of vandalism over the past few months, with recent acts targeting the hard work of numerous community organisations involved in creating self-guided, interactive saltmarsh trails at Eight Mile and Murrippi beaches … four of the seven information posts have been stolen … as well as the intersection sign for Murrippi road has been torn down.

Rachel Hagan. Viterra's proposed purchase of the Maitland AWB Grainflow site, along with two other facilities, has been reported to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission by T-Ports. The proposed acquisition of Grainflow sites at Maitland and Crystal Brook, and Cargill’s mobile shiploader at Port Adelaide, has caused backlash from T-Ports…

I’ve already outlined Canberra, our very own isolated political bubble in the bush, but make no mistake—there’s a whole global club of purpose-built capitals that decided to swap sense for seclusion. These cities, built from scratch, aimed to be the shining beacons of national pride, but somehow all have ended up as bubbles of bureaucrats, completely detached from the real world.

Canberra is a very strange place. The nation's purpose-built capital has been the subject of debate and controversy since its conception ... Where are the alternative voices? ... Politicians are only hearing one side, largely because no one’s challenging the narrative. Even our peak agricultural bodies have been sucked into the progressive undertow ...

...the administrators for Rex Airlines have advised the sale of Pel-Air, part of the Rex business, to Helicorp Pty Ltd, part of Toll Aviation. Pel-Air is the contractor supplying ambulance services to Ambulance Victoria and NSW Ambulance, along with specially-modified aircraft for international and domestic aeromedical transfers.  

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) has today released Australia’s State of the Forests Report: Synthesis 2023. ABARES Executive Director, Dr Jared Greenville, said the five-yearly report covered all areas of Australia’s forests—public and private forests, forests managed for production and forests managed for conservation…

Panel members have now been appointed to lead the independent review into the Wilcannia Weir Replacement Project, marking a significant step forward in the review process. It comes following the NSW Government’s commitment to undertake a review of the Wilcannia proposed weir design.

The winners were announced at the Coraki Art Prize Gala Night at the Coraki Youth Hall ... Organiser Tanya Alderman said there were more than 100 youth entries. Best in Show went to Hollie McKenzie from Whian Whian for her artwork  I Feel Alive but Can’t Complain. She won $2000 sponsored by Casino RSM Club.

Researching the Robodebt controversy couldn’t have been easy – journalist Rick Morton faced the challenge and wrote a book about it. Morton will discuss his new book  Mean Streak  in a special conversation with author Melissa Lucashenko in Kyogle...

Rainer Chlanda. Those who work in the social service sector in Alice Springs, as I do, know this fact intimately: there is an incredible amount of money funding our response to a community who have incredibly little. Our system watches as desperate people stumble and waits for them to fall before extending a paternalistic hand or one gripped around a gavel.