Politics

National Seniors Australia’s campaign to Keep Cash is working and cash is making a comeback as demonstrated by the RBA’s 2025 Consumer Payments Survey that shows cash usage is on the rise. The survey reveals cash usage has increased by number of transactions (15 per cent in 2025 compared to 13 per cent in 2022) and by the total value of transactions.

Clean water will return to Narrandera under a new commitment made by The Nationals’ candidate for Farrer, Brad Robertson, and Liberal candidate, Raissa Butkowski. We will invest $16 million towards the construction of a new water treatment plant to provide a permanent solution to unacceptable water quality outcomes.

Norco, Australia’s oldest and last operating 100 per cent farmer-owned dairy co-operative, has announced a five cent per litre increase to its farmgate milk price from May 2026, while calling on the wider industry to step up and better support farmers as soaring input costs intensify pressure across the sector.

The Finocchiaro CLP Government is delivering stronger, more reliable power for Alice Springs and Katherine, with an $82.1 million investment in battery energy storage. Territory Generation has awarded Pacific Energy a contract to deliver the next phase of the battery energy storage system (BESS) program.

Nationals Member for Central Wheatbelt, Lachlan Hunter MP, has slammed the Cook Labor Government for its lack of understanding of regional Western Australia, as the fuel crisis continues to bite across the Wheatbelt.

Victoria’s peak farming body has released a sweeping 20-point plan that demands all major parties commit to the strongest farmland protections in Australia ahead of the Victorian state election in November. The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF)’s Victorian Farmland Protection Plan calls for a fundamental reset in the way Victoria safeguards its agricultural land.

Winter is normally the season that outback NSW towns look forward to most. The tourists arrive, the caravan parks fill up ... This year, the question being asked by operators from Broken Hill to White Cliffs to Menindee is whether that migration is actually going to happen.

The shortages caused by attacks on Iran by Israel and the US have massively increased interest in the Territory’s huge gas reserves as well as several minerals. This is clearly the main talking point at the Annual Geoscience Exploration Seminar (AGES) this week in Alice Springs which may become the base for a major mine.

At a time when Australian farmers are facing a major fertiliser squeeze, Canberra has decided the priority is not supply, not affordability, and not domestic resilience—but underwriting a green ammonia export dream ... while farmers are being told to accept decile 10 nitrogen prices, or even decile zero availability, taxpayers—including those same farmers in the years they make money—are being lined up to help fast track a plant that will help foreign farmers access fertiliser.

The Office of Local Government will take no action against Clarence Valley Council following a fact-finding mission triggered by a significant number of complaints. In November 2025, the OLG announced it would be conducting a review into Clarence Valley Council following multiple complaints and concerns about the operation of Council.

Today, Australia and the UK have signed an Investment Partnership to further unlock superannuation and pension capital investment between our countries. This new agreement will help to secure more two-way investment in jobs and industries and strong returns for investors from both countries.

The re-elected Malinauskas Labor Government will continue taking decision-making out of Adelaide and into regional South Australia, with Country Cabinet meetings set to remain a key part of how the Government listens, engages and delivers. Country Cabinet ensures regional communities have a direct voice at the Cabinet table, giving locals the opportunity to speak face-to-face with Ministers and senior decision-makers about the issues that matter most to them.

Mount Alexander Shire Council is excited to announce a public art commission by local artist Kirsten Moegerlein ... “Kirsten is a wonderful artist and brings great skills in collaborating with the community. We look forward to seeing how she commemorates the transformation of a degraded river habitat into an oasis of plant and animal life": Mayor Toby Heydon.

Scenic Rim Regional Council is appealing to Tamborine Mountain residents to stop feeding and interacting with wild dogs, which are becoming a problem to the local community. As well as being illegal under the Biosecurity Act 2014, feeding wild dogs and encouraging them into community spaces poses a threat to residents, their pets and other wildlife by increasing the risk of attacks.

Landline’s segment about koalas last Sunday, "Need for Trees: Charity plants half-a-million trees to help save koalas" would have been better directed at the need for common sense. It referred to the preordained finding from the NSW Inquiry in 2020 that koalas were headed for extinction by 2050. This finding was ridiculous because koalas were invisible when Europeans arrived. Now there are many more koalas over a much wider area ... ARR.News asked a few questions of Vic too.

Carey Brennan. More than 100 farmers attended the recent VFF community meeting held by the St Arnaud branch on Thursday, April 9, to listen to legal experts speak about the effects of the new Victorian Treaty Act and the land acquisition procedures for transmission lines, all of which will adversely affect farmland in this district.

The Albanese Labor Government is helping to get fertiliser to Australian farmers faster with the introduction of streamlined border processes for imported fertiliser that does not compromise on biosecurity. These changes, which have been established in consultation with Fertilizer Australia, will reduce costs, reduce port clearance times, lower administrative burdens and ensure the safety of fertiliser prior to shipping.