Local artist brings colour and storytelling to Augusta Library
With the Margaret River Library temporarily closed for building works, many locals have found themselves missing their regular library fix ... Augusta Library has plenty to offer, including a stunning art exhibition now on display.
Some servos forced to restrict how much fuel drivers can buy with a 25l limit as prices rise
The news tonight ... was filled with words we didn’t want to hear about the price of fuel. Oil prices skyrocket… Prices scoring… Pain at the petrol pump… Markets in a tailspin. Any driver will see this scenario is starting to play out at country petrol bowsers close to home.
World first glulam made from Aussie blue gum a win for Victoria’s Timber Towns: Timber Towns Victoria
The world’s first glue laminated timber made from Australian Blue Gum (Eucalyptus globulus), processed in Warrnambool, Victoria, has been unveiled at Mount Gambier’s new Forestry Centre of Excellence, marking a major breakthrough for plantation forestry and the communities that depend on it.
Immediate action needed to ensure fuel supply for our farmers: Chaffey
“There is fuel, but it is being kept for the city, a short-sighted approach that will have huge flow-on effects throughout regional areas and right back into the city. Planting is about to start across the electorate of Parkes and elsewhere but without diesel, it won’t happen. And how do farmers get their livestock to market?": Jamie Chaffey.
Long wait for green mine
An estimated 4 per cent of the world's NdPr, a high-performance rare earth crucial for batteries and electric vehicles, is under the ground a mere 135km north of Alice Springs. Yet a final investment decision has still not been made about a mine that was first proposed 23 years ago, but may be this year.
Barossa turns up the volume with Barossa Food & Wine Village
When the final siren sounds at Barossa Park on Saturday, 11 April, the party is just getting started as Tanunda’s main street transforms into the ultimate post-match destination with food, wine and entertainment. A hallmark event on the Festival of Footy calendar, the Barossa Food & Wine Village, returns for Gather Round 2026, reimagined on a bigger scale.
Council advocates for low-cost renewable electricity for residents
Gannawarra Shire Council has held discussions with the Victorian Minister for Climate Action, Energy and Resources, Lily D’Ambrosio MP and VicGrid representatives about its concerns regarding the construction of VNI West ... the project involves the construction of a 500-kilovolt double circuit transmission line that will connect the Victorian and New South Wales electricity networks.
Rochester flood barrier training exercise a success
Following the successful completion of last week’s flood barrier installation exercise in Rochester, Campaspe Shire Council is reinforcing the importance of maintaining strong flood preparedness measures to protect critical community assets in the town’s civic precinct. The exercise ... involved the full deployment and pack-down of the AquaFence flood barrier system around the Town Hall, Community House, Council service centre and library.
Water Act Review appointment bad news for regional communities: Cadell
The decision to appoint a former CEO of the Climate Change Authority to oversee the Water Act Review is as perplexing as it is dangerous to the future of Australia’s food security and thousands of regional jobs.
Farmers warn of conservation ‘land grab’: NSW Farmers Association
A controversial proposal from an anti-farming environmental group risks handing control of private land to government under the guise of conservation. NSW Farmers’ Conservation and Resource Management Committee Chair Bronwyn Petrie said the Wentworth Group of Scientists’ “Blueprint for a Healthy Country and Thriving Regions” to farmers was deeply disingenuous.
Flood that cost over $3.7 billion
Four years on from one of the biggest floods in living memory across the Northern Rivers region that was also Australia’s biggest natural disaster, people, homes and businesses are still feeling the impact ... On the four-year anniversary of the floods, Deputy Leader of the Federal Nationals, Member for Page Kevin Hogan slammed what had been done to help Lismore recover and rebuild.
New report details First Nations progress across the Murray-Darling Basin: Watt
The Albanese Government has ... tabled the annual Murray–Darling Basin First Nations water report for 2024–25. This report provides an overview of the progress made in 2024–25 by the Albanese Government to strengthen First Nations peoples’ leadership, knowledge and self determination in water management and planning decisions across the Murray–Darling Basin...
North East Rail passengers set to be locked out of Sunshine transport hub: Cleeland
The Nationals Member for Euroa, Annabelle Cleeland MP, has raised concerns in State Parliament this week about the redevelopment of Sunshine Station, warning the current design risks locking north-east Victorian passengers out of one of the state’s most important transport interchanges.
Ripper rainfall across the region
A tremendous lightning display preceded the weekend's significant rain event, with areas in the district recording more than 4 inches of rainfall between Friday evening and Tuesday morning ... The only thing to top a show like that was the much needed downpour that followed, drenching the entire region with steady, soaking rain.
Milthorpe contesting Farrer seat by election
After coming within 0.19 per cent of turning Farrer into a marginal seat at the last election, and delivering significant swings across the electorate, including winning all booths in Albury and securing strong support with wins in Jindera, Corowa, Deniliquin and Leeton, Mrs Milthorpe said the message from voters is clear: "our region is ready for change".
Game on for Farrer
After 25 years under Sussan Ley, the electorate of Farrer is scrambling to find its new champion. The electorate of Farrer has been held by either the Libs or Nats since 1949, but that may soon change. Frustration over the crippling of our irrigated agriculture sector, with a huge reduction in water availability and an explosion in pricing, often freezing out the next generation of farmers, is fuelling the winds of change.
Infrastructure cost kills plan for new shop at Wyreema
The cost of creating a new roundabout adjacent to a proposed new commercial development near the Karara Gardens housing estate at Wyreema has caused the developer to withdraw from the project. An application lodged in 2024 proposed the construction of a shop and food and drink outlet ... Mr David Meara told the Toowoomba Regional Council that the project would be commercially unviable because of the cost of installing the new roundabout. The cost of the roadwork was estimated to be $800,000.
Bulk billing benefits locals
In a major boost for the Upper Murray community, Corryong Health has transitioned to a bulk billed medical practice as of of March 2nd under a recently launched Australian government Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program (BBPIP). The program has expanded eligibility for Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) bulk billing incentives.
Banjima people take Wittenoom to the United Nations Human Rights Council and launch litigation against WA Government
On March 10, Banjima Traditional Owners and the filmmakers behind Walkley Award-winning documentary YURLU | COUNTRY will take part in an official UN Side Event at the Human Rights Council, in Geneva, Switzerland. It comes off the back of Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation launching a $1.5 billion claim against the WA Government, as part of their Clean Up Wittenoom campaign...
Farmers gutted after compulsory acquisition amendment passes: VFF
"The Victorian Farmers Federation is gutted that Parliament has backed laws allowing farmers’ land to be taken for transmission lines before the environmental assessment is even finished": Brett Hosking, VFF President.
Regenerative agriculture and the return of an old economic fallacy
Beneath the agreeable language embedded in regenerative agriculture — soil health and sustainable ecosystems — sits a more consequential proposition: that modern, input-intensive agriculture has overshot its optimal point and that government policy should now encourage a structural shift toward lower-input systems. That is not a trivial adjustment. It is a claim about the production frontier of Australian agriculture. Claims of that magnitude ... warrant far more rigorous empirical scrutiny than they have so far received.
The stink about releasing the carp virus
The Carp Herpes Virus (scientifically known as Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 or KHV) is a biological control agent proposed by the Australian government to combat the invasive common carp. Since its introduction in the 1800s, carp have decimated Australia's freshwater ecosystems, with experts estimating they make up 80 to 90 per cent of the fish biomass in the Murray-Darling Basin.
