Politics

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is rolling out sophisticated new technology to detect and identify exotic plant viruses and viroids at its Post Entry Quarantine Facility (PEQ) at Mickleham, Victoria. Australia’s Chief Plant Protection Officer Dr Gabrielle Vivian-Smith said the department was using High Throughput Sequencing (HTS) to improve the efficiency of PEQ testing in imported plants.

Proposed changes to poker machine gambling in NSW has caused angst amongst ClubsNSW members. The reforms have the support of the NSW Liberal party, the Greens and also independent Member for Murray, Helen Dalton.

When Moulamein local, Shantal Sherman, was diagnosed with breast cancer in August of this year, it was the last thing she expected to hear ... What she didn’t expect to have to do was travel for basic follow up wound care, when her hometown is supposed to have an operational, functional and staffed community health service ... Shantal said she can’t believe the deterioration in rural health care and the lack of empathy and concern shown for patients.

Last Friday Member for Southern Downs James Lister MP and a group of concerned volunteers and media met at the Gladfield Driver Reviver site which was one of the sites due to be closed by the Department of Main Roads.

The Richmond Valley Council’s acknowledgement of the work done by BlazeAid volunteers in the past three years was more like a goodbye than a thank you at the council meeting on Tuesday, December 20. And BlazeAid isn’t thrilled about it.

Rockhampton residents have embraced the school holidays with families out and about enjoying events, activities, and facilities in the Rockhampton Region. School holidays are meant to be an exciting and wonderful time of the year, but unfortunately, a spike in vandalism and graffiti is putting a dampener on the festivities.

The Newell Highway has reopened between Forbes and West Wyalong after flood waters and extensive damage forced a 49-day closure. Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Sam Farraway said it was a credit to the Transport for NSW crews who worked around the clock to have the highway open before Christmas for families looking forward to spending the festive season with loved ones.

The Shire of Ashburton is the first local government in Western Australia to join forces with Queensland based company QIT Plus to bring a collated Emergency Dashboard resource to the community ... Having resources such as road conditions, power outages, weather warnings, river heights, airport schedules, boating forecasts, quick links and more on one accessible platform will help to inform the community and highlight how to prepare for incidents and events that impact the area.

The National Farmers’ Federation’s (NFF) Horticulture Council is calling on the Federal Government to ensure its much-heralded solution to the growing workforce crisis works for the whole of the sector. Following Covid-19 disruptions, there was a swift shift towards a greater reliance on the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, but with that came headaches for smaller employers who previously relied mostly on backpackers.

The Federal Government’s Treasury Department now has in its possession pages of first-hand accounts from bank staff admitting that they have been working under orders to move customers away from face-to-face banking and on to digital channels ... It is the first time hard evidence has been available to prove these long-suspected practices exist, yet the information, provided to the Regional Banking Taskforce through the Financial Sector Union, was ignored by the Government in its final report.

Three elections in one year was draining, inspiring, and historic. For the elected officials that we have in 2023, I wanted to share a few hopes for your work in 2023. #1 Create a high performance culture. The saying that “culture eats strategy for breakfast” applies to families, community groups, businesses, elected officials, and public sector staff. The culture eats strategy rule of thumb has been a lesson throughout my career and it has the persistence and reliability, but not always the timeliness, of gravity.

John O'Donnell reviews the NSW Rural Fire Service Annual Report 2021/22 ... Unfortunately, areas of annual hazard reduction burning and mechanical reduction in NSW are both at very low rates ... Only 3.1 per cent of the NSW forested landscape has received fuel treatment over five years, this is extremely low and inadequate to reduce bushfire areas and risk. In addition, the forests with extensive hot bushfires of 2019/ 20 are now three years old and in many cases there are extensive areas of dead trees, heavy grass/ bark etc fuel and dense understoreys ...

The NSW Government’s Fish Stocking Program continues to play a vital role in enhancing recreational fishing opportunities and strengthening fish populations across the state. Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke said the Fish Stocking Program saw a record number of native fish, salmonoid (trout and salmon) and marine species bred and stocked in 2021-22, with the NSW Government releasing more than 5.3 million fish into waterways throughout NSW.

The NSW Government has released its plan to roll out electronic identification (eID) for the State’s $1.5 billion farmed sheep and goat industries. Minister for Agriculture and Western NSW Dugald Saunders said the plan has been developed hand-in-hand with industry, ensuring a timeline that works for each sector.

As the Albanese Government is trying to rush through its water recovery strategy before Christmas, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s sand slug has been very active. Like a mythical creature that lurks in the watery depths, the sand slug was the MDBA’s answer to why the natural constraint of the Barmah Choke had reduced in water delivery capacity ... A recent photo from grass roots community members continues to highlight the rapid rate of erosion at Davies Beach, Cobram.

Today’s River Murray flow update shows the floodwater peak is still due in Renmark around the end of December and forecasts remain between 190 and 220 gigalitres a day, consistent with previous projections. While flow rates are useful for forecasting the scale of floods, water heights provide a better picture of conditions on the ground. Subsequently, as we are now closer to the expected peak, the Department for Environment and Water is now able to provide daily height forecasts for population centres.

A number of state forests across south east Queensland will be conserved earlier, the Palaszczuk Government has announced ... Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon said it’s part of the Palaszczuk Government’s election commitment to transfer 20,000 hectares of state forest to Queensland’s protected areas.

Allora local Mary Higgins, who is a student at Griffiths University, studying Psychological Science and Business, has been awarded a Scholarship under the New Colombo Plan ... “Growing up in Allora, a small town of just 1200 people, I’ve seen my community come together through droughts, floods and many other crises, which has inspired me to work further toward social justice on a grander scale,” Mary said.