Politics

The Territory Labor Government will introduce legislation this week to facilitate the $30 billion Sun Cable Australia-Asia PowerLink project ... The Solar Project (Australia-Asia Power Link) (Special Provisions) Bill 2022 will provide certainty that key commitments in the Territory’s Project Development Agreement with Sun Cable will be met. The legislation will clarify and streamline existing processes, increase project certainty, and support Sun Cable to secure project financing.

The new $323.7 million Echuca-Moama Bridge project, the largest transport infrastructure project in northern Victoria and southern NSW, is set to open to traffic before the Easter holidays – months ahead of schedule.

There have been two more detections of Japanese encephalitis (JE) in South Australian commercial piggeries. This brings the total number of cases in South Australia to six. The latest detections are in the local government areas of Clare and Gilbert Valleys and Goyder. This is in addition to existing detections in the following local government areas: Loxton Waikerie, Murray Bridge and Coorong.

A second influx of little red flying foxes has arrived in McAuliffe Park  in Casino. Little reds are highly nomadic and will move on again before too long but with a lot of habitat destroyed by recent floodwater, the flying foxes may make their way into residents’ yards.

Geoff Helisma. An initiative to incorporate population growth as a primary factor when deciding the annual rate peg for NSW councils has been rejected before its implementation. In early 2021, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) began a review that would include population growth in its calculation of the rate peg, and, upon its adoption, set the rate peg at 0.7 per cent for 2022-23 financial year ... attendees at the Local Government NSW Special Conference disagreed with the IPART, the OLG and the former minister.

Emma Pritchard. Driven by her determination to restore trust, honesty and integrity in Government while advocating for climate action, stronger funding for equitable healthcare, strengthening the regional economy, and fighting for a fair future, Dr Hanabeth Luke has nominated as an independent candidate for the seat of Page at the upcoming Federal election.

Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch believes he will be able to soon cut the ribbon to open the CAPS animal welfare facility after discussions about the centre were fast-tracked. Last week’s Cape York Weekly was the most read edition since publishing began and the front page story about the future of the $2 million facility generated plenty of discussion in the community.

The high cost of fuel around the nation has put service station owners in the spotlight – sometimes for the wrong reasons. Richard Ireland is one of the directors of Weipa Servicentre and explains why the price in the Western Cape is different to other outlets.

Elvis: Direct from Graceland opening weekend was a huge success ... Due to your support this was our most successful opening weekend of all time.

Peak sugarcane organisation CANEGROWERS is seeking urgent discussions with local government amid an escalation of people using Queensland farms as dumping grounds ... ARR.News asked some further questions of CANEGROWERS on this costly problem.

This item was mean to be Kookaburra's Post-Budget report, but given the costs and inconveniences of regional air travel in Australia, it is now a Pre-Budget complaint. Not being a government supported Mandarin - merely a lowly citizen - Kookaburra decided that no rational person could agree to pay the fares demanded by QANTAS to fly from Bendigo to Canberra.

Winanjjikari Music Centre held a networking event on Monday evening at the Centre to give those people interested in local music a chance to have a chat and find out all the latest on the local music scene. With people from Music NT, APRA AMCOS and 8CCC Community Radio in attendance as well as local musos, there was plenty of interesting talk going on regarding the future of performing in the Barkly.  

Sheryl Lowe. MacKillop MP Nick McBride has begun campaigning to lead the SA Liberals in opposition, following his convincing re-election and the Liberal Party’s demoralising loss in last Saturday’s 2022 State Election. The decision to “throw his hat into the ring” follows the announcement by former Premier Steven Marshall that he would step down as Liberal Party leader, following Labor’s win.

A number of local residents have expressed their concern regarding an application for a new mining exploration licence. One resident told the Times, “I am concerned about the size of the exploration licence that has been applied for, especially in relation to the historic and scientific significant mining landscape that may be damaged.

Committee Chair, Dr Anne Webster MP said, ‘Regional newspapers in Australia represent a large and diverse industry, which has experienced significant challenges over the past decade. With the transition to digital news and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, assessing the health of our regional newspapers is more important than ever before.’

A report from the Inquiry into Australia’s regional newspapers released earlier today has made 12 recommendations including that the Australian Government ensure a percentage of government print advertising is placed in regional newspapers.

Serena Kirby. Community member and South West MLC Dr Sally Talbot, who was instrumental in getting WA’s VAD law passed in State Parliament, spoke of the process at the Dying To Know forum convened by death doula Kit Bewley.

Patricia Gill. Sumer Addy started her job as chief executive at the Denmark Chamber of Commerce in 2020 in what she describes as a baptism of fire. ... Sumer leaves the Chamber at the end of April to take up a consultancy job with the economic and community development partner consultancy, Rural and Regional Economic Solutions.

A perfect autumn evening and the setting sun’s golden haze set the scene for the Sara Storer concert in Wakool, presented by the Australian Government’s National Recovery and Resilience Agency ... 21-time Golden Guitar winner ... Backstage, Sara said it was great to be back on the road after a quiet two years.