Politics

A fin-tastic new project is set to bring more fish swimming into Sunshine Coast rivers ... Two new fishways will be installed on Petrie Creek, providing vital passage for a variety of native fish.

It wouldn’t be a 20 year celebration of the Big Sky Readers and Writers Festival without a stellar line-up of special guests and an exciting programme to match! With this year’s theme “A Celebration of Stories”, special guests include multi-award winning actress, author and former Geraldton local Tasma Walton, novelists Catherine Greer and Stefanie Koens, musician and crime author Dave Warner, and so many more.

Locally produced survival thriller, We Bury the Dead, is set for its Western Australian premiere screening at the CinefestOZ Film Prize Premiere event tonight and Birthright on Friday night. We Bury the Dead and Birthright are two of four finalists in contention for the 2025 Film Prize of $100,000.

Murrumbidgee Council Mayor Ruth McRae OAM has expressed deep disappointment at the closure of Coprice's Coleambally facility from 1 September 2025. Cr McRae described the news as devastating for the community and said it was disappointing to see the withdrawal of a business, particularly one that has helped drive the region's agricultural sector.

Hugh Schuitemaker. Struggling Riverland grape growers would have a better chance of staying in the industry – and sustaining the region's economy – if an indicative pricing Bill being introduced to State Parliament today becomes law, an SA MP says. The Bill would force processors to release indicative prices by September 30 each year, giving growers the choice of opting out of loss-making vintages months in advance, rather than plunging further into debt ... MLC Sarah Game will introduce the Bill to the upper house ...

Haydays retirement hostel is facing an imminent crisis, due to the building’s ageing infrastructure. The centre, which first opened in 1968, is just two or three years away from closing, unless vital refurbishments can be undertaken, to ensure the facility is compliant with all Aged Care Commission regulations, according to the Haydays Management Board.

Liberal Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell has urged Treasurer Jaclyn Symes to repeal Labor’s Holiday Tax that is harming Victorian tourism businesses. Recently released data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that international visitors are choosing other states over Victoria, as the Allan Labor Government’s Holiday Tax has made taking a holiday in Victoria more expensive than ever.

As the push for a cashless society continues, so does the exodus of financial institutions from the Yamba CBD, with BCU the latest to announce it will close its doors early next year. The Yamba CBD was once home to six different financial institutions, ANZ, BCU, Commonwealth Bank, NAB, St George, and Westpac.

Primex director Bruce Wright has signed an agreement between Primex Field Days and the Lismore Showgrounds to hold the Primex ag event in Lismore starting next year ... “What a significant coup to secure this premier event for Lismore and for it to be based at our much loved Lismore Showgrounds,” Ms Saffin said.

Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry production is expected to hit a record combined value of $101.6 billion in 2025-2026, according to the latest ABARES forecasts released today. ABARES Executive Director Dr Jared Greenville said the new record value was mostly down to livestock.

As local government rates notices hit letterboxes across the state, farmers are highlighting the madness of the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund Tax (ESVF) now hitting the pockets of Victorian homeowners. Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) President Brett Hosking said the mounting outrage is adding more weight to calls to scrap massive increases in the tax. 

On Monday, 8 September at 11.30am, a special ceremony will be held at the Port Lincoln War Memorial in Eyre Park to plant a Fig Tree of Tobruk—a living symbol of remembrance and resilience that not only honours the legacy of Australian soldiers who served in the Siege of Tobruk during World War II, but also commemorates the enduring significance of the tree itself, which once offered shelter and solace to troops in the harsh desert conditions of Libya.

Bendigo Bank closed its last remaining banking service in an Aboriginal community 27 days before celebrating the launch of its Aboriginal Reconciliation Action Plan. The Aurukun agency in far north Queensland was one of 27 to be closed in 2022-2023 under the eye of the bank’s now chief executive Richard Fennell when he was in charge of the consumer banking division.

After more than a century of Federation and countless social experiments, you'd think Australia would have learned from the mother country how not to wreck an economy or an immigration system. Yet here we are in 2025, shackled to laws and institutions that guarantee only one thing: the slow, grinding slide down the global economic ladder.

Country race meetings are the heartbeat of regional Australia. Unlike city races where only a small percentage of people attend, country race days see entire towns turn out to support their local event.

Alex Nelson. This week marks the 34th anniversary of the official opening of the Commonwealth's Jock Nelson Centre in August 1991. This is the splendid Commonwealth building I suggested ought to be re-purposed as the permanent home of the Museum of Central Australia during my presentation at the Friends of the Strehlow Research Centre Symposium in April 2018.

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has expressed deep disappointment at the passing of the VicGrid Bill through the Legislative Council, warning it grants sweeping powers to the government while doing little to protect farmers and regional communities.

A buoyant crowd gathered at Maldon Community Centre on Thursday 21 August to hear the announcement from Community Bank Maldon & District about its BIG Project grant, which offered a million dollars over five years to create long-lasting impact within the local community ... $650,000 will be invested with the Mount Alexander Affordable Housing Trust towards affordable housing in Maldon.

Every time someone brings up the Southern Oscillation Index or the Indian Ocean Dipole, I nod along and drift off. But a recent conversation with an old boarding school mate gave me hope that maybe it’s not as complex as I originally thought and maybe some of the amateur Wheatbelt weather forecasters might have more than half a clue about what's going on out there.