Firewood panic – Jarvis’s order leads to double standards: Gavin Butcher
Gavin Butcher. The WA Government’s new forestry policy is unravelling. The responsible Minister, Jackie Jarvis, has started to panic, reportedly ordering 120,000 tonnes of firewood to be produced, and in the process is sacrificing supplies to sawmills. The result is that high quality sawlogs are being set aside for firewood instead of being manufactured for furniture and flooring.
Tiny homes make big impact in Gympie: Scanlon
Tenants have moved in to eight new tiny homes in Gympie, delivered to help ease housing pressures in the region. The factory-built homes were installed at GRAP, which was a joint project between the Queensland Government and Gympie Regional Council after floods devastated the town.
Charleville hosting Darling Downs South West Queensland Regional Community Forum: Grace, Furner
Housing, health, education, training and employment pathways, infrastructure, economic diversification, and the Q2032 Procurement Strategy will be part of the conversation for the members of the Darling Downs South West Queensland Regional Community Forum who meet at Charleville ...
Proposed changes to Grain Harvest Code will have huge ramifications for our grain industry: Pederick, Centofanti
Shadow Minister for Emergency Services and Member for Hammond, Adrian Pederick, together with Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Nicola Centofanti, are standing with local farmers and Grain Producers SA in opposing the proposed changes to the Grain Harvesting Code of Practice. The changes put forward by the CFS seek to reduce the Grassland Fire Danger Index (GFDI) cease harvest number to 40 at 10 metres...
Innovative ‘staying at home’ program launched
Resthaven has launched a new government-funded program which aims to support older South Australians living with dementia to stay at home for as long as possible. The ‘Staying at Home in Regional South Australia’ ... aims to provide vital education and support to carers whilst their loved one is cared for in the same location by experienced staff.
$9.75m injection for Keith hospital
The Keith and District Hospital has officially joined SA Health with a $9.75 million boost from the SA State Government. After so many decades of uncertainty, it was a moment the Upper SE community had been waiting for. Sporting a new public healthcare model – the facility will be known as Keith and District Healthcare.
$4.3m on hold pending study
A regional health bureaucracy has been blocked from spending $4.3 million on hospital upgrades rather than radiation treatment services in the Limestone Coast. But only until a feasibility study for radiation therapy has been completed. Then SA Health Minister Chris Picton will make a decision.
Police are needed in country towns: McArthur
Victoria Police wants to take officers from one-person police stations in 98 small towns and roster them into regional centres and cities to fill police shortages. The rostering change is due to more than 800 police vacancies across the state ... Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur, said the move is alarming.
VFF”ˆcondemns incursion on to farm properties
The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) is dismayed by the recent actions of transmission network operator AusNet Services after its workers entered farm properties along the Ballarat to Bendigo transmission line, without any prior contact or seeking permission from landowners.
Farmers push for urgent housing solutions: TFGA
The Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association (TFGA) are pushing for urgent solutions to the Tasmanian regional housing crisis. The matter is of significant concern to the Tasmanian farming sector which has made a real contribution to the states economic growth and expansion.
Citizen scientists help to unveil the secret world of Murraylands and Riverland Fungi: Landscape SA
Citizen Scientists have helped to develop better understanding of regional biodiversity by taking part in an initiative to record local fungi and lichen species. FungiQuest is a national event that encourages citizen scientists to share their fungi sightings via a smartphone app.
More support on the way for timber workers: Tierney
The Andrews Labor Government is scaling up support for timber workers, sawmill operators and their communities, as Victoria transitions away from native timber logging. Minister for Agriculture Gayle Tierney announced the expansion of the Victorian Forestry Worker Support Program...
Vic stands strong, NSW crumples under Albo water grab
The Albanese Government has officially declared war on Basin communities and Australian families who are suffering with the cost-of-living crisis. On Tuesday, the Federal Water Minister declared that the Murray-Darling Basin Plan MKII would remove the legislated protections around taxpayer funded water buybacks and the new plan extended to 2027 ... The Murray-Darling Basin Plan clearly demonstrates legislation is only abided by when it’s convenient to the political outcomes sought, and changed when it’s problematic to those ends.
Listen to people who have ‘lived experience’ – SRI
“We know the devastation of flooding caused by holding too much water in dams. We know that due to constraints issues it is pointless recovering the massive water volumes that are being planned, because it is impossible to deliver them downstream ... governments must listen to people who are ‘on the ground’ and have a different understanding of Basin Plan implementation to those who live in cities and base their assessments on computer modelling”: Jan Beer.
Malinauskas Government welcomes agreement to deliver the Murray Darling Basin Plan in full: Close
The Malinauskas Government welcomes the new agreement to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full including the 450 gigalitres of environmental flows we have long campaigned for. With the exception of Victoria, all Basin jurisdictions and the Commonwealth have agreed to deliver the plan in full including legislating for voluntary buy backs...
Cuts to hospital system a disaster for NSW Hospitals: AMA NSW
AMA NSW President Dr Michael Bonning has slammed the NSW Government for announcing a Special Commission of Inquiry focused on cuts to hospital care.
Fallout from native forestry decision continues: VFPA
The native hardwood industry welcomed announcement by Minister Tierney to offer additional support for workers, contractors, communities and new regional businesses but was disappointed that the mill exit package doubly punished those businesses that had acted in good faith, said Deb Kerr, CEO of the Victorian Forest Products Association (VFPA).
Department of Premier and Cabinet response to WJJWA Settlement Agreement
The Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 provides a framework for out-of-court recognition of Traditional Owner rights, financial and land management packages and settlement of native title claims in Victoria, negotiated between Traditional Owners and the Victorian Government. Signed in October 2022, this Recognition and Resettlement Agreement is between the Victorian Government and Traditional Owners and impacts Crown land only.
Queensland Government sells out on Murray-Darling Basin plan: Littleproud
Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud says the Palaszczuk Government has sold out Queensland communities by signing up to Federal Labor’s latest Murray-Darling Basin plan. The Albanese Government has announced it would tear up Labor’s original policy on the additional 450 gigalitres of the Murray-Darling Basin plan and ignore the social and economic neutrality test, protecting communities from water buybacks.
Tourism: Need to turn figures from target to real
It’s enough to make your heart beat faster: Dollars and visitor numbers graphs shooting skywards, heading for $5.3 billion (yes – with a “b”) in earnings from 2.7 million visitors. Wow. Before your blood pressure too goes through the roof, note that the numbers are demand targets, as operators were told by the Department of Tourism last week, in an update of what’s snappily called the T2030 Strategy.
Historic deal struck to guarantee a future for the Murray-Darling Basin: Plibersek
The Albanese Labor Government has struck an historic agreement to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full, including 450 gigalitres of water for the environment. The agreement, made between the Federal, New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory governments...
Farmers rally against renewables in Brisbane: Littleproud
Farmers have rallied against reckless renewables outside Queensland Parliament House, urging Labor to rethink its plans to destroy prime agricultural land and pristine rainforest and animal habitat throughout Queensland ... Federal Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud said Labor’s reckless race to achieve 82 per cent renewables by 2030 needed a Senate Inquiry.
