New performance website showing more data than ever before: Fentiman
Queenslanders will have access to more health data with the launch of the new-look and easier-to-navigate Hospital Performance website. The redesigned site includes information and data that enables consumers to compare the performances of hospitals and health jurisdictions across the state.
#saveGlenden bigger than fight for small town: Katter
The community-led battle to save the mining town of Glenden from impending demolition represents a “sliding door” moment for the Queensland Government, Katter’s Australian Party Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter said ... Glenden, a town of 670 people in central Queensland, is progressively being abandoned as its “anchor tenant” – the Swedish mining giant Glencore – wraps up...
VFF powers up petition to halt transmission projects: VFF
The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has launched a petition to the Victorian Parliament calling for the VNI West and Western Renewables Link transmission projects to be stopped. VFF President Emma Germano said the petition seeks to make the state’s political leaders take notice of decisions that are impacting Victorian farmers and their communities.
Short term accommodation review complete: Miles
As part of planning reforms to create more housing supply, the Palaszczuk Government made a commitment to look into the impact of short-term rental accommodation ... In the first quarter of 2023, there were roughly 19,773 active short-term rentals across Queensland.
Park power lines plan leads to court
Three years after withdrawing a legal challenge to the NSW government’s decision to approve Snowy 2.0 because of the potential legal costs involved, the National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) is now proceeding with an action in the Land and Environment Court. The case against the previous NSW government’s decision to allow new overhead transmission lines through Kosciuszko National Park (KNP) as part of the Snowy 2.0 project is set to be heard today.
Community unites in the line of fire
Community members gathered ... to share information and discuss what they believe is an unsatisfactory time frame to provide feedback on the 500kV VNI West power line development ... it was the consensus of the meeting that community members were still in a process of discovery and lamented that the power companies probably had 18 months to put together their Draft Corridor Reports, and still missed basic information, such as areas of extensive flooding.
Questions still remain
A meeting held at Westbrook on Monday night provided some clarity on the Department of Transport and Main Road’s (TMR) proposed Toowoomba North South Transport Corridor, however some details still remain a mystery. The meeting was organised by concerned community members in conjunction with Member for Condamine Pat Weir.
Dog attacks will surge if buffer goes
Member for Benambra, Bill Tilley, fears farms in the Upper Murray will again be under constant threat from wild dogs if the rules for trappers are watered down. On Tuesday night in the Victorian Parliament, Mr Tilley called on the Agriculture Minister to visit the region and hear from the landholders who lived through the carnage of the early 2000s.
Taking Downs beef to the States
Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise (TSBE) has secured a grant which will enable it to bolster the Darling Downs’ and Queensland’s market share of grain-fed beef in the United States. In collaboration with Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), TSBE is hoping to capture the immense potential for the growth of regional beef producers and the expansion of Queensland’s footprint in U.S. markets.
Basin Plan flounders as problems mount
Southern Riverina Irrigators said Federal Water Minister Tanya Plibersek’s determination to deliver the Basin Plan in full shows just how out of touch with reality the minister really is ... To date, 83 per cent of water recovered has already come from the southern basin and SRI is urging NSW water minister Rose Jackson to follow Victoria’s lead and put a line through future buybacks ... Despite the devastation caused by the MDBA in the southern basin, MDBA Chief Executive Andrew McConville said most communities are in support of the plan’s implementation.
Biosecurity and land use the focus for Agriculture Ministers in Wellington: Moriarty
Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty met with the New Zealand Minister for Agriculture Damien O’Connor last week to discuss issues of mutual significance during her trip to Wellington NZ for the Food Ministers Meeting. Ms Moriarty said biosecurity was top of the agenda given that both NSW and New Zealand are exposed to the increasing threat of outbreaks from exotic incursions that are rising in volume, complexity, and severity.
Requirements for wind farm developments set for review: Miles
A review of the requirements for wind farm developments in Queensland is underway. The review of the Wind Farm Code (State Code 23) and its accompanying guidelines will aim to build greater community and industry confidence in clean energy projects.
Notes from Central Darling Shire Council Meeting, 26 July 2023
The Shires Administrator Bob Stewart reported on a meeting he had with the NSW Minister for Local Government, Hon. Ron Hoenig and the Minister for Water, the Hon. Rose Jackson. Bob reported that the Minister is keen to bring the Shire out of Administration however he also understands the challenges faced by Council in a number of areas, including day-today operations and financial sustainability.
Government fiddles while buffel burns
Adrian Tomlinson. Fire is one of the terrible consequences of buffel, the invasive grass many call a weed, and which is declared as such in neighbouring South Australia ... Yet the NT Government seems to be responding to this emergency without great strategy, judging by answers given to Araluen’s independent MLA Robyn Lambley, who put questions in Parliament suggested by the Alice Springs News.
Projects won’t lower flood levels – Hogan
Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan has criticised the Albanese Government’s $100 million announcement for 20 projects in the Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program as they won’t lower flood levels ... “The community would feel exceptionally disappointed by projects announced by the Federal Government today as they contain no effective flood mitigation works”: Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan.
Biosecurity Bill consultation now open: Scriven
Public consultation on a draft Biosecurity Bill that will enable a modern approach to biosecurity management in South Australia is now open. The new Bill will consolidate several existing Acts covering plant health, livestock, the dog fence, management of stray stock and relevant provisions of fisheries legislation, bringing consistency to biosecurity management across industries.
Environmentally friendly moorings
Recovery of seagrass and coral around lagoon moorings has occurred since new environmentally friendly designs were installed. The new Marine Flex moorings use heavy-duty elastic, rather than relying on lifting heavy chain for shock absorption.
EPA agrees to remove flood waste from cane fields at no cost to farmers
The State Government has announced extended recovery support to cane farmers to help remove dangerous flood waste found in cane paddocks at the beginning of the cane harvest. The NSW Environment Protection Authority has agreed to work with local cane farmers to remove the waste at no cost to the farmers.
Vanadium battery to power regional WA: Johnston
Western Australia's regional energy provider Horizon Power has purchased a vanadium redox flow battery for a long-duration energy storage pilot in Kununurra. The 78-kilowatt/220kWh battery will enable Horizon Power to test the capabilities of providing long periods of 100 per cent renewable energy, with the potential for it to be used across WA.
SA Opposition Leader heads to UK on AUKUS trip: Speirs
Leader of the Opposition David Speirs will travel to the United Kingdom to strengthen relations with our AUKUS partner and attend a high-powered roundtable on nuclear energy ... During the week-long trip Mr Speirs will meet with senior defence officials, give a keynote speech at a business event, visit key defence manufacturing sites including the Barrow-in-Furness nuclear submarine construction yard and attend a nuclear energy roundtable lunch.
Vast new outback park in NSW protects important wetlands: Sharpe
The NSW Government has acquired Comeroo, Muttawary and Maranoa stations (known collectively as Comeroo). The purchase will see more than 37,000 hectares containing endangered ecological communities and an array of threatened species added to the NSW national park estate, managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Positive progress in regulated tree clearing throughout Queensland: Stewart
Clearing of regulated vegetation reduced from about 98,000 hectares in 2019-20 to 61,000 hectares in 2020-21. This year’s annual SLATS report shows that total woody vegetation clearing in 2020-21 decreased by 17 per cent compared to the previous year, and 49 per cent overall since 2018-19.
