State politics

A major mains replacement project on South Western Highway is the first part of a $9.6 million State Government investment over 10 years to improve water supply reliability in the Bunbury region ... The existing 100mm pipes were replaced with 200mm pipes and capacity was improved which will increase water supply and pressure to the Bunbury Airport to boost the firefighting capacity, Bunbury Regional Prison and meet future development needs.

Blake Lee. Almost 120 young people from across Victoria attended the Y’s (formerly YMCA) Victorian Youth Parliament Week, held from June 25-30. Representing regions right across the state, 20 teams of six Youth Parliamentarians aged 16-25, worked together to develop a bill on an issue relevant to their lives. These bills were created with the help of volunteer Taskforce members, and then debated in Victoria’s Parliament House.

An SA Legislative Review Committee inquiring into radiation therapy in the Limestone Coast is underway in State Parliament. A written submission by the Limestone Coast Radiation Therapy Working Group includes the awful experiences of many forced to travel to Adelaide, including Naracoorte’s “Lisa” and “Graham Hinze”.

I note that some at Denmark WA object to deliberate burning by the government department called DBCA. On television I have seen the matter briefly addressed by two botanists, Dr Joanna Young and Prof Stephen Hopper. They were showing a politician a recently burnt swamp, with ugly damage to the peat. A nasty sight, but was it the whole truth, or only part? We might remember Aristotle’s discussion of the perils of omitting, deliberately or accidentally, part of the truth (enthymeme).

Just months out from the River Murray Basin Plan 2024 deadline, the Federal Labor Government has just woken up to the real prospect that, despite their election commitment, the Basin Plan might not be delivered in full and on time. It has been revealed that the Federal Water Minister, Tanya Plibersek, has written to the Murray-Darling Authority asking “whether the plan has any prospects”...

The NSW Government attended a cultural burn, on the eve of NAIDOC week at Nellingen last week organised by The Batemans Bay Local Aboriginal Land Council. The cultural burn was an opportunity to support the renewal of culture through the use of fire while promoting knowledge sharing with Crown Lands’ bushfire mitigation staff.

The Kerang Memorial Hall was a flurry of activity at Tuesday’s VNI West Information Sessions ... From landholder engagement to environmental concerns, aboriginal cultural heritage, and even local, George Warne, was there as Transmission Company Victoria’s (TCV) agricultural advisor.

Rapid electric vehicle charging options are opening across the state, with multiple DC rapid-charging sites launching on 4 July 2023 ... The South Australian Government and the RAA is switching on the first of 54 DC rapid and ultra-rapid charging stations in the Statewide EV Charging Network, in Nuriootpa.

A frustrated Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter will write to Queensland Child Safety Minister Craig Crawford, as well as the Parliament’s bipartisan Community Services and Safety Committee, calling for a sweeping inquiry into the State’s broken “resi-care” program ... “Resi-care is a complete disaster, and is failing not only the kids unfortunate enough to be lumped in with the arrangement but also the workers who staff the programs and the broader community": Robbie Katter.

AMA (NSW) President, Dr Michael Bonning, said the expansion of the GP Single-Employer Model is a big win for patient access to quality health services in rural and regional communities in NSW. Dr Bonning said the Model, which allows doctors to train in State-run hospitals as well as private clinics, will provide funding for 80 rural generalist GPs in NSW from next year.

Cheers of celebration and relief from James Creek residents erupted when the Northern Regional Planning Panel refused approval for a controversial $33 million 336 lot subdivision on James Creek Road ... When the DA was put on public exhibition three times in 2022 and 2023, council received 100 submissions and a petition with 171 signatures against the subdivision.

Sheep and cattle farmers are planting hundreds of thousands of an elite variety of Oldman Saltbush across Australia’s southeast this winter to supplement feed during dryer conditions heralded by a potential El Nino. Anameka Saltbush is a specially selected variety of the drought-tolerant native shrub, developed over 15 years by CSIRO.

A new project to monitor and develop a guide on the management of woody thickening through fire regimes on Cape York Peninsula will begin next month ... “There is growing evidence of marked changes in woody structure across the region, and this can affect pastoral production as well as the biodiversity of the country”: Toby Eastoe, Cape York NRM Biodiversity & Fire Programs Manager.

New laws designed to protect and manage Aboriginal cultural heritage in Western Australia started on July 1 with the Cook Government saying they were modernised and improved to prevent another incident like what occurred at Juukan Gorge ... Prior to the implementation of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 almost 30,000 people signed an e-petition calling on the government to delay the start date by a minimum of six months.

The gathered people were angry, frustrated and sad. Many took the mic and spoke and for some it was clearly uncomfortable to bare their sorrow as they shook and their voices broke ... Henry Luong told people to “use your rage and make it your power”.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) and LHIB have partnered up to capture new high-resolution aerial imagery and terrain mapping of Lord Howe Island and Ball’s Pyramid. Aerial imagery forms the basis of the LHIB’s environmental field operations, helping us protect biodiversity, manage weeds, and implement effective biosecurity.

On 11 May 2023 a deceased beaked whale washed into shallow water at the Western end of Old Settlement Beach ... The preliminary identification is a male Blainsville’s Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon densirostris), consistent with the two large tusks in lower jaw, with stalked barnacles growing on their exposed tips.

Leader of the Nationals and Member for Maranoa David Littleproud has called on Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk  to overhaul the state government’s efforts to eradicate fire ants from the Sunshine State. Mr Littleproud’s call comes after the potentially devastating pest was recently discovered on the outskirts of Toowoomba, meaning the fire ant has made it across the Great Dividing Range for the first time.

South Australia has secured the hosting privileges to an international wine event which attracts major purchasers from across the globe, in a coup for the State. Adelaide will host the November 2026 International Masters of Wine Symposium, bringing together around 500 delegates from premier wine importing nations around the world.