State politics

Member for Maranoa and Nationals leader David Littleproud is backing calls for Labor to rule out scrapping the Fuel Tax Credit (FTC) scheme. Mr Littleproud said dumping the FTC scheme was another cost of living threat under Labor and would hurt families and businesses.

“Landowners are suffering an avalanche of new projects championed by the State Government owned corporation Powerlink Queensland. Powerlink has over 20 active connection projects attached to renewable energy developments spread from Cairns, Central Queensland right through to the Gold Coast,” Chair of Property Rights Australia (PRA) Rob Atkinson said.

“This program will provide an injection of funds to improve priority drainage channels, reducing the immediate risks to agricultural assets and surrounding communities in future flood events. The funding will focus on the cleaning and treatment of sediment in drains to assist in the movement of water through these river systems": Federal Minister for Emergency Management Murray Watt.

A revised study identifying the risk of flooding on a 2.5-kilometre section between South Street and McCalls Road in Gunnedah has been commissioned with $60,000 in funding from the NSW Government’s 2022/23 NSW Floodplain Management Program ... The new study comes after significant changes were made to the area including the construction of a Blackjack Creek Riparian Corridor and the construction of the second Gunnedah overpass.

Central Regional TAFE has welcomed the first group of international students to Geraldton following their success in the inaugural round of the McGowan Government's regional bursaries for TAFE international students ... Interest in the program has been strong with a total of 22 international students already receiving bursaries to study at TAFE campuses in Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Bunbury and Broome in Semester 1, 2023.

Three thousand general admission tickets are now on sale for the prime viewing location of the 2023 Total Solar Eclipse. The viewing site will be one of the best places on Earth to experience the 2023 Total Solar Eclipse when it is plunged into darkness on 20 April.

Australia’s volunteer tagging database Infofish recently became the first citizen science tagging program in the world to tag 1 million fish since its inception in 1986 ... “Community-based fish tagging has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the movement patterns and growth rates of many fish species, and the Infofish program is recognised as a world leader in this space": Mark Furner, Qld Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries.

Private banks are abandoning rural Australians at an alarming rate and are relying on public-owned infrastructure – namely the Australia Post network – to plug the local service deficits left in their wake, Katter’s Australian Party Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter has said. Speaking following news that Westpac would close its branches in Cloncurry, Tully and Ingham while NAB would depart Longreach in the coming months, Mr Katter said there was a growing onus on governments to intervene in the growing failure of banks to service the regions.

The recommendation to reinstate alcohol bans in Alice Springs town camps and outback home lands was described as “finally some commonsense” by the Independent MLA for Araluen, Robyn Lambley. But she says Dorrelle Anderson, who made the recommendation, should now go back to her work and “sort out child protection, the most critical problem in Central Australia” and “keep off the streets” children causing trouble.

"Since late 2019 Coober Pedy water consumers have been calling on successive State Governments to introduce SA Water pricing in Coober Pedy. This would result in prices being reduced by two thirds. Unfortunately, no State Government commitment has been secured. In that time Coober Pedy consumers have paid $5 million more for their water than if they lived in Adelaide. This is scurrilous": Tim Jackson, Administrator, District Council of Coober Pedy.

Candidates for Clarence in the upcoming state election have expressed their disappointment in the NSW Electoral Commissions decision to scrap the iVote online voting system. Launched in 2011 by the Labor party, iVote provided eligible voters with the opportunity to cast their vote online or over the telephone in state elections and more recently local government elections.

Students in Rochester will return to their schools this week after being affected by the devastating flooding across Victoria last year. It’s the first time the students at Rochester Primary School and Rochester Secondary School will be able to walk back through the school gates since the flooding left both schools inundated with water.

Queensland Health has established a supplier panel of major construction companies to accelerate the delivery of three new hospitals and nine major hospital expansions under the Palaszczuk Government’s Queensland Health and Hospitals Plan ... “The building contractor shortlist of 12 was established based on an expression of interest process and through Queensland Health’s broader engagement with industry": Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Yvette D’Ath.

"We expect that these 51 strategically placed golf events over three years will attract more than 16,000 visitors to the host regions, injecting an estimated $13.5 million into the regional NSW economy": Minister for Tourism, Ben Franklin.

Beekeepers can now apply for a permit to move European honey bees and other related materials into Queensland from the NSW General Emergency Zone (GEZ) after this zone was declared free of varroa mites ... “All states and territories across Australia have reached unanimous agreement that varroa mite is not present in the GEZ”: Qld Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities, Mark Furner.

Last month marked the first time wild dog baits have been substituted for fox baits in Bounceback, a flagship program working to achieve conservation outcomes in South Australia’s north ... They replaced the fox baits normally used in their central and northern Flinders Ranges aerial baiting programs which covered National Parks and nine surrounding pastoral leases.

It was an announcement that was significant enough for the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events to visit Maldon in May last year: a State Government decision to invest $1.7 million in a development at Porcupine Village ... After eight months, progress on the Porcupine Village development has stalled, with works shut down by Council owing to lack of compliance regarding appropriate planning permission.

Beekeeper David Mumford from Narrandera’s King Bee Honey has expressed concerns for the future of his industry which he believes needs regulation to clean it up ... The recent varroa mite biosecurity emergency highlighted a lack of regulation and Mr Mumford would like to see the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) given more power to ensure safe practices.