State politics

Mental health, education and the environment are the top priorities for the Northern Territory Youth Round Table. The Round Table has met for the first time in Alice Springs with members wanting to ensure that young voices are heard in regions across the Territory.

Central Queensland is stepping up in Queensland’s renewable energy revolution with cheap, clean energy now being exported via a new grid connected battery at Tanby, south of Yeppoon ... “It means renewable energy made during Central Queensland’s many sunny days can be stored to use during peak demand periods in the evening": Deputy Premier and State Development Minister Steven Miles .

Licences for any professional horse activity and events in Victoria could be brought in under proposed new animal welfare laws. The proposal has been outlined in a plan developed as part of the reform process for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 and states that anyone “showing and exhibiting animals for a commercial purpose” would be subject to new regulations, including that a “licence is required”.

Glenelg Shire residents are right to be alarmed at an effective 20 per cent increase in their rates. Farm rates will go up 22 per cent ... This comes at a time when a 2 per cent rate cap is in place across the state. The council argues that it is technically still within a 1.75 per cent rate cap. “But in reality – the Glenelg Councillors have enabled a rate rise in excess of eight times the rate cap,” Mrs McArthur said.

Farmers in the state’s south say water authorities are failing to prepare for severe flood risks in the Murray Valley as La Nina conditions threaten to fill major dams and rivers. NSW Farmers Conservation and Resource Management Committee chair Louise Burge said while authorities may not be able to prevent all risks of flooding this year, they should “absolutely” avoid making flooding conditions even more extreme.

The Northern Territory Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Taiwanese company, Aleees and Perth-based Avenira Ltd, to develop and operate the Territory’s first battery cathode manufacturing plant in Darwin. A significant economic and strategic opportunity for the Northern Territory, the plant will manufacture lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cathode material.

Outback road condition information will be even easier to access for travellers on SA unsealed tracks thanks to new QR code signage being installed at key locations across northern South Australia. The large QR codes are being installed on existing road condition signs, within mobile phone range, across the state’s unsealed road network to provide direct access to the Outback Roads Warnings webpage.

What is the council’s intention on waste and incinerators? Liz Stops asked this question in the public access time at last month’s Richmond Valley Council meeting ... The State Government has identified four sites suitable for Energy from Waste (EfW) facilities and the Richmond Valley Jobs Precinct (RJP) in Casino is one of them.

Victorian citizen scientists are helping to keep our waterways clean and healthy with an innovative new program using insects to stop nutrient run-off from farms ... The breeding program was established 12 months ago and includes a network of 16 dung beetle ‘nurseries’ on Landcare and farming properties in the Macedon Ranges, Nillumbik Shire, Western Port and the Mornington  Peninsula.

A Blue Plaque has been installed for the first time ever in NSW as part of the popular NSW Blue Plaques program, which recognises extraordinary people and events from our State’s history. Minister for Heritage James Griffin said the Caroline Chisholm Blue Plaque in the suburb of East Maitland was the first of 21 Blue Plaques so far to be installed.

Growers and graziers are angry their livelihoods could be placed at risk after the state government said it was reviewing the future of the Cape York Biosecurity Centre. “They should be looking at opening it 24 hours, not shutting it down”: Merluna Station’s Cameron MacLean ... “It’s absolute insanity if they close it. It would be madness”: Warren Entsch, Member for Leichhardt.

Tiny solar-powered, satellite backpacks are tracking one of Australia’s rarest bird species after they were released for only the second time ever in NSW as part of a conservation effort between the NSW, SA and Victorian Governments. Fifteen critically endangered Plains-wanderers have been released into Oolambeyan National Park in the NSW Riverina, which was protected in perpetuity in 2002 due to its high conservation value in protecting critical habitat for the Plains-wanderer.

Territorians can expect faster scanning speeds with new and improved Banned Drinker Register (BDR) devices to be rolled out across the Territory from this week. The BDR is a valuable tool to assist in reducing alcohol related harm in the Northern Territory and Territorians are well used to providing photo identification to purchase takeaway alcohol.

‘The NSW Coalition and the Shooters Fishers Farmers Party have condemned the Darling/Baaka to longer periods of dry riverbed with stagnant slimy pools. This decline in river health started when floodplain harvesting exploded upstream during the 1990’s. The NSW Government has rewarded decades of unsustainable and unregulated water use with new licences while conducting no assessment of the downstream impacts on Darling/Baaka communities, native fish populations, groundwater recharge and important wetland areas’: Brian Stevens, spokesperson for Inland Rivers Network.

One of Australia's largest renewable hydrogen plants will be built in the Pilbara, with ENGIE and Yara Pilbara Fertiliser (Yara) announcing a positive final investment decision for the Yuri Project ... In collaboration with Yara, ENGIE will develop the new plant to supply renewable hydrogen and electricity to Yara's nearby liquid ammonia facility.

State-wide surveillance will be strengthened to ensure NSW beekeepers have greater flexibility to continue their operations, through a new Varroa Mite Emergency Order ... Minister for Agriculture Dugald Saunders said changes to the Emergency Order will increase the surveillance registered beekeepers are required to conduct each year.

New fishery management arrangements for Spanish mackerel will be introduced from October this year, helping to restore depleted stocks and protect good jobs in the fishing industry for generations to come. The changes will mean two three-week closed seasons in waters off the state’s north starting in October 2022, and two three-week closed seasons in southern waters starting in February 2023.

Health leaders gathered on 16 September for an emergency health summit in Lismore to urge the State and Federal Governments to immediately support healthcare services in the region ... “It’s been more than six months since the floods devastated the region and many healthcare service providers have yet to recover”: AMA President, Professor Steve Robson.

Logging contractors in Central and West Gippsland with virtually no work, a large mill in Orbost running out of log supply, while a new poll shows Victorians overwhelmingly support home grown timber for housing. Welcome to the paradox and crisis facing Victoria’s forest industry; the native forest sector, largely based in Gippsland, is at a virtual standstill due to legal action by environmentalists and decisions by the Supreme Court, as demand for native hardwood because of its beauty, strength and durability remains high.

Looking at Western Australia’s Wheatbelt of 44 shires between 2001 and 2021, the census has tracked the population fall at a steady rate of just under 1% a year across most of the sub 1,500 person shires in the Wheatbelt ... maybe the current generation of national MPs can come up with a Royalties for Regions II plan.