State politics

Two public meetings will be held on April 12 and April 19 to discuss the implications of a mining exploration licence application ... Bart Lebbing said the Denmark shire relied on primary production, nature-based tourism, education, art and craft enterprises, viticulture and the service industry. “Mineral exploration and mining do not value-add to these sectors, but compromise their viability,” he said.

Jetstar has commenced the first-ever commercial air service between Melbourne and Busselton, opening a new gateway into Western Australia that is set to boost the local tourism industry by allowing interstate visitors to fly directly to the South-West.

The Environment Protection Authority has done assessments of those Broadwater homes with hydrocarbon contamination. Hydrocarbon includes oil, diesel and other fuels. A specialist consultant is doing soil assessments and sampling from the yards of affected properties. The results of this testing will be provided to residents and used to decide remedial strategies.

Dean Wilson faces a daunting clean-up of his Broadwater home. As the water receded after the March 1 flood not only was his home full of mud but there was a thick layer of oily sludge on his kitchen benchtop, in the laundry and in his garden. Everywhere. “My backyard and fruit trees are covered in toxic oil,” Dean said.

Emma Pritchard. After polling strongly in the 2019 Federal Election with more than 43000 votes, the Australian Labor Party’s candidate for the seat of Page Patrick Deegan has spoken of his confidence in gaining additional support and momentum ahead of the 2022 Federal Election.

The Minister for Remote Housing and Town Camps, Chansey Paech, visited a number of homelands at Utopia recently where housing works are rolling out ... In remote communities across the Barkly, there are 74 new homes either completed or underway with dozens more planned.

The NSW government has announced a draft declaration of the South-West Renewable Energy Zone (REZ), supporting greater investment in solar, wind and storage projects. The recently published draft would see a fifth formal REZ established in an effort to replace the state’s dependence on coal, this time across NSW’s regional towns of Balranald, Buronga and Hay.

Gabrielle Duykers. Naracoorte-born leader Lucy Hood has won the seat of Adelaide, ousting Liberal frontbencher Rachel Sanderson ... After a two-year campaign she emerged victorious, along with her party, SA Labor ... Ms Hood said she considered her rural upbringing a strength, and wanted to bring “country values” to her electorate.  

The Territory Labor Government will introduce legislation this week to facilitate the $30 billion Sun Cable Australia-Asia PowerLink project ... The Solar Project (Australia-Asia Power Link) (Special Provisions) Bill 2022 will provide certainty that key commitments in the Territory’s Project Development Agreement with Sun Cable will be met. The legislation will clarify and streamline existing processes, increase project certainty, and support Sun Cable to secure project financing.

The new $323.7 million Echuca-Moama Bridge project, the largest transport infrastructure project in northern Victoria and southern NSW, is set to open to traffic before the Easter holidays – months ahead of schedule.

There have been two more detections of Japanese encephalitis (JE) in South Australian commercial piggeries. This brings the total number of cases in South Australia to six. The latest detections are in the local government areas of Clare and Gilbert Valleys and Goyder. This is in addition to existing detections in the following local government areas: Loxton Waikerie, Murray Bridge and Coorong.

Geoff Helisma. An initiative to incorporate population growth as a primary factor when deciding the annual rate peg for NSW councils has been rejected before its implementation. In early 2021, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) began a review that would include population growth in its calculation of the rate peg, and, upon its adoption, set the rate peg at 0.7 per cent for 2022-23 financial year ... attendees at the Local Government NSW Special Conference disagreed with the IPART, the OLG and the former minister.

Peak sugarcane organisation CANEGROWERS is seeking urgent discussions with local government amid an escalation of people using Queensland farms as dumping grounds ... ARR.News asked some further questions of CANEGROWERS on this costly problem.

Winanjjikari Music Centre held a networking event on Monday evening at the Centre to give those people interested in local music a chance to have a chat and find out all the latest on the local music scene. With people from Music NT, APRA AMCOS and 8CCC Community Radio in attendance as well as local musos, there was plenty of interesting talk going on regarding the future of performing in the Barkly.  

Sheryl Lowe. MacKillop MP Nick McBride has begun campaigning to lead the SA Liberals in opposition, following his convincing re-election and the Liberal Party’s demoralising loss in last Saturday’s 2022 State Election. The decision to “throw his hat into the ring” follows the announcement by former Premier Steven Marshall that he would step down as Liberal Party leader, following Labor’s win.

Serena Kirby. Community member and South West MLC Dr Sally Talbot, who was instrumental in getting WA’s VAD law passed in State Parliament, spoke of the process at the Dying To Know forum convened by death doula Kit Bewley.

A former Narrandera resident who now lives in the tourist town of Noosa wants to alert Narrandera residents to a project she believes will have a negative impact on tourism in Narrandera– the proposed skywalk which will extend over and above Lake Talbot .... The preliminary design for the skywalk at Lake Talbot has been completed by Teleo Design and put out for public feedback by the Narrandera Shire Council by April 15 with intentions to start building it in July this year and complete the project by December.

Houses identified as being at risk in the Kyogle Flood Study are purchased at market value in a voluntary House Buy Back Scheme. Kyogle Council contacts all identified property owners each year and asks them if they would be interested in selling their properties. Only identified properties are eligible for the grant.

Geoff Helisma. Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) Catherine Cusack, who received the Clarence Catchment Alliance’s Clarence Valley Council-backed antimining petition, is resigning from her position. Ms Cusack said she would quit the NSW Government following Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s initial announcement on March 9 that extra disaster funding would be available immediately for people in Lismore, Richmond Valley and Clarence Valley local government areas (LGAs), all of which are within the Nationals-held seat of Page.