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Property

$4.74m paddock pays out

Michelle Daw. A single 107-hectare paddock in prime cropping land near Maitland sold for $4.75 million last week, setting what is likely to be a record price for Yorke Peninsula. The price achieved for Lot 210, Pine Point Road at an online auction on Monday, September 9, equates to $44,393 per hectare, or $17,992 per acre.

Beggars belief

Antoinette O’Brien. On Wednesday 21st August the community in North Lismore and beyond was hit with another wave of destruction and devastation as the house at 13 Wotherspoon Street was demolished without notification ... Luke had been given 12 months to organise the relocation of his beloved home and was looking at land in Tenterfield.

Board defends powers

The Limestone Coast Landscape Board says it seeks to engage with landholders and offer support and information to manage an issue. Limestone Coast media and communications officer Andrea Bartetzko also explained how landscape boards can in some circumstances enter homes and properties without permission from landholders, and without a warrant ... some farmers dismayed by the Landscape Board’s “threatening” approach and who fear retribution have turned to fellow farmer, hunter and businessman Jake Nicholson.

Former Glossop High School campus put onto the market”¦ Golden opportunity?

The old Glossop High School site – officially now up for sale – should be repurposed as a centre for Riverland youth, rather than sold off to private interests, a long-time local says. Dormant since 2022, the vast 17-hectare site is now on the market, but local man Ian Penno says the Riverland is "losing an opportunity" to address concerns with troubled young people in the region.

AFA offloads iconic farms

Australian Food and Agriculture (AFA) has sold its 225,000 hectares of sheep, cattle, and cropping lands in the districts of Deniliquin, Hay, and Coonamble, including iconic Australian Merino sheep stations Boonoke and Wanganella ... The buyers have been revealed as a group of investors, including Bert Glover, founder of the Australian and US-owned specialist agricultural investment and development firm Impact Ag Partners…

Island set to return to Narungga Nation

Rachel Hagan. Since 1966, Scotch College has had a licence agreement with the Department for Environment and Water which has allowed them to use Mayibarrdu/Goose Island for immersive outdoor camp experiences ... Narungga Nation Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Doug Milera said the board was thrilled the island was returning to the Narungga people, who plan to open it up for everyone to use and visit.

Canberra dollars to boost Indigenous movers and shakers

The more than half a billion dollars which the just launched Aboriginal Investment NT will be extracting from Canberra bureaucrats over five years should be spent mostly on infrastructure “on the ground, in communities,” says Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour ... “The AINT will ensure the money is spent in the right areas and in line with Aboriginal aspirations,” says Ms Scrymgour. And it may well be time for the Aboriginal land councils “to let go”.

VNI West land access agreements surpass 100: TCV, AEMO

Transmission Company Victoria (TCV) now has land access agreements in place for more than 100 properties in the VNI West draft corridor to allow important survey work to continue. The announcement of the preferred easement that will host the VNI West transmission line is expected in coming weeks ... "Our main objective is to find the most suitable location for the preferred easement that minimises impacts to farms and farm operations, balanced with consideration of the environment and other site constraints": VNI West Program Director Tony Hedley.

Iluka meeting – Rezoning not needed in housing strategy

After about half of the 873 public submissions Council received objecting to its draft Local Housing Strategy came from Iluka residents, about 200 people packed the Iluka Community Hall last Thursday to hear about the details of the revised strategy currently on exhibition ... "There is a concerning lack of disclosure in the revised housing strategy, and we wanted to let the community know what we had found": Sonya Maley, Iluka Focus Group member.

TIO mum on massive premium hike

Territory Insurance Office “We’re for Territorians” hiked the premium of a long-time customer in the Alice Springs rural residential area by about 40 per cent, from $2382 to $3206, a difference of $824. That’s even taking into account a no claim bonus of 30 per cent.

Allora has another tiny home

A delightful tiny (or as the grandkids say "small" home) has been moved to 9 Norman Street. Arriving on the back of a truck in May this year owners of the tiny home, Allyn and June Jones, have settled in nicely to their new abode.

Small homes get tick of approval

Already in Allora two small homes have been erected this year and occupiers are happy with the outcome. Following a recent survey on small homes, Southern Downs Regional Council considered the 491 survey submissions and resolved to implement .. changes to make housing more accessible and affordable...

Big future for little houses

Patricia Gill. The Shire of Denmark can approve the use of caravans and small houses for accommodation for up to two years on private property from September 1. The changes announced last week on Sal and Justin Bellanger’s Nornalup property aim to ease the housing shortage for seasonal workers and homeless people, and give an option while a house was being built or renovated.

Woodside’s carbon farming plan is destroying family farms

We all know Woodside, Australia’s biggest gas producer, but many might not realise it is also one of the country’s biggest CO2 emitters ... the Australian energy sector has been all too willing to overpromise on what is achievable in reducing their CO2 footprint, as a result they are now desperately searching for solutions. This, unfortunately, is where WA farmland comes into play ... That win-win plan is to plant trees – lots of trees – on productive farmland and then lock that land up for the next 100 years so it no longer produces food or fibre.

Landslip victims abandoned

The Community Disaster Action Group (CDAG) has called attention to the severe human cost of the NSW government’s lack of action on assistance for people whose properties have been affected by landslips. "... There’s not even a policy 2 ½ years on, yet hundreds of landslip-affected residents are still living in damaged homes or caravans or unable to return home," CDAG co-ordinator Chels Hood Withey said.

New data shows long-term cost of extreme weather: Insurance Council of Australia

New data released by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) today shows that the impact of extreme weather on the Australian economy has more than tripled over the last three decades. Insured losses from declared insurance catastrophes have grown from 0.2 of GDP from 1995 to 2000 to 0.7 per cent for the last five years ... The new data analysis is contained in the Insurance Council of Australia’s Insurance Catastrophe Resilience Report 2023-24, released today.

Accept or appeal? Residents opposing Iron Gates launch petition

Iron Gates has the go-ahead after decades of opposition – Goldcoral Pty Ltd has permission to build on the land next to Evans River. It is a devastating decision for those Evans Head residents who have fought the development for so long.

Calls for urgent Wind Farm Code reform

AgForce has said it is increasingly concerned that delays to urgently needed reforms to the Wind Farm Code could put agricultural landholders at potentially crippling financial risk. Queensland’s peak representative body for farmers is disappointed that despite a review of the Wind Farm Code last year, the Queensland Government has not released any reforms to the Code since.

For foreign wind and solar operators: $200 million annual windfall

"Today I read a report that struggling Victorian families are forking out an estimated $200 million per annum to foreign wind-turbine operators, largely collected through charges on household bills. That $200 million price tag will be even higher if Victorian and Federal Labor succeed in their scheme to turn Mallee into a spider’s web of transmission lines, wind turbines and blanket solar panels": Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster.

SAL celebrates 40 years

Loyalty, independence, financial strength, and a sound knowledge of livestock and real estate underpin Southern Australia Livestock (SAL), celebrating 40 years in business ... Under current ownership, the company is now one of the larger independent operators of its type in South Australia, employing 50 people State-wide, including almost 30 livestock agents and a strong real estate network.

Treeless housing estates impact liveability

It would seem that the first step in developing a new housing estate is to bulldoze the land to a point where no trees are left standing, but is this good planning or a danger to the health of future inhabitants? Images of new housing estates in the local area generally present a frightening view of houses on small postcard sized blocks of land without a tree in sight or the room to grow one.

Housing limit set – draft Local Housing Strategy amended

Clarence Valley Council’s Draft Local Housing Strategy has been amended to limit the construction height of new dwellings in Yamba and Iluka after Council received 873 public submissions and a petition containing 1086 signatures against the previous draft. When Clarence Valley Council CVC placed its draft Local Housing Strategy (LHS), and draft Affordable Housing Policy (AHP) on public exhibition … they also received 7 NSW Government agency submissions, and one from a non-government organisation.

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