Qld

The Australian Rural & Regional News webinar held on 21 April 2022 is now available for public viewing.

More than 50 new homes will be built in Cape York communities to address major overcrowding issues, but the state government has taken all the credit, despite using federal funding. Not for the first time, the health and wellbeing of Queensland’s most remote and vulnerable residents has been politicised.

Cook Shire Council briefed leaders on a move by Australia Zoo and Terri Irwin to seek the closure of the gazetted Bertiehaugh Road which traverses through part of the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve ... The council representatives had a busy agenda in Cooktown. Mayor Peter Scott said the TCICA gatherings were a highlight on the calendar.

Fewer than 50 people have made it all the way from Cooktown to Healesville since the Bicentennial National Trail opened in 1988. Rob Wylie managed to make it from Cooktown to Tamworth when he attempted it 25 years ago, but daughter Libby is aiming to make it all the way to Victoria – likely sometime next year.

Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) and North Australian Pastoral Company (NAPCo) are proud to announce a landmark partnership that will include an additional six million hectares to conservation land management in Australia. The historic new relationship will see the two organisations working together to influence positive, measurable outcomes for biodiversity across NAPCo’s six-million-hectare estate.

“It is impossible for this to be achieved by 2024. So, what happens then? Will we have huge volumes of water sitting in dams supposedly for ‘environmental use’ that cannot be released because it won’t fit down the system, but not enough water allocated to growing the food and fibre our nation needs? Under this scenario, regional communities will continue to suffer, and every Australian will be hit by increased cost of living" : Speak Up Chair, Shelley Scoullar.

Narrandera-born Renee Kiley was the sole Australian competitor in the women’s professional race in the St George Utah (USA) Ironman event at the weekend when the Brisbane-based former Narrandera athlete finished a creditable fourteenth in the world.

Lockhart River won’t see a fix to their telecommunications for at least a year, although the wait could be even longer. Despite last week’s announcement that Telstra would be awarded $3.5 million to improve the mobile phone networks in Lockhart River, Seisia and Cooktown, there is no plan in place to make it happen.

TCICA chair and Kowanyama mayor Robbie Sands said that at least $1 billion was needed over the next decade in the Cape and Torres Strait to address housing shortages. “Both major parties have been silent on new Indigenous housing in remote communities, ignoring the fact that our people are facing entirely preventable diseases like rheumatic heart disease because of severe overcrowding,” he said.

One year after losing her son, Coen grandmother Jackie Perry opens up on why she helped start a movement called Talk About It Tuesday. So far it has drawn support from a cross-section of Cape York, including big organisations.

Prong collars and other inhumane practices would be banned as part of the biggest reforms of animal welfare laws in Queensland in more than 20 years. Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities Mark Furner said the Palaszczuk Government is delivering on an election commitment to review the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001.

Tickets are now available for Classical Reimagined, where The Queensland Chamber Orchestra (Camerata) will premiere Alexander Voltz’s composition inspired by Emerald ... Central Highlands Regional Council is proud to be partnering on bringing this family fun event to the region with a free show in the Emerald Botanical Gardens from 5.30 pm, Thursday 12 May.

Three Cape York communities will today be announced as recipients of federal funding as part of the government’s Regional Connectivity Program. Lockhart River, Seisia and Cooktown will all benefit from a combined $3.5 million to fix their broken or nonexistent telecommunications infrastructure. And the good news for locals in those communities is that it isn’t dependent on the election result – the funding is in the budget.

Scientists have uncovered evidence that suggests the diet of saltwater crocodiles has shifted away from marine prey towards land-based animals. Researchers at Charles Darwin University compared bone samples from saltwater crocodiles killed around the 1960s, held at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, to those of contemporary saltwater crocodiles.

Warren Brewer and Michelle Field have made it back-to-back wins in the Goodline Weipa Open after triumphing in the men’s and women’s divisions on the weekend.

The Roma show will be holding an action-packed program with some of the best axemen and women in Australia in attendance.

Sunshine Coast Council will start coastal protection works on Stage 2 of the Maroochy Groyne Field Renewal project next week to help shield the Cotton Tree foreshore from the current and future impacts of coastal erosion.

The Mundubbera Show is a fantastic two-day event, filled with fun for the entire family.  Our show has proudly showcased the Mundubbera regions livestock, produce and creativity since 1921.

Marburg Show Society