WA

Mil Lel A&H Society Join us on Saturday, October 12th for the 85th annual Mil Lel Show—the smallest country show packed with the most family...

The ongoing lack of housing supply and affordability in Australia’s capital cities is driving more homebuyers to explore regional property markets. Buyers Agent has identified 10 regional hotspots to watch, based on investor activity (including sales and inquiries) over the past 12 months, along with capital growth and rental yields.  

Planting is underway across much of Australia’s cotton growing regions with some crops already out of the ground in warmer climates, some growers holding back for warmer weather while some in tropical areas won’t be planting until rain begins to fall. Cotton Australia General Manager Michael Murray said the signs for this season are positive with Australia’s 1500 cotton growers, 90 per cent of them family farmers...

Regional Development Minister Don Punch has welcomed the first inbound Chinese wine trade mission to Western Australia since the lifting of wine tariffs earlier this year, with delegates set to tour the Great Southern and Margaret River wine regions this week ... WA will host 11 premium wine buyers from 10 Chinese companies from 29 September to 6 October 2024, with a focus on premium wines, and specific interest in wines of WA provenance.

It’s Constable Jamie Hartley’s first investigation since being made a detective and even though the circumstances surrounding the death of unpopular farmer Fred O’Donnell after confrontations with a “cloaked man” seem farfetched he’s determined to do a professional job ... Set in the late 1920s Western Australia, Thorpe’s novel is the second in a series of four books featuring a medicant monk who helps solve the murder.

A Quinns Rocks man has had his fishing licence suspended and has been prohibited from being on any recreational fishing boat or possessing recreationally caught rock lobster for six months. When the 58-year-old man appeared in Joondalup Magistrates Court he was ordered to pay fines, penalties and costs totalling more than $19,000.

Serena Kirby. Anthony McEwan has won gold at the recent Life Saving World Championships making him world champion in the male masters 2km beach run. Held on the Gold Coast, Anthony, 55, competed against 40 other runners from all over the world in the 55-59 category.

Serena Kirby. An increase in children experiencing mental health crises and presenting at the region’s emergency departments has led to a new crisis response service. Run by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, the acute care response team will be based in Albany but will cover Denmark and the Great Southern.

... it’s disturbing to read in a recently released EPA document that South32 propose to follow Woodside's example and ‘sterilise’ over 4,000 hectares of freehold land—good farmland—as a means of appeasing the environmental gods ... This is the same mad formula Woodside is following: take freehold cleared farmland and ease their guilt by planting trees that will never be harvested, with the land lost to agricultural production, including tree farming, forever.

Corryong College students Seb Rowlinson, Layne Klippel and Zoe McKimmie were three of nine young people who were accepted to participate in the recent Kimberley Cultural Extension Trip program. Seb reports on the trip ... "We hopped into the utes and hit the road, headed for El Questro Station. After a three-hour drive ..."

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The life of a country veterinarian is not an easy one and for Dr Lisa Clarke, the days can be long and the work can be dangerous. Lisa and her mobile vet service,The Roving Vet, can also clock up nearly 1000 km every week as zig zags across WA’s Great Southern from Albany to Walpole. And, with so much time spent in her vehicle, it’s a good thing Lisa has Plum, her “trusty secretary” with her wherever she goes.

Demersal fishing is back on in the West Coast bioregion with fishing for species like WA dhufish and pink snapper permitted from September 16 to October 14. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) said from Augusta through to Kalbarri, demersal fishing from boats is allowed in three open seasons throughout the year as part of a management strategy...

“The most profitable farms were those that spent more time working on their business than in their business,” Professor Ross Kingwell said in his presentation at BCG’s Main Field Day at Nullawil last week ... Professor Kingwell’s presentation was a highlight for many of the 400 growers and advisers who attended the event.

Gavin Butcher. Forest sustainability has taken on different meanings in Western Australia – changing depending on the audience. In one corner the Minister for Forestry, Jackie Jarvis, has repeatedly claimed the closure of the native forest industry was necessary because it was unsustainable. In the other corner is Stuart West, the General Manager of the Minister’s agency, the Forest Products Commission, overseeing harvesting operations in the jarrah and karri forests which have been independently certified as being sustainable.

A man is due in Joondalup Magistrates Court on Wednesday, September 25 after being charged in relation to damage caused to a Western Power transmission tower in Pinjar, which was detected in April last year. WA Police will allege the man attended the site where the tower was standing on April 20, 2023 and caused sufficient damage to the tower to cause it to collapse.

Menang elder Aunty Vernice Gillies and Menang man Larry Blight will lead guided walking tours along the Kwoorabup riverbanks at the Kwoorabup River Festival [on Saturday 21 September] ... This cultural and environmental experience aims to help everyone better appreciate the Kwoorabup River and the Wilson/Nullaki inlet as they paddle, row and swim through the events of the day.

Serena Kirby. A committee has been formed to help secure an electric commuter van. The move is to reduce social isolation, created by Denmark’s lack of community transport. This commuter van will offer a green transportation option for community groups and residents.

Serena Kirby. David Wright was named as the Inaugural Denmark Cattle Farmer of the Year at the recent Drought Muster Buster held at The Dam ... The award was part of a broader event organised by Raintree Farm owner Steve Birkbeck, who wanted to create ‘a reason to celebrate in a time of stress and trouble for the farming industry’ ... An integral part of the event was the discussion of issues surrounding bushfires by a panel of local experts.

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Remember ‘terra nullius’ the legal term that rose to prominence in the Mabo case? ... my focus in this opinion piece is not on terra nullius and who owns the land but on aqua nullius and who owns the water ... the Albanese government shows no sign of learning from the referendum disaster and is pushing ahead with building indigenous veto powers into a new National Water Agreement plus revving up the Commonwealth's Heritage Act.