WA

Kwoorabup Nature School students have discovered and named a new species of parasitoid wasp while taking part in the Insect Investigators Citizen Science project. The Adelaide University run project involved 51 schools across Australia, also including Denmark Primary School.

Rhea Pfeifle. It felt as though the music from the Orenda Trio and the Sarabande Early Music group was overflowing from every nook and cranny of 5 Payne Road ... With their expert rendition of complex and evocative works by female composers Clara Schumann and Luise Adolpha Le Beau, and a captivating finale featuring Brahms, the Orenda Trio brought each piece to vibrant life to the very appreciative audience.

The system which protects and manages Aboriginal cultural heritage in Western Australia will be modernised and improved from July 1 to prevent another incident like what occurred at Juukan Gorge. The improvements include new practical exemptions and a simpler, fairer system to manage activities that may harm Aboriginal cultural heritage across WA ... The State Government has also announced the appointment of four new members to the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Council, including former Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister and respected Yamatji and Wongi Elder Ken Wyatt.

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A new community health service for Yanchep and the surrounding areas has been announced by federal Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler. The ECU Health Centre Yanchep will include two co-located, integrated, multidisciplinary health facilities, providing services designed to meet the current and future health needs of the rapidly growing Yanchep area, while improving health and wellbeing outcomes.

Both native bees and honeybees prefer native plants with research showing how important native flowers are in supporting native bee and even honeybee populations in urban areas. Curtin University school of molecular and life sciences researcher Kit Prendergast said the study found Australian and introduced bees preferred to visit and feed from native flowers and plants rather than exotic species, with the former particularly reliant on native flora.

The new WA Aboriginal Cultural Heritage laws will have far reaching consequences to the farming community, many of which are only just coming to light as the WA Department of Heritage workshops the changes across the State. This is how WAFarmers responded to one of the workshops in the central Wheatbelt.        

The independent panel appointed to consult with stakeholders on the phase out of live sheep exports by sea will complete its public consultations this week. The panel was appointed by Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Senator Murray Watt to provide advice on how and when the Australian Government can give effect to a phase out of live sheep exports by sea.

National online removalist booking platform Muval, which has the most up-to-date internal migration figures showing where Australians are moving right now, has crunched the May numbers to show the impact a year on from the start of interest rate rises.

The National Farmers’ Federation has warned a consultation panel assessing the phase-out of live sheep exports that Australia’s status as a favoured food exporter will suffer should the ban proceed. In a submission to the consultation process, made public on 20 June 2023, the NFF has named broader trade impacts among several reasons the phase-out plan must be scrapped.

A marine park ranger involved in his first whale rescue says freeing a 10m humpback whale – first sighted entangled in ropes just north of Two Rocks – was an amazing experience. Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions senior ranger Ben Leeson said the job of freeing the whale caught up in ropes from two rock lobster pots was carried out over three days.

Opposition Leader Shane Love has called on the Premier to remove Minister Tony Buti from the Aboriginal Affairs portfolio and to install a new Minister who is up to the task of implementing the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH) Act. Mr Love said community unease was at a high, and the Government was only ‘adding fuel to the fire’ by failing to provide adequate support to the community and brushing off concerns.

It’s not only the timber industry that’s in decline, the government’s forestry agency, the Forest Products Commission (FPC) is also sinking fast. The WA 2023-24 Budget Papers indicate that this commercial business is failing under the Labor Government. It is predicted to continue to make losses in coming years.

A diligent Minister who had applied himself to the detail would have recognised the risks of running with a system that was overly complex and open to abuse. A competent Minister would have delayed the start date when they recognised that neither his department, the IT system, the LACHS or the industry was ready. But Buti did neither.

Serena Kirby. Denmark Senior High School will be the first school in the Great Southern to enter a team in this year’s Australian Human Powered Vehicle Super Series. This nationwide series of races, also known as the Pedal Prix, comprises six rounds of races with five held in South Australia and one in Busselton.

A fundraising target of $505,000 has been exceeded to buy a former potato farm on Wilson Inlet’s eastern banks as a wildlife protection sanctuary. Wilson Inlet Catchment Committee and other groups comprising the Eungedup Wetlands Management Group have raised $516,000 to buy 103ha with the sale to be settled at the end of the month.

Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Transport Shane Love MLA has strongly condemned the State Labor Government for its continued unlawful use of traffic monitoring devices throughout WA. An Auditor General Report has exposed Main Roads WA for utilising 180 vehicle monitoring devices on local roads, despite being fully aware since 2016 that such usage is strictly limited to highways and main roads under the Surveillance Devices Regulations 1999.

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Startling findings from two different surveys have highlighted the devastating impact the proposed live sheep export ban is having in Western Australia, according to the country’s peak farm body. Data released from Rabobank shows that while confidence edged higher nationally, WA bucked the trend recording a further dip into negative territory.