‘We deserve our fair share’: state Labor leaders clash with federal government over infrastructure plan

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Admin

Albanese government move to make states pay at least 50% of new infrastructure project bills receives pushback from premiers

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State Labor leaders are at odds with the Albanese government over its plan to split the cost of building nationally significant infrastructure.

On Tuesday, the federal minister for infrastructure and transport, Catherine King, announced it would no longer be “the default” for the federal government to pick up the bulk of the tab for new roads, rail and other major projects.

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Qld fires: state will ‘continue to burn’ without rain, as dozens of bushfires flare up across Queensland

Posted on November 1, 2023 by Admin

Rural firefighters’ chief says Queensland in ‘survival mode’ amid dry weather, with 53 homes destroyed by fire in the Western Downs

Queensland is in “survival mode” as dozens of bushfires burn across the state and there is no rain on the horizon, the head of the volunteer firefighters association has said.

Firefighters have contained a bushfire at Tara, on the Western Downs four hours west of Brisbane, that destroyed 53 homes and claimed two lives. But fires have flared up to the north and south, with emergency warnings in place on Wednesday for a fire between Warwick and Stanthorpe on the Southern Downs.

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Poorer Australian regions lose out in ‘flawed’ allocation of doctors, GP body says

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Admin

System of identifying shortages leads to skewing of resources towards wealthier areas, according to Royal Australian College of General Practitioners

Several poor rural regions are being disadvantaged by the way the Australian government identifies significant doctor shortages, while some wealthy areas are being classified as needing extra resources.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has argued that the system – which determines which regions need additional resources – is flawed and is exacerbating rural GP workforce shortages.

Doctors trained overseas are crucial to easing GP shortages across the country because for their first 10 years in Australia they must work in areas of need, known as a distribution priority area, to access Medicare benefits.

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Abattoirs overwhelmed as farmers offload livestock before big dry begins

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Admin

Growth in herd sizes and declaration of El Niño push industry into ‘somewhat of a panic’

Wait times for farmers seeking to offload livestock to feedlots and abattoirs are increasing from weeks to months in some areas, putting further strain on producers facing a grim summer outlook.

A rapid shift to drier conditions, low commodity prices and labour constraints have created the “perfect storm” in Australia’s meat processing supply chains, according to the industry.

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‘We are vulnerable’: demand for drought aid rises as El Niño takes hold in Queensland

Posted on October 10, 2023 by Admin

Rural Aid charity says requests for mental health support, financial counselling and emergency livestock feed doubles in a month

Demand for emergency rural aid is rising as farmers face a dry and unproductive summer ahead.

The latest Australian agricultural seasonal outlook forecasts farm incomes will plummet by 41% on average this financial year.

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Australian farm incomes to be squeezed as prices dive and fears of a dry summer loom

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Admin

Abares report forecasts average broadacre farm incomes to plummet by 41% this financial year, with livestock sector hit particularly hard

Drier conditions combined with lower commodity prices and smaller crops are expected to reduce broadacre farm incomes by 41% on average this financial year, according to the latest Australian agricultural seasonal outlook.

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics and Sciences (Abares) forecasts average cash incomes to fall to $197,000 per broadacre farm in 2023–24, with beef cattle and sheep farms expected to be hit particularly hard.

ACCC delays decision on Coles buying milk processing plants from Saputo

Posted on September 12, 2023 by Admin

Dairy farmers warn the deal could reduce competition and lead to lower prices for producers

The Australian consumer watchdog has delayed its decision on the acquisition by supermarket giant Coles of two major milk processing facilities, which dairy farmers warn would further reduce competition and lower milk prices.

In April, Coles announced it had purchased two fresh milk processing plants from dairy processor Saputo for $105m, subject to regulatory approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

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‘Determined not to repeat mistakes’: NSW government swears off regional school mergers

Posted on September 10, 2023 by Admin

Labor has already announced the demerger of two ‘super schools’, accusing the previous Coalition government of ‘making a mess’

The New South Wales government has suggested it will not merge any further public schools in regional areas after concerns the so-called “super schools” are failing to achieve improved outcomes.

Super schools have become more common in the past decade as state governments try to improve resource efficiency and boost academic performance at underperforming public schools.

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Australia remains free of lumpy skin disease despite Indonesia blocking cattle imports, officials say

Posted on September 4, 2023 by Admin

Indonesia imposes strict testing conditions on cattle from three major export ports after claiming infectious disease detected in eight cattle

The Australian government has denied suggestions that a highly infectious livestock disease has been detected in the country, after the Indonesian government moved to block live exports of cattle from northern Australia.

On Sunday, Indonesian officials notified their Australian counterparts they had detected eight cases of lumpy skin disease in cattle imported from Australia.

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Darling-Baaka River at Menindee faces more fish kills as temperatures rise

Posted on August 8, 2023 by Admin

Exclusive: Dead fish are again appearing in the stressed Darling-Baaka at Menindee, as a fisheries department report reveals the river’s poor state

The Darling-Baaka River at Menindee is on the brink of another environmental catastrophe, with dead fish already appearing along 30km of the river compromised by the last fish kill in March, according to experts.

The office of the chief scientist is due to report by 31 August on the causes of the March disaster, which killed millions of bony herring (also known as bony bream) and thousands of other native fish and carp.

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Asylum seeker walking 1,000km from Ballarat to Sydney to raise awareness about temporary protection visas

Posted on July 31, 2023 by Admin

Neil Para and his wife and two eldest children have been on a temporary protection visa since they arrived in Australia in 2012

For 11 years, Neil Para’s life has been riddled with uncertainty.

He fled war-torn Sri Lanka for Malaysia in 2008 in search of a safer life for his growing family, temporarily leaving his pregnant wife behind.

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Investment in Indigenous community health key to reduce diabetes rates

Posted on July 24, 2023 by Admin

Calls for greater funding in local health services as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people suffer from high rates of type 1 and 2 diabetes

Australia needs to invest in local community-led health providers to reduce rates of type 2 diabetes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the peak body for Indigenous health services has said.

Thirteen percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over the age of 18 have been diagnosed with diabetes – three times the national rate for non-Indigenous people, according to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

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Cadia goldmine could be source of some lead found in water tanks, miner says

Posted on July 8, 2023 by Admin

Exclusive: General manager says chemical analysis shows ‘slight overlap’ of mine lead and samples from local residents’ rainwater tanks

Chemical analysis has identified the Cadia Hill goldmine as a potential source of some of the lead found in samples collected from nearby residential rainwater tanks in central west New South Wales, the mine’s management has said.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority has been investigating the goldmine – one of the largest in the world – since May, when it issued Newcrest’s Cadia Holdings Pty Ltd with a draft pollution prevention notice and a draft licence variation regarding its management of emissions of dust and other pollutants. It followed local residents, including children, reporting heavy metals in their blood and rainwater tanks.

Teenager ‘racially assaulted’ by former University of New England vice-chancellor, court told

Posted on July 6, 2023 by Admin

Prof Brigid Heywood has pleaded not guilty to assault and offensive behaviour for allegedly wiping her spit on the girl’s face

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A teenager who was allegedly subjected to offensive conduct by the former vice-chancellor of the University of New England has told a court she was “racially assaulted”.

Prof Brigid Heywood is alleged to have licked her finger and wiped it twice on the teenager’s face and made comments about her skin colour at an International Women’s Day event in Armidale on 8 March 2022.

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Magistrate in assault case against former University of New England vice-chancellor showed ‘lack of objectivity’, court told

Posted on July 5, 2023 by Admin

Prof Brigid Heywood is accused of wiping her spit on a teenager’s face during an International Women’s Day event in 2022

The former University of New England vice-chancellor Prof Brigid Heywood’s legal team have applied for the magistrate hearing her assault case to recuse himself, claiming he displayed a “lack of calmness and objectivity”.

Heywood, a British-Australian biological scientist, is alleged to have wiped her saliva on a teenager’s face and commented on her skin colour at a council-run International Women’s Day event in March 2022. She was a panellist at the event.

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Bridget McKenzie and Mark Coulton reject suggestion they ‘trespassed’ at inland rail project

Posted on June 5, 2023 by Admin

Nationals pair say they were at a level crossing on a public road when they visited the rail corridor without ministerial permission

Nationals MP Mark Coulton and senator Bridget McKenzie have angrily rejected suggestions they may have trespassed by visiting the inland rail project near Narromine after permission to do so was denied.

Coulton told Guardian Australia that the issue, pursued by Labor in Senate estimates, was “absolute complete bullshit”, backing McKenzie’s account the pair were at a level crossing on a public road when they visited the rail without the minister’s permission.

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Nationals push for $10m fines and ability to break up Coles and Woolworths if they abuse market power

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Admin

Exclusive: David Littleproud says former Coalition government was ‘too slow’ on compulsory grocery code of conduct

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David Littleproud has offered to help Labor bolster competition law protections for farmers and suppliers in a bid to prevent potential abuses of market power by Australia’s big supermarkets.

The Nationals leader proposes making the grocery code of conduct compulsory, boosting penalties to a “punitive” $10m maximum and adding powers to break up grocery giants in the event of misconduct.

NSW renewable energy zones up to two years behind schedule

Posted on May 24, 2023 by Admin

‘We are not going to allow the lights to go off,’ state energy minister Penny Sharpe vows

New South Wales’ two main renewable energy zones will be delayed for as long as two years and cost more to build with landholder opposition to new transmission lines partly to blame, the energy minister, Penny Sharpe, has said.

The Minns government briefed journalists about its network infrastructure strategy on Wednesday, revealing that the central-west Orana zone would not hit its “energisation date” until 2027-28, compared with an initial 2025 target. Similarly, the New England zone will now start in 2029 compared with an initial 2027 goal.

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Opposition leader says no federal intervention needed – as it happened

Posted on May 5, 2023 by Admin

This blog is now closed.

Albanese added he is concerned about Assange’s mental health.

There was a court decision here in the United Kingdom that was then overturned on appeal that went to Mr Assange’s health, as well, and I am concerned for him.

It’s frustrating. I share the frustration. I can’t do more than make very clear what my position is.

… I think that the Assange case needs to be looked at in terms of what occurred, what the allegations are, and whether the time effectively that has been served already is in excess of what would be reasonable if it were proved that this had occurred.

Water testing after the Menindee fish kill shows a ‘chronically sick’ river

Posted on April 26, 2023 by Admin

New test results from the Darling-Baaka River show the system is ‘supercharged with nutrients’, expert says

Water testing results from Darling-Baaka River at Menindee indicate the river is “chronically sick” and raises concerns about the overall health of the Murray-Darling Basin, experts say.

The New South Wales Environment Protection Authority (EPA) released the second round of test results days after the state government declared it would treat the deaths of millions of fish at Menindee in far-west NSW as a “pollution incident”.

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Roundup Newswires

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Category Archives: Rural Australia

‘We deserve our fair share’: state Labor leaders clash with federal government over infrastructure plan

Qld fires: state will ‘continue to burn’ without rain, as dozens of bushfires flare up across Queensland

Poorer Australian regions lose out in ‘flawed’ allocation of doctors, GP body says

Abattoirs overwhelmed as farmers offload livestock before big dry begins

‘We are vulnerable’: demand for drought aid rises as El Niño takes hold in Queensland

Australian farm incomes to be squeezed as prices dive and fears of a dry summer loom

ACCC delays decision on Coles buying milk processing plants from Saputo

‘Determined not to repeat mistakes’: NSW government swears off regional school mergers

Australia remains free of lumpy skin disease despite Indonesia blocking cattle imports, officials say

Darling-Baaka River at Menindee faces more fish kills as temperatures rise

Asylum seeker walking 1,000km from Ballarat to Sydney to raise awareness about temporary protection visas

Investment in Indigenous community health key to reduce diabetes rates

Cadia goldmine could be source of some lead found in water tanks, miner says

Teenager ‘racially assaulted’ by former University of New England vice-chancellor, court told

Magistrate in assault case against former University of New England vice-chancellor showed ‘lack of objectivity’, court told

Bridget McKenzie and Mark Coulton reject suggestion they ‘trespassed’ at inland rail project

Nationals push for $10m fines and ability to break up Coles and Woolworths if they abuse market power

NSW renewable energy zones up to two years behind schedule

Opposition leader says no federal intervention needed – as it happened

Water testing after the Menindee fish kill shows a ‘chronically sick’ river