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Pathi Raj

Feds must kick in council funds: Benham

THE Federal Government needs to increase funding to ease the pressure on councils to lift rates, says Mildura MP Jade Benham. Ms Benham said the Victorian Government’s decision to double the council rate cap did not make councils more sustainable...

09 Jan 2023

Farming and Environment

Lightning sparks blaze

LIGHTNING has been attributed as the cause of a bushfire which burned through about 61 hectares of farming land near Euston on Monday evening. NSW Rural Fire Service Superintendent Steve Walker said the bushfire ran through stubble and mallee...

03 Jan 2023

News

Steep decline inaffordable homes

THE proportion of private tenancies providing affordable housing in regional Victoria has fallen by almost 60 per cent in the past five years. That’s the finding of the 2022 Australian Homelessness Monitor...

16 Dec 2022

Farming and Environment

Murray River fish in ‘survival mode’

VOLUNTEERS searching for stressed fish in the Murray River, where oxygen levels have hit critical levels, are calling on residents to remain on the lookout for struggling native fish. Rescue efforts in recent weeks have resulted in more...

15 Dec 2022

Farming and Environment

Coles and unions back push for improved worker housing

UNION groups and Coles have called for enforceable, standardised housing standards to protect horticulture workers ahead of further arrivals in the new year. Four union groups, including the Australian Workers’ Union, and Coles released...

15 Dec 2022

Farming and Environment

Decline in ‘stressed’ fish

WEEKS after starting search efforts to retrieve stressed fish in the deoxygenated waters of the Murray River, rescue teams hope a decline in sightings means conditions are starting to improve. OzFish Unlimited Murray Darling Basin manager Braeden...

13 Dec 2022

Farming and Environment

Nervous wait for Mallee growers

GROWERS with inundated grape vineyards face a nervous couple of weeks as they wait for floodwaters to recede so they can check for diseases. Vineyards producing early-maturing varieties are most at risk, but an early recession of...

07 Dec 2022

News

Fire crews to slash Mallee grass

FIRE management crews are aiming to slash about 1400 hectares of grass in the coming weeks to reduce the risk of bushfire. Forest Fire Management Victoria senior officer Nathan Christian said the slashing activities, delayed due to rainfall...

05 Dec 2022

politics

State Nats back Voice rejection stance

VICTORIAN Nationals leader Peter Walsh has backed his federal Nationals counterparts’ stance on the Indigenous Voice in federal parliament, saying MPs are “almost compelled to say ‘no’”. Speaking to ABC’s RN Breakfast, the shadow minister...

03 Dec 2022

politics

Webster backsVoice rejection

MALLEE MP Anne Webster says that by not supporting an Indigenous Voice to parliament, the Nationals are showing others its okay to hold alternative views and may prompt further discussion on constitutional change. But the Co-Chair of the First...

03 Dec 2022

Farming and Environment

River risk at start of Murray Cod season

THE fishing community may need to hit the road to participate in the re-opening of Murray Cod season. Murray Cod season is closed between September and November, barring a few exceptions, to allow for breeding. The Environmental Protection Authority...

02 Dec 2022

Farming and Environment

Methane pledge ‘won’t hit herd sizes’

THE federal Agriculture Minister says farmers will not be subject to taxes to reduce livestock emissions after the Commonwealth Government signed the global pledge to cut methane emissions by 2030. Murray Watt said the pledge would put the...

30 Nov 2022