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3 days ago | 
abc.net.au | Joanna Prendergast |Piper Duffy
The West Australian government has quietly scrapped a $9.8 million contract to build a new online pet registration considered a key step in the fight against puppy farming. The Centralised Registration System (CRS) was to replace all registers managed by local governments. It was a key part of the government's reforms aimed at stopping black market dog breeding.
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4 days ago | 
abc.net.au | Joanna Prendergast |Chris Lewis
A Hong Kong-based company is planning a large mine near a small outback community, sparking fears for groundwater and a tourist attraction. FI Joint Ventures is planning a 310-million-tonne open pit iron ore mine less than 20 kilometres from Yalgoo. The Shire of Yalgoo has an objection to the miner's plans in the WA Wardens Court.
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2 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Joanna Prendergast
Pastoral owners say they can't register on WA's new firearms portal, making it impossible for them to grant permission for people to continue to hunt on their land. The laws have left some Aboriginal people confused and upset as they want to continue to gather traditional food. WA Police say they are aware of issues with the online portal.
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4 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Joanna Prendergast
A West Australian grain exporter says it is cheaper and safer to send Australian grain to China than to drought-hit farmers in states such as South Australia. Livestock farmers grappling with an ongoing drought in SA are running short of feed and are looking to source grain and fodder from other states. But Perth-based shipper John Orr said union and government-imposed shipping rules made it risky and expensive to send grain to other states.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Belinda Varischetti |Joanna Prendergast
A draft document of how the federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry plans to allocate $45.5 million to WA's sheep and wool sectors has been leaked. In the draft, the department notes that the funding may not go far enough. Farmers say it offers no solution to give the industry more security. Grants are expected to be opened in July as part of a co-design process.
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Mar 4, 2025 | 
abc.net.au | Joanna Prendergast |Chris Lewis
Plans are afoot to build one of Australia's biggest green hydrogen projects near a popular coastal holiday hotspot in WA. Locals are concerned a land transfer proposed by the state government will lock them out of areas important to the community. The Shire of Northampton says the development process is not transparent and wants more information from the WA Government and the project developer.
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Feb 18, 2025 | 
abc.net.au | Joanna Prendergast |Chris Lewis |Natasha Harradine
A pothole-riddled, heat-warped road still bearing the scars of flood damage from nine months ago has finally got some attention with an election pledge. For residents of towns along the 335-kilometre Geraldton-Mount Magnet Road, the billions of dollars spent on new bridges and train lines in Perth feel a world away and they say they have had enough of the inequity. They suffer from small town shops blanketed in dust and median strips destroyed by wide loads.
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Dec 31, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Joanna Prendergast |Lucinda Jose
Exports of live western rock lobsters to China have resumed following four years of trade tensions between Australia and China. Lobster is the last of a suite of Australian goods, including wine and beef, to be welcomed back to the lucrative market. Professional fishers and processors will continue to service diversified markets that have been established in the past four years.
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Dec 10, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Joanna Prendergast |Alys Marshall |Alistair Bates
Pastoralists across Western Australia are labelling the state government's proposed changes to pastoral leases "anti-agriculture" and a move to push smaller, family-run operations off the land. Negotiated between the government and individual pastoralists, the leases govern the use of the state's 85 million hectare pastoral estate. Pastoral lease terms and conditions had previously been set out in schedules attached to now-obsolete legislation.
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Joanna Prendergast
Commercial fishers in Western Australia's $285 million lobster industry say warning bells are ringing for the sector's future sustainability, despite reassurances from state government scientists that stocks are at healthy levels. The commercial lobster industry is concerned due to the number of baby lobster, known as puerulus, being found along the coast, along with falling catch rates and revised economic modelling.
