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6 days 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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2 weeks 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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2 months ago | 
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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2 months ago | 
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.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Joanna Prendergast |Lucinda Jose
As competition grows for limited groundwater in rural Western Australia, experts and community leaders say the state's water management rules need to be tightened. The concerns come amid a spike in interest for land in parts of WA's Wheatbelt including mining, battery, wind, and solar developers all looking to develop land and extract water from the region.
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Nov 11, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Joanna Prendergast |Tara de Landgrafft
Some rural West Australians say their mobile signals and service areas have significantly decreased a week after the 3G mobile network shutdown. Telstra began shutting down the 3G network nationally on October 28 and the service was switched off in WA on November 4. Despite Telstra's claim that the 4G network replicates the 3G service, farmers such as John Sanderson from Grass Patch, 700 kilometres south-east of Perth, say connectivity has been compromised.
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Nov 2, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Joanna Prendergast |Chris Lewis |Daniel Franklin
Loading... Dingoes are part of Australia's wild landscape. They have roamed for thousands of years, their presence woven into the country's culture and ecosystems. But when two pet dingoes were shot in the outback, their deaths reignited debate over the animal's place in Australia and whether they can live alongside cattle and sheep. Their increasing presence in areas where farmers are grazing livestock is creating a complex and emotive challenge.
