Linda Botterill

1 month ago | phys.org | Linda Botterill |Bruce Chapman |Sadie Harley |Andrew Zinin

Australia in 2025 is living up to Dorothy McKellar's poetic vision of a country stricken by "drought and flooding rains". The clean-up is underway from the deadly floods in the Hunter and mid-north coast regions of New South Wales.

1 month ago | theconversation.com | Linda Botterill |Bruce Chapman

Australia in 2025 is living up to Dorothy McKellar’s poetic vision of a country stricken by “drought and flooding rains”. The clean up is underway from the deadly floods in the Hunter and mid-north coast regions of New South Wales. At the same time, large swathes of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania are severely drought affected due to some of the lowest rainfall on record. Do we have the right support arrangements in place to help farmers and communities survive the current dry period?

Nov 14, 2024 | onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Linda Botterill

In 1992, Australia introduced a National Drought Policy comprising a number of policies each focused on achieving a common goal of a self-reliant, productive farm sector capable of managing the challenges of climate variability. This paper considers two of these policies, one of which has been an acknowledged success and the other that is generally regarded as a failure. The paper assesses these schemes against the criteria proposed by Luetjens et al.

Jun 5, 2024 | onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Linda Botterill |Michael Walsh

Election campaigns provide a convenient and concentrated snapshot of the policy packages on offer by the major parties. It is through campaign rhetoric that voters can see what policy initiatives are being put forward and which are being resisted. Promises to introduce new policies or reverse or ameliorate those of the other party provide a clear picture of where the parties stand and what their policy focus and priorities will be if they win government.