The Country Caller

Crowdfunding campaign to ‘safeguard’ Great Artesian Basin

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By KATE BANVILLE

A battle to protect Australia’s largest underground water reservoir is recruiting support across the city country divide, with AgForce Queensland campaigning to settle the matter in the ‘court of public opinion’, to avoid taking the issue all the way to the Federal High Court.

Representing Queensland’s rural producers, the peak body has taken the extraordinary step of launching a legal fundraiser seeking financial and emotional buy-in from the public to “save the Great Artesian Basin”.

“It beggars belief that one of the natural wonders of the world – the mighty Great Artesian Basin – could be under threat in the way it currently is,” AgForce CEO Mike Guerin said.

“We are literally weeks away from a possible final approval.

“In the court of public opinion, we want to use these conversations to stop this project with the Federal Court as a last resort.”

The Great Artesian Basin is one of the world’s largest underground freshwater resources. IMAGE: Department of Water

What’s happening to the Great Artesian Basin?

CTSCo, a subsidiary of mining giant Glencore, has sought government approval to inject hundreds of thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the southern part of the Surat Basin, roughly 400 kilometres west of Brisbane and encompassing the Western Downs, Maranoa, and Toowoomba Local Government Areas.

If approved, CTSCo would be allowed to start a three year test aimed at demonstrating the “viability of industrial-scale carbon capture and storage”.

Glencore, which is Australia’s largest coal producer, has publicly stated impacts on the Basin would be “minor and local“.

The project is part of Glencore’s decarbonisation strategy to achieve its “ambition of net zero total emissions by 2050”.

As public interest around the CTSCo project grows, Glencore has consistently insisted it was based on “robust scientific fieldwork, data and analysis, and has involved review from expert third-party institutions”.

Project information which is publicly available reinforces Glencore’s claim that it intended to inject ‘food grade carbon dioxide (CO₂)’ and was not proposing to inject ‘coal mine waste’ underground.

A map of the proposed project near Moonie on the Western Downs. IMAGE: Glencore

“CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) enjoys bipartisan support within the Australian government,” a Glencore statement said.

“The International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) both regard CCS as essential if the world is to achieve its emission reduction targets.”

Mike Guerin said while AgForce supported evidence based technologies aimed at lowering emissions, it was vehemently opposed to a method which it claimed would cause “irreversible damage” to a natural, and relied upon resource.

“AgForce, industry, and communities we represent aren’t against the technology of carbon capture and storage,” he said.

“And indeed people that know much more about it than we do tell us it’s a great part of lowering emissions and looking after our planet.

“All Australians care about that but our issue is pumping CO₂ into the Great Artesian Basin as one of the natural wonders of the world, and a source of water for many communities.”

“Fundamental flaw in Federal Government’s laws”

The project now hinges on the Queensland Government to assess an environmental impact statement, after receiving earlier approvals by the former Morrison federal government.

The Great Artesian Basin of the largest underground freshwater resources in the world and Australia’s largest groundwater basin, stretching than 1.7 million square kilometres, underlying parts of Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

However, the resource isn’t protected under Australia’s environmental laws and Agforce wants to know why.

To ensure that legal question is heard loud and clear, the organisation said it was prepared to let lawyers test it in the court room, with Guerin conceding any lobbying efforts to date had failed and that he now feared time was running out to stop the project from proceeding.

“We’ve spent many months with the federal department and the federal minister (Tanya Plibersek), and the minister’s office responsible for this,” he said.

“Their official response to us has been that they stand behind the decision of the 9th of February, 2022.

“And that under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, there are no matters of national environmental significance, which would bring them to the view that the project should be put aside.”

This is a point of legal conjecture, according to AgForce, who would seek amendments to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC ACT), arguing there are “fundamental flaws” in its “failure” to list the Great Artesian Basin as a “protected matter”.

“We have legal advice which tells us essentially, that the project as proposed by the proponent (CTSCo), should be captured under the EPBC,” he told the Caller.

“The legal advice was strong enough to give us confidence to re-engage with the government, and indeed to have legal action as a last resort.

“We have a good story to tell about why the Great Artesian Basin should be protected and the EPBC Act provides the provisions for that protection.

“AgForce has asked the minister to revoke the decision, to reconsider it with the information that we’ve provided to them, and also, to change the EPBC Act so that we never get put in this ridiculous position again.

Who’s Who of Australian rugby descend on Roma

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By ROGER DESAILLY

WITH a comprehensive 32 – 7 win over the NSW Waratahs at the Santos Festival of Rugby held in Roma, the Queensland Reds and new coach Les Kiss may well have taken the first important step on the road back to redemption for grassroots rugby in Queensland, delivering a much needed sip from the well of success for many thousands of parched festival attendees.

All roads last weekend led to Roma which effectively become the epicentre of the rugby universe for a weekend, as everyone from the new Rugby Australia President Dan Herbert, new CEO Phil Waugh and new Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt all finding themselves in town for the festival.

Add to the mix a sizeable mob of Wallabies and Wallaroos of years past, rugby sevens teams from across the state and the who’s who of the country rugby fraternity all rubbing shoulders and sharing a drink at the Roma Echidnas Gallas Fox Park home ground.

WATCH: Queensland Reds coach Les Kiss speaking in Roma

The whistle blew with the sold-out long lunch on the Friday tightly controlled as usual by ‘Mr Country Rugby’ himself, World Cup-winning Wallaby, Reds legend and all-round multimedia commentator Tim Horan.

The Roma Sevens began Friday afternoon and a full day of Sevens and trial matches were held the Saturday, culminating in the Reds v Waratahs Super W and Super Rugby Trail Games on Saturday evening.

Fierce rivalry in the Women’s Reds V Waratahs match. IMAGE: Reds Rugby

Notables in the crowd included almost everyone who has ever pulled on a Roma Echidnas jersey, a contingent of grey maned and slightly worn Charleville Brumbies Rugby Club players in town for an impromptu 30-year reunion and thousands of success starved country rugby supporters, with hope for the return of the golden years of rugby still visible in their eyes.

A contingent of former Charleville Brumbies players celebrating a 30-year reunion

Immediate past president of the Roma Echidnas Richard Bright was heavily involved in the planning of the festival.

“Having the Queensland and NSW Super Rugby teams playing trial matches in Roma, combined with the Roma sevens, coaching clinics and the long lunch corporate fundraising event was a real boost to the town and region, both in terms of economic and social impacts and promotion of the sport,” Bright told the Caller.

“I commend the QRU, NSWRU, Rugby Australia, Santos, the Maranoa Regional Council, the Roma Echidnas rugby club and the local community for supporting this event, now in its fourth year of operation.

The Queensland Reds celebrate victory over NSW Waratahs in Roma. IMAGE. Reds Rugby

“The Reds to Regions initiative is a great way for the QRU to demonstrate that the Reds are the Qld Reds and not the ‘Brisbane Reds’, and Roma is the ideal location for a festival that caters for the full spectrum of the rugby family.

“It also reminds everyone that grassroots rugby really is the bedrock of the rugby pyramid in Australia and it needs to be nurtured or risk its foundations begin to shake.”

Brisbane bayside based Wynnum Bugs Rugby Club stalwart Riley White, who made the trek out to Roma for the weekend to support family and friends playing in the sevens competition, agreed.

“The drive out was a small price to pay for a weekend of fun, family catch ups, and to witness what will hopefully become the first of many more Queensland Reds wins in season 2024,” White said.

Long standing Echidnas Rugby Club players and members, and local livestock producers Grant Maudsley and Michael Stanford, were certainly enjoying the evening under the stars watching the Reds run in several classy tries as they put the Waratahs to the sword and catching up with players past, present and future.

Speaking at the festival, CEO of Rugby Australia Phil Waugh commented that it was an all out terrific event.

“It’s been great to get out into the heartland of regional rugby in Queensland, to show Rugby Australia’s support for the grassroots of the sport, to speak to the local rugby community about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the sport in the next decade, and to watch the cream of our women’s and men’s super-rugby and seven’s teams play running rugby in Roma.”

Grant Maudsley and Michael Stanford, local livestock producers and longterm players and members of the Roma Echidnas. IMAGE: Roger Desailly

The Santos Festival of Rugby certainly served up a feast of football, frivolity, fun and fundraising and a serious economic sugar hit to the local Roma economy, with a bed in town harder to find than a winger with mud on his jersey, as 5,000 plus people descended on the town and the pubs, restaurants, cafes and shops buzzing with a vibe that was very welcomed by the local business community.

All positive signs that the beating heart of the sport that is local, regional, club and community rugby is still strong in spite of some recent body blows to and some serious challenges ahead for the national body, and a strong belief by the new administration that Rome can be rebuilt in time for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

Fall armyworm chewing through summer crop profits

By CAITLIN CROWLEY

SUMMER sorghum crops in Central and Southern Queensland have been under attack from a sudden and severe invasion of Fall armyworm at a scale never seen before.

Biloela farmer Scott Muller told the Caller areas where growers had never worried about Fall armyworm before had been “belted” by the invasive pest in recent weeks, catching many off guard.

WATCH: Scott Muller uncovering fall armyworms in his sorghum crop

While Central Queensland growers were familiar with the introduced species targeting corn crops in the last four years, Muller said their numbers in sorghum crops had “exploded” this season.

“It’s definitely the worst we’ve ever seen,” Muller said.

“We’ve always seen a little bit of armyworm damage in sorghum in years gone by, but never enough to have thresholds that we need to spray, or potentially desiccating crops so it’s just another kick in the guts.”

WATCH: Fall armyworm numbers explode in CQ

Looking across Muller’s fields of sorghum at Biloela, it’s easy to see the damage caused by the voracious species, leaving lush sorghum leaves shredded as though they’d been hit by a hail storm.

“This crop we sprayed two weeks ago approximately and it was really affected, there was a lot of numbers – four, five, six grubs per plant, let alone per metre,” Muller said.

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“I think we did a 70 or 80 percent job in getting rid of those, and it helped that plant get away but even looking now here, there are two or three grubs per plant again.

“So you’ve just got to make a choice around how much it’s going to cost you, dollars per hectare on the other end.”

Fall armyworm infesting crops at Biloela. IMAGE: Kentos Komms

Muller, who is also Agforce Grains Vice President, said farmers had already given up growing corn in his patch because of Fall armyworm, and had been left wondering what the future looked like for growing sorghum.

“It honestly is a worry,” Muller said, “sorghum is such a common crop in CQ in summer, I think there are a lot of people that are a little bit worried.”

Fall armyworm was first detected on the Australian mainland in February 2020 and according to Queensland’s Department of Agriculture, has now spread across much of northern and eastern Australia.

Teacher shortage demands creative community solutions

By CAITLIN CROWLEY | EXCLUSIVE

SOLVING Australia’s worsening teacher shortage requires a similar community response to the collaboration seen in the aftermath of natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to one regional Queensland academic.

Associate Professor Peter Cook heads up the School of Education at the University of Southern Queensland, where enrolments in education degrees have increased this year, partly thanks to state government measures designed to fast-track the flow of people from other professions into teaching.

Cook said while fixing the national shortage of educators was “top of the agenda” amongst Deans of Education across the country, and state and federal governments, change could also be driven at a local level.

Associate Professor Peter Cook from the UniSQ School of Education. IMAGE: Supplied

“If we accept the fact that the school is part of a community we need to actually activate all of the elements of that community to enforce this change,” Cook said.

“We centre schools so nicely in our communities, but then we’ve also got to take the responsibilities as well.

“Just recently we’ve seen those floods that have just happened and communities come together to support each other in that way – I think it needs that sort of similar approach.

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“I think there needs to be a greater connectivity between all of the key stakeholders to come together to understand what their element is in the solution, not just in the problem.

“So that means universities working with schools, working with local governments, working with departments of education and other system leaders and we’re doing it – we just need to keep going and extend it.”

Cook expressed concerns that media reports around teaching tended to “focus on dysfunction over function”, contributing to negative attitudes and perceptions of the profession in the community.

“I think there’s a lot to be said around the way the community perceives teachers and advocates for or against them,” Cook said.

“I think there should be a little more understanding and generosity of understanding, of what teachers are doing.”

South Queensland organiser for the Queensland Teachers’ Union (QTU) Zeb Sugden said there was no doubt public perceptions of teachers had a significant impact on staff.

“The value that society places on the profession directly correlates with those that want to enter the profession,” he said.

“But it’s easy to talk it down when staff aren’t getting the basic working conditions due to the teacher shortage.”

“There is a small, toxic element and it often occurs online – we’re seeing it more prevalent, where someone will say something online that they won’t say face to face. And we would welcome the opportunity to address any issue face to face.

“So while we have people degrading and talking down the profession, whether it be ourselves as educators, whether it be parents, we are not going to inspire professionals to enter our profession.

Students only returned to classrooms across the state three weeks ago, but already the QTU has received reports of teachers missing meal breaks, coming to work when unwell or forgoing professional development and non-contact prep time because there are simply not enough staff available.

“To a large extent the issues are felt more prominently in rural and regional locations, however my colleagues in Brisbane report that classes in Brisbane, classes in Toowoomba, where they can’t get supply teachers to take classes,” Zeb Sugden said.

“Our school administrators are having to combine classes or take students into halls for example and provide supervision rather than instruction, learning and delivering the curriculum.

“What we have is teachers teaching outside their subject areas which is never good for students – we have thousands of teachers across the state today who are teaching outside their subject area.

“This is not a surprise to the Queensland Teachers’ Union – we have been banging on about this issue since pre-COVID. We are most disappointed with the lack of progress from the Department of Education.”

Queensland’s Department of Education employs 55,000 teachers and as of January the department had a vacancy rate of approximately 2 percent of the teaching workforce.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education responded to the Caller’s request for comment with 14 measures to support teacher attraction and retention, including financial initiatives to “support high achieving preservice and graduate teachers to commence their career in priority Queensland locations.”

But the QTU described the measures as band-aid solutions.

“When we talk to members, they say ‘money talks,” Zeb Sugden said.

“Money is the solution and we want to see greater incentives for our rural and remote teachers.

“That could encompass free housing, it could encompass increasing attraction payments, it could also include, long-term, having university degrees paid for.”

Regional Qld among nation’s highest rent rises

By KATE BANVILLE

STAKEHOLDERS aiming to influence housing policy will gather in the nation’s capital today amid rising homelessness and housing shortages, with councils across regional Queensland calling for greater government intervention.

More than 43,000 people wait for social housing throughout Queensland, according to Queensland Department of Housing data.

Released in November, the data for last year’s June to September quarter saw a rise of 1,600 since the quarter prior.

But these figures don’t capture the full picture of Australia’s housing woes, with mayors throughout regional Queensland concerned that their regions are simply ‘out of sight and out of mind’ for policy makers.

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Since 2020, Queensland’s population has grown by nearly 330,000 to more almost 5.5 million people.

The Flinders Shire in the state’s northwest is among the many local governments across rural and regional Queensland forced to take on the crippling burden of investment, despite housing policy being primarily the responsibility of the state government.

Mayor Jane McNamara said the community was in immediate need of additional houses, despite the roll out of its council run Housing Grant Program.

“In this last term of the council, and the previous term, we actually purchased a suite of houses and also we put up some land for sale last year,” McNamara said.

“Both of which have been fully utilised and purchased as in the land sales, so that people can get a block of land and build their own home.”

Issues like these will be up for debate at the National Regional Housing Summit in Canberra today.

Hosted by Regional Australia Institute, Real Estate Institute of Australia and Master Builders Australia, the national summit aims to unite MPs, industry bodies and not-for-profits in an effort to turn ‘good ideas into reality’.

Regional Queenslanders smashed with nation’s highest rent

It comes as new analysis by Everybody’s Home reveals the top ten regional areas smashed by rent hikes.

Central Queensland topped the list with 21.8% rent increase over a 12 month period, forcing tenants to fork out an additional $77 on average.

Rockhampton in Central Queensland, where rent rises are the highest in Queensland. IMAGE: Airview Online

“The regional housing summit is an important opportunity to keep the rental crisis conversation alive but there’s only so many times governments can be told of the same solutions,” Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said.

“It’s time for governments to start acting on more ambitious plans to improve housing affordability across the country.

“The federal government must spend more on social housing, end investor handouts, and work with the states and territories to stop unfair rent increases.

Cloncurry Shire Council received a grant of $5,062,500 in 2021 through the Federal Government’s Building Better Regions Fund to build nine new homes. IMAGE: Supplied

Cloncurry Mayor Greg Campbell said regional communities like his were stuck in an economic grid lock as a result of dire housing options.

“We’ve got a fairly urgent need for more housing and a higher standard of housing across the spectrum, whether that’s private rentals, government, employee housing, and social housing,” he said.

“We’ve done our own stocktake and I think there’s a genuine unknown about how much overcrowding there is in social housing, particularly in Cloncurry because people are managing that overcrowding, very sensibly.”

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It prompted echoed calls by local governments throughout Queensland to see immediate investment into state owned housing for government employees.

With a rental vacancy rate of 0.1 per cent, the Goondiwindi Shire Council released its Local Housing Action Plan in an effort to bring reprieve.

As previously reported by the Caller, the plan made 17 recommendations to the Queensland Government including moving government employees out of the existing rental pool.

Cloncurry Mayor Greg Campbell. IMAGE: Supplied

Campbell argued without these changes, attracting new workers into regional communities like Cloncurry will be almost impossible, despite job vacancies aplenty.

“We’ve actually seen I think it’s about 12 to 13 properties sold off by the state, which were specifically for government employees,” Mayor Campbell said.

“Sensibly, they could have been used as social housing but they were just sold.

“And some of that’s off the back of the main roads staff being slashed by 50 per cent a number of years ago.

“Our Department Primary Industries (DPI) workforce is being decimated from having about six staff here to currently there’s only one so in that respect, the government employee housing demand isn’t as high but it’s also a vicious cycle because the housing stock has been poor and that’s one of the reasons why positions have been hard to fill.”

In the Cook Shire the need is significantly different, even despite the infrastructure damage across the region as a result of Tropical Cyclone Jasper.

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“As far as houses being wiped out we’ve probably got under 50 across the Shire that actually need replacing,” said Mayor Peter Scott.

“But in Cooktown itself we’ve got a commitment from the state government to build 50 new houses around town in the next two years because our basic economy is regional services, health, education, police and service agencies.

“And it’s happening now as we speak, we’ve also got the approval for our hospital to be doubled in size but it’s just a matter of allocating the money in the budget cycle.”

Flooding in Wujal Wujal in December 2023. IMAGE: Supplied

However, the arrangement does result in council’s inability to charge land rates as they would typically do with privately owned land.

“That’s something we had to weigh up as far as social capital and the social improvement with the offset the loss of potential rates,”

“But it’s a no brainer, we just have to get people to town to grow the town itself.

“We can charge service rates like water sewerage rubbish, but unfortunately for the council we can’t charge land rates against the government.

Mayors call for action

The Caller asked each of the mayor’s what proposal they’d like to see championed at the Regional Housing National Summit.

Here’s what they had to say.

Cloncurry Shire Mayor Greg Campbell: “If there is a government commitment to put X number of transportable homes in western areas, make the commitment to build some of them out here which not only reduces transport costs but gives the benefit of the economic growth of the houses being built in our area.”

Flinders Shire Mayor Jane McNamara: “Changes to the First Homeowners Grant to include existing stock, and for it not to be such a restrictive criteria around it.”

Cook Shire Mayor Peter Scott: “Sustainability. Where the inequity really shines is we get these Federal Assistance Grants and so if you’re going to make things a bit easier for councils like mine they really need to be revised.”

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It comes on the back of a 5 pillar plan announced by Queensland Premier Steven Miles earlier this week including a target to build 1 million new homes by 2046.

The plan, worth $3.1 billion promised to increase the duration for the Rental Security Subsidy, raise the Queensland First Home Owner Grant to $30,000, and address homelessness.

Farmers take renewables campaign to Canberra

By HARRY CLARKE

A CONTINGENT from Queensland is among a group of farmers rallying outside Parliament House in Canberra today, calling for a senate inquiry into renewable energy development on agricultural land and the suspension of projects they say are harming rural communities.

The National Rally Against Reckless Renewables is campaigning against the “reckless rollout” more than 1000 renewable energy projects across the country under the government’s Powering Australia pipeline, most of which are in regional and rural areas.

The protest follows the release of the independent Community Engagement Review, commissioned by the Albanese Government to maximise engagement with, and benefit for, impacted communities in the planning, development and operation of renewables infrastructure.

It also comes as the Farmers for Climate Action group also gather in Canberra to highlight the benefits offered rural communities by green energy projects, such as employment and land access compensation revenue.

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National Rational Energy Group vice-chair and Kilkivan Action Group organiser Katy McCallum is campaigning, in particular, against the $14.2 billion Borumba Pumped Hydro and the Forest Wind projects in Queensland’s Wide Bay region.

The Boromba projects involves the construction of a high voltage transmission line connecting the energy generator to the grid via an existing substation outside Kilkivan.

“We are in the fight of our lives, things are bad up here,” McCallum (pictured) said.

“They are going to push this through and destroy our state because they can. We need a federal Senate Inquiry, this needs to stop.

“There has been no social, economic or environmental licence obtained by Powerlink for the proposed transmission lines throughout Kilkivan district and so our message to Powerlink has been simple – our gates are locked.”

Energy Minister Chris Bowen blamed the LNP for problems arising from renewables development, saying the party ignored the impacts of new energy assets, such as transmission lines, on regional and rural communities and failed to improve how our energy projects were rolled out during their time in government.

“Local landholders and regional communities are absolutely crucial to our renewable energy transformation,” Bowen (pictured) said.

“Where these projects are done well, communities benefit from more jobs, cheaper energy, better connectivity and more business opportunities. And I am/we are determined to make the transformation a positive experience for communities.

“After a decade of inaction from the Opposition, this (Community Engagement Review) adds to the work already underway to improve the role communities play in delivering the necessary transformation of our energy system to keep the lights on.”

National Party leader and shadow agriculture minister David Littleproud said the review failed examine the “real impacts” the construction of wind and solar farms were having on agricultural land.

He said the government’s renewable energy target of 82 percent by 2030 would exacerbate rising food and energy prices.

David Littleproud speaking at the National Rally Against Reckless Renewables in Canberra. IMAGE: Supplied

“The report appears nothing more than a cynical public relations exercise by the Albanese Labor Government to give Labor a green light to forge ahead steamrolling regional communities in its attempt to reach their reckless target,” Littleproud said.

“It is alarming that 92 per cent of respondents were dissatisfied with the level of engagement from project developers.

“Labor’s plans to rip up agricultural land will destroy farming communities and reduce the supply of food, therefore driving up food prices.

“We have time to pause, to plan and to use common sense. Sadly, it’s becoming obvious that renewables are losing their social licence because they are destroying the very thing they were designed to protect, including native vegetation and endangered species.”

Doubts over approach to farm produce price gouging

COMMENT | Barry Large, Grain Producers Australia

THERE’S an awful lot of noise being made right now about the prices every day Australians are being charged at the checkout, whilst the big supermarkets rake-in record profits.

Added to this political rhetoric driven by the cost-of-living crisis is an apparent concern about the need to ensure Australian farmers receive their fair share of the retail dollar.

That’s seen the Federal Government trigger several recent actions in response, including an ACCC inquiry which comes on the back of the media pressure applied by shadow agriculture minister David Littleproud, since early January.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s media release said last week that over the next 12-months the ACCC will investigate allegations of price gouging and competition in the supermarket sector to “ensure Australians are paying a fair price for their groceries”.

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One of the key matters to be considered by the competition watch-dog includes “factors influencing prices along the supply chain, including the difference between farmgate and supermarket prices”.

The prime minister said in the release that “when farmers are selling their product for less, supermarkets should charge Australians less. That’s why the ACCC will use its significant powers to probe the difference between the price paid at the farm gate, and the prices people pay at the check-out.”

Added to this ACCC inquiry is the recent announcement of a review of the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct to be conducted by former Labor minister Dr Craig Emerson (pictured).

In addition, more than $1 million will go to consumer group CHOICE to provide price transparency and comparison reports on a quarterly basis for three years.

Craig Emerson (left) has been appointed to lead a review of the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct. IMAGE: NCA NewsWire / Gary Romage

All this talk about a fair go for farmers and pricing fairness might sound fantastically good to the innocent observer.

It seems not all farmers are worth worrying about when it comes to the prices they receive.

In addition, there’s no mention by the prime minister and treasurer – amid all this noise about fair farmgate returns – of the fact they’re planning to introduce a new 10 percent biosecurity tax on all Australian farmers, which will come directly off our bottom lines.

This funding, via a tax disguised as a levy, will go straight into consolidated government revenue.

And there’s no guarantee funds will actually be re-directed anywhere to deliver stronger biosecurity protections for farmers – such as those delivered through existing levies.

Grain Producers Australia chairman Barry Large

The level of anger and frustration at this proposal is why 50 farmer groups across the full range of commodities have unified to send a joint letter to the prime minister, treasurer and Agriculture Minister Murray Watt, calling for this fundamentally flawed policy to be urgently reversed.

This letter includes urging the treasurer to conduct economic analysis and modelling to provide some basic transparency for producers and industry – at least to justify their policy claim that producers are the only ‘beneficiaries’ of biosecurity and should therefore be paying this new tax.

We are yet to see a response, but remain hopeful this tax will be scrapped before it’s due to be implemented by July 1 this year, given this recent talk about fairness of returns for farmers and politicians being able to break their promises and commitments, to do the right thing.

This rhetoric about cost-of-living and the prices farmers receive is also especially hard to stomach when you consider Australian barley producers only receive about 0.20 cents (1.33 per cent), at best, from a beer that’s costing upwards of $15 these days in many metropolitan bars.

So where does the other $14.80 (98.67pc) go to?

From the farm where the barley is produced, through to the beer drinker in the city, there are multiple beneficiaries of that commodity’s generation of economic activity.

This includes the level of tax generated for the Australian Government from the excise duty rates that are applied to alcohol sales.

Also, the law indexes the excise duty rates for alcohol twice a year, based on the upward movement of CPI.

Unfortunately, there’s no such mechanism between the farm-gate and consumers to ensure the barley producer gets a fairer, increased share of that rapidly escalating beer price twice a year.

And beer is one of many, many consumer products made from Australian grains.

Instead, there’s a new 10pc tax that’s scheduled to start on July 1 – long before the ACCC hands down its findings from this new inquiry in early 2025, which still rely on any government actually deciding to take action, to deliver competition reforms.

Whilst the ACCC inquiry, Code of Conduct review and CHOICE reporting are commendable, Australian grain producers are bemused at why some farmers are judged more worthy than others of such actions that aim to improve fairness, market competition and pricing transparency.

Promising koala data found in volunteer project

By CHRIS MEIBUSCH | TOOWOOMBA REGION KOALA COUNT

I had lived in the Toowoomba suburb of Mt Lofty for just on 30 years before I saw my first koala ‘in the wild’ when friends called to our front door saying “come and see what we’ve found just down your track”.

Now, four years on from that sighting, most Toowoomba city friends still tell me they’ve never seen a koala in the wild in Queensland.

Some friends tell me they’ve seen koalas but usually “back when I was a kid” or “when we camped at Straddie” or “at Lone Pine”. Few friends can tell me of recent local wild koala encounters.

But, do we have Koalas in the Toowoomba Region? Really?

Yes, we do! In fact, during November 2023, our Toowoomba Region Koala Count volunteers photographed and reported over 215 koalas in the Toowoomba region. This number has increased steadily over the last three years of our local Koala Counts.

Sandra McKay lives with in the township of Crows Nest approximately 45kms north of Toowoomba. Sandra helped co-ordinate about 30 local residents conduct a koala count around Crows Nest on the last Saturday morning in November.

“Aside from the number of koalas we found, it was really interesting to see how many locals turned out as they are interested in learning more about koalas in our district,” Sandra said.

Volunteers of Toowoomba Region Koala Count. IMAGE: Supplied

These volunteers photographed more than 38 koalas in one November morning around Crows Nest, then logged these reports onto the iNaturalist database.

So what do these figures tell us about the state of local koalas and our role in protecting our national icon in our immediate community? Most people know that koalas in South East Queensland have recently been upgraded from ‘vulnerable’ to ‘endangered’, but how are our koalas faring around Toowoomba?

“Generally speaking, the koalas we found were healthy often with little joeys on mum’s back. We did find a couple of mums with symptoms of chlamydia that we managed to get off for treatment,” Sandra reported.

“We worry about finding koalas too close to our roads but generally they seem to be surviving despite some recent local bull dozer clearing for residential developments.”

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Redland City Council, based in Cleveland on Moreton Bay, boasts ‘a significant urban koala population’. Redland City even has the koala as their logo.

But is Redland City’s koala population any more significant to that of the Toowoomba region, without a koala logo?

In fact, we have no real idea of how many koalas live in our region. In itself, this is not surprising, as sighting koalas is a difficult and sometimes neck-breaking experience. Working from existing sightings to establish meaningful estimated totals is probably even harder.

The CSIRO’s National Koala Monitoring Program estimated Australia had between 287,830 – 628,010 koalas as at March 2023.

Koala spotted at Yarranlea near Pittsworth. IMAGE: Toowoomba Region Koala Count

Toowoomba’s koala population probably has a similarly vast range of estimates. The Toowoomba Region Koala Count does not claim to be scientific – more volunteers are likely to report more sightings.

To help achieve more koala sightings, a thermal drone has been purchased with Australian Government funding. This drone provides images showing the hot body of the koala as white against the dark of the cooler surrounding tree cover.

“After our Crows Nest count, we now have a better idea of the range of our local koalas. We are really looking forward to using the new drone to confirm our koala sightings. From there, we hope to identify and extend existing koala corridors with strategic koala tree plantings” Sandra McKay said.

Local residents wishing to participate in the Toowoomba Region Koala Habitat Project with koala sightings or feed tree plantings should register their interest through the project website www.toowoombakoalaproject.org.

Toowoomba Region Koala Count volunteers out in the field. IMAGE: Supplied

Election concerns over council candidate shortages

By HARRY CLARKE

SIX weeks out from Queensland’s council elections, local government representatives in some areas are concerned about how few candidates have thus far nominated to run for office.

Queenslanders will head to the polls on March 16 but voters in the Toowoomba, Western Downs and Goondiwindi regions may have limited options to choose from with regard to who they want representing them in local government.

Councils this week began pre-election caretaker periods, restricting them from awarding large contracts or making, amending or repealing local laws until after the elections, among other rules.

Western Downs mayor Paul McVeigh will retire at the March 16 local government election. IMAGE: Country Caller

In the Western Downs region, Mayor Paul McVeigh along with two sitting councillors will be retiring at the end of the current term, creating three vacancies to be filled.

Two-term councillor Andrew Smith announced his mayoral candidacy in December while the remaining four incumbents have all since declared they will run for another term.

But so far only one new candidate has put their hand up to run for a Western Downs councillor position, meaning all candidates will be guaranteed a position and one position won’t be filled unless more candidates nominate.

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“I’m a bit worried that we’re not getting much interest,” outgoing Western Downs mayor Paul McVeigh told the Caller.

“By this time last election we probably had five or six new candidates putting their hand up, but we haven’t had that this time.

“With three retiring councillors (including myself) I certainly encourage people to have a serious look at whether they’d be interested in putting their hand up for their community moving.

“There’s a real reward when you do things to represent your community and do things that improve your community.”

Outgoing Toowoomba councillor Nancy Sommerfield. IMAGE: ABC Southern Queensland

In Goondiwindi, one sitting councillor has announced they will not be re-contesting, with only three new candidates understood to have nominated thus far.

Third term Toowoomba Councillor Nancy Sommerfield has announced she will not re-contest on March 16.

There are currently six non-sitting candidates who have announced their nominations for Toowoomba Regional Council – half of the roughly 12 aspiring councillors who’d nominated within one week of the caretaker period ahead of the 2020 local government election.

Toowooomba councillor Kerry Shine, a former MP for the state government seat of Toowoomba North now running for a third term of local government, said it was unclear why running for council had apparently become unfashionable.

“Usually when people are upset or dissatisfied with then council or the government, that’s when they would get activated rather than go quiet,” Shine (pictured) said.

“You would normally expect in a situation where there are fewer council candidates that most people are happy with what they’ve got. I’d like to think that was the case but in Toowoomba there are different factors.

“Last time there were four vacancies in that four sitting councillors were not standing again for election, and for those standing for council that gave them a better chance of getting elected.

“This time around we’ve only had one councillor, Councillor Sommerfield, announce that she’s not standing again, so the chances of getting elected are 25 percent of what they were last time.”

Figures provided to the Caller by the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) indicate that, statewide, the number of candidates compared to vacant council positions had been fairly consistent for the past three elections.

In 2020 there were 1574 candidates running for 578 positions, in 2016 there were 1496 candidates running for 502 positions, and in 2012 there were 1292 candidates running for 488 positions.

The candidates per vacancy rates were 2.7, 2.9 and 2.6 respectively.

LGAQ chief executive Alison Smith said the overall competitiveness around council positions in Queensland would be clearer after the nomination period closes in mid-February.

“We will get an accurate picture about candidate numbers once nominations close in mid-February.

“Our members tell us that being on council is challenging but highly rewarding with the opportunity to represent and improve liveability for your community.

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“As the level of government closest to communities, one of the biggest challenges for councils is securing a fair deal on funding.

“Every time local government receives low or no funding to take on more responsibilities from state and federal governments, or from the private sector, that creates a cost-shift to councils.

“Cost-shifting to councils is ultimately a cut to community liveability

“A new report by the LGAQ shows councils, and therefore ratepayers, are having to fund a $360 million gap every year for services and infrastructure that other levels of government or the private sector have walked away from.”

Channel Country in flood as Kirrily heads outback

By HARRY CLARKE

AN ICONIC outback pub is waist-deep in water and graziers on remote cattle stations are expecting to be stranded for weeks as ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily brings enormous downfalls to western parts of Queensland.

The heavy rainfall hasn’t been widespread but some concentrated areas to the west of Winton have received more than 500mm over the past week, flooding channels and gracing some farmers with enough water to last them comfortably until next wet season.

Grazier Anita Salmon’s family property Brackenburgh, between Winton and Boulia, has recorded 530mm since Saturday, while Moorooka Station just south of McKinlay had 430mm over the past 10 days.

Flooding at Brackenburgh Station near Middleton, west of Winton. IMAGE: Anita Salmon

Salmon said the scenes at Brackenburgh, which sits on the watershed of the Diamantina River catchment, were reminiscent of the devastating flooding that wiped out thousands of cattle across North West Queensland in 2019.

“The house is on the edge of the channels and we’re up on a ridge, but the channels would be 2km wide at the moment,” she said.

“We’re calling it high tide up here.

“High tide” at Brackenburgh Station, says grazer Anita Salmon. IMAGE: Anita Salmon

“It wasn’t quite the same amount of rain (in 2019) but that was more catastrophic for cattle because it was cold. We haven’t got the cold this time – it’s 35 degrees.

“The helicopter had a look briefly when there was a break in the rain and we have had some cattle floating downstream. They’re still alive but they’d be doing it pretty tough.”

Flooded channels at Brackenburgh Station. IMAGE: Supplied

Salmon said she and her husband, David Salmon, expected to be stranded on the property for about six weeks and faced a great deal of repair work, but welcomed the downpour nonetheless.

“It will take us all year to get the property back to where it was as far has fencing, mustering, erosion and dams and everything goes, but we’ll have grass,” she said.

Poddy calves of Brackenburgh trying to stay dry. IMAGE: Anita Salmon

“We’ll get enough feed out of this that, if we play our cards right, we’ll get through to this time next year if we don’t have any more rain.

“It’s a tough thing but it’s a good thing. We won’t know how our cattle are going or how they will go until we can get out and have a look, but we’ll have green feed and we’ll recover.”

The Blue Heeler Hotel on the Landsborough Highway at Kynuna on Monday afternoon. IMAGE: IMAGE: Linda Walker

To the north at Kynuna, on the Landsborough Hwy about halfway between Winton and Cloncurry, the famous Blue Heeler Hotel has been inundated.

The remote watering hole and popular stop-off for outback tourists had puddles in the front car park at 1pm on Sunday, but within 24 hours the building was chest deep in floodwater.

Nearby at Moorooka Station, 15km south of McKinlay, grazier Wade McConachy said his surroundings were “very wet”.

Homestead at Moorooka Station, south of McKinlay. IMAGE: Wade McConachy

“We had 309m for the last two days but we have had 431mm in the last 10 days,” he said.

“There’s still lots of water running around, creeks are still backed up. This sort of rain, in the amount of time it fell, will mean that a lot of fences are washed away.

“I’ve already had one dam burst its banks and there’ll most likely be more than that.

“But there’ll be plenty of feed for the cattle.”