Farm – Michmutters

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Australia

Off-season native bee carers give macadamia farmer a pollination backup plan against varroa mite

Off-season native bee carers give macadamia farmer a pollination backup plan against varroa mite

“Foster parents” who take care of native beehives in their own backyards have helped a Queensland macadamia nut farmer develop a pollination backup plan should the invasive varroa mite spread.

Geoff Chivers started investigating using the small, stingless insects to pollinate his orchards, which were some of the oldest in Bundaberg, when varroa mite first started spreading around the world.

In five years, he has gone from five beehives to 150, which he said was made possible by a group of enthusiastic locals he called the “foster parents.”

“We need to have feed for those bees in the off-season,” he said.

“We actually host them out to families and friends in Bundaberg who have either large areas of native bush around them or backyards in the middle of town where there’s lots of flowering plants or vegetable patches.”

He was not looking for any new foster parents, with all of the beehives adopted and thriving in their host homes.

“We’ve found that the bees actually flourish in the urban environment because of the variety of flowers and other things that they can collect pollen from,” he said.

A mid shot of a man in a blue work shirt holding a small house-like native bee hive in front of a grevillia bush
Macadamia farmer Geoff Chivers has spent years researching and developing native bee hives for use in his orchard.(Rural ABC: Kallee Buchanan)

Macadamia trees have a short flowering window, and because orchards are large and surrounded by monoculture crops, the bees would not have enough food or variety without their host families.

“The foster parents love it, they really become attached to their hives,” he said.

“While we only need the hives for probably four to six weeks each year, they tell me they actually miss them when they’re gone.

“There’s a lot of people that just love to sit out and watch the bees come and go and just do what they do.”

Win-win for bees and community

All of Mr Chivers’ beehives currently have homes with foster parents like retiree Hugh O’Malley, whose wife Allison first suggested they get involved.

A wide shot of a white haired man resting his hand on a small native bee hive
Hugh O’Malley has been fostering native bees for three years.(Rural ABC: Kallee Buchanan)

“I’ve got a little vegetable garden and I’d had trouble with a lot of plants, like cucumbers for example, with pollination,” Mr O’Malley said.

“Since we’ve had the bees here, which we have for about three years, things like that are growing quite well.”

He said the bees were low-maintenance and easy to integrate into his existing garden.

“If they need any water they get it off a bit of dew off the grass and of course they know where to go for food,” he said.

“So I don’t have to do anything… I don’t use any sprays or anything like that, which is good for the bees.

“It’s nice to see them there, and they’re no problem because they don’t sting.”

It’s estimated about 90 per cent of the pollination for macadamia nuts is done by honey bees, but with the detection of the devastating varroa mite in New South Wales, farmers in Queensland have been considering their options should bee numbers drop significantly.

Patience pays off

Mr Chivers said it had taken years of experimentation and education to get the native bees working in his orchard, but he was seeing tangible results.

“We placed the bees around the outside of the orchard believing that they would move through the orchard,” he said.

“What we actually saw was around the outside of the orchard, we’re getting a much better nut set, but not so much into the orchard.

“We started experimenting [with] moving the hives actually inside the orchard… we put a grid pattern throughout the orchard so each hive is no more than 50 meters from another hive.”

In one of the oldest orchards in the district, he said kernel recovery — a measure of how much nut is inside the shell that determines what the grower is paid — had risen from 30 to 35 per cent.

A larger honey bee rests on a white flower beside a small stingless bee.
Native stingless bees (right) are not susceptible to the invasive varroa mite, which can devastate honey bee (left) colonies.(Supplied: Tobias Smith)

Some limits

While it was a success for his farm, Mr Chivers acknowledged there were limits to how much the bees could do in place of traditional honey bee pollination, particularly when it came to breeding and splitting beehives, which is a much slower process in the stingless varieties. .

“We couldn’t go out tomorrow and get enough hives to pollinate all the macadamia orchards or other farms around here, but we have enough now, I believe to pollinate, all our own farms,” ​​he said.

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Business

Queensland farmer battling Suncorp Bank vows to keep pushing to fix financial services

Wide shot of a bearded man walking away from a farm shed

A farmer who looks set to lose his farm after taking on his bank over what he says were dodgy lending practices has vowed to keep fighting for accountability in financial services.

It comes amid fears more Australians could find themselves at the mercy of a financial mediation system in need of review.

Ronald Feierabend has been in dispute with Suncorp Bank since he discovered discrepancies in the budget being used to estimate the profitability of his sugar cane farm Wingadee, near Bundaberg, during an application to refinance in 2014.

A series of mediations failed to resolve the dispute, and in 2021 the Supreme Court ruled that Suncorp could appoint receiver managers and sell the farm to recover outstanding costs.

The property will now be auctioned on September 1.

According to prudential regulation expert Andy Schmulow, the outcome was a sign of the failures in a debt mediation system that still favored the banks.

Mr Schmulow has called for a complete overhaul of the financial dispute resolution process.

‘They’re circling like vultures’

Throughout his long-running complaint, Mr Feierabend said he had been subjected to extreme pressure exerted by the bank, which he accused of not acting in good faith.

A wide shot of a man facing the camera flanked by police who face away.
Police escorted Mr Feierabend off his farm in March.(Rural ABC: David Barnott-Clement)

In March, police escorted him off the farm.

“There’s been people who have been eyeing off the property, and you know, they think it’s going to be a fire sale,” Mr Feierabend said.

He alleged the bank withheld essential documents and failed to disclose his right to a free, internal dispute resolution process that would have saved him tens of thousands of dollars and resolved the matter sooner, to claim the bank denies.

“Emotionally, the way I’ve been attacked, I feel like I’ve been violated,” he said.

A blurred photo of two people walking by as the Suncorp name under a bright yellow circle is displayed.
Suncorp Bank says it works within all legislative requirements and best practices.(AAP: Dave Hunt)

“I’ve seen the farm deteriorate into such a state that the whole farm needs to be refurbished or rebuilt.”

A spokesman for Suncorp Bank said due to confidentiality constraints, it would not comment directly on Mr Feierabend’s case.

“We are committed to working with and supporting our customers and take our responsibilities as a longstanding Queensland bank, with strong roots in agribusiness, very seriously,” he said.

“Suncorp Bank has robust internal processes and resources to ensure our customers are supported, including the option of having an impartial internal review of a complaint.”

Twin Peaks regulation fails

Australia’s financial regulation system is often referred to as the “twin peaks” model because of the interaction between the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), which regulates the conduct of the sector, and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), which is charged with ensuring the stability of the broader financial system.

Dr Schmulow, who is a senior lecturer in the School of Law at the University of Wollongong, said it was a model that had solved many issues in the financial sector but failed to protect consumers.

“The Australian model is of great international interest, but perhaps of more international interest is why has such a good model failed so spectacularly in terms of regulating conduct in the financial industry?” he said.

“How do we know it’s failed so spectacularly? Well, because that’s the evidence [that] came out of the royal commission.”

“The reasons why it has failed are independent of the model itself… [and] would have caused the same failures had we used any other models for the regulation of the financial industry.”

A smiling man in an expensive-looking suit, glasses, stands in front of a book case with leather-bound books.
Dr Schmulow says the culture at banks has not changed since the royal commission.(Supplied)

Dr Schmulow cited the broad remit of ASIC, the size, complexity, and in some cases, contradictory nature of the Corporations Act 2001 and timidity in the regulators as reasons the system was still failing after the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.

Instead, he advocated for a “principles-based, outcome-determined” regime that would allow a customer to argue their case on the basis of fairness.

“In Suncorp’s case and their loans to Mr Feierabend, it would have been up to Suncorp to prove they had not acted unfairly,” he said.

“From what it sounds like, Suncorp has acted in a manner which is just unconscionable.

“Hopefully, under a principles-based regime, they wouldn’t get away with it.”

‘Bait and switch’ code duping consumers

In a statement, Suncorp Bank’s spokesman said the bank “ensures we work within all legislative requirements and best practice, including the Banking Code of Practice.”

But Dr Schmulow said the voluntary code was a smokescreen, and as more people found themselves in financial distress, it would be shown to be ineffective at changing the behavior of institutions towards their customers.

“I would actually say that the banking code of practice and its enforcement provisions are something akin to a bait and switch trick,” he said.

“It’s a deception that is put before the consumer to make the consumer think that they have rights of recourse.

“I can give you an assurance there will be more scandals because the culture in our big banks has not changed.”

A spokesman for the Australian Banking Association (ABA), which established the code, said it was enforceable through the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) and contract law.

“It clearly sets out the obligations of banks to ensure fair dealings with customers who have a dispute, including obligations by banks to comply with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) guidelines in resolving complaints,” he said.

Farmer fighting ‘to the death’

Mr Feierabend has appealed to ASIC, AFCA, APRA, the ABA, the Australian Consumer Complaints Commission (ACCC) and numerous senators about his treatment from the bank.

AFCA said it could not investigate his claims due to time limits on when they could consider a complaint, while the other agencies determined his complaint to be outside their jurisdiction and referred him back to ASIC.

In a statement, a spokesman for ASIC said reports of misconduct were received in confidence, and so it would not comment on Mr Feierabend’s case or confirm if it was investigating.

Close up of documents on a table with a blurred figure in the background.
Mr Feierabend has appealed to the regulators in his dispute with Suncorp Bank.(Rural ABC: David Barnott-Clement)

But Dr Schmulow said the broad scope of ASIC, coupled with a culture that did not aggressively pursue misconduct, meant individuals rarely had a chance to have their complaints investigated.

Mr Feierabend said despite all the setbacks, he had no regrets, and his legal team was continuing to investigate the mediation process.

“This is a matter of right and wrong, and for me, it’s a fight to death now,” he said.

“I still believe right to the bottom of my heart that we will come out of this with the truth.

“I know I’m not the only one in this position. I would do it again. I couldn’t do it any differently.”

As part of the response to the royal commission, the Australian Law Reform Commission is currently reviewing the laws that govern the sector, with a view to simplifying them.

An interim report tabled in parliament in February 2022 identified legislative complexity, overly prescriptive legislation, difficulty with definitions and obscured goals as key problems.

The final report is due in November 2023.

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Categories
Australia

Seven men face court after police seize almost $40 million of cannabis from rural Queensland property

Seven men face court after police seize almost $40 million of cannabis from rural Queensland property

Police have shut down a large drug operation in southern Queensland, seizing what they allege is almost $40 million worth of cannabis.

Queensland Police arrested seven men, aged between 35 and 46 after raiding a rural property at Boondooma, about 330 kilometers north-west of Brisbane.

Police said when they arrived at the former cattle station around 6am on August 5, they found several large greenhouses, measuring about 130 meters by 60 meters.

Officers allegedly seized more than 15,000 cannabis plants and 50 kilograms of dried cannabis, as well as generators and hydroponic equipment.

Police said the cannabis seized had a street value of about $39.9 million.

The seven men have been charged with producing and possessing a dangerous drug.

An aerial shot of crops burning on barren ground
$39.9 million worth of cannabis was found and destroyed by police.(Supplied: Queensland Police Service)

Ninh Van Nguyen, 43, Minh Van Troung, 41, Van Tuan Dang, 46, The Dung Le, 42, Van Tuan Ngo, 40, Tony Anh Cao, 36, and Hieu Huu Nguyen, 35, appeared in the Murgon Magistrates Court on Saturday.

They were remanded in custody with the case adjourned for mention in the same court on August 16.

The raid was the result of an arrest in July, when 200 kilograms of cannabis was allegedly seized from a car that was stopped on the Warrego Highway at Helidon.

It is alleged the cannabis had come from the property at Boondooma.

Police have destroyed the cannabis plants seized and dismantled the hydroponic equipment found at the site.

Investigations are continuing.

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Categories
Australia

Adelaide couple turns property into Joanna Life Skills Centre, refuge for vulnerable people

A man and woman lean against a wooden fence post smiling.

Carol Coleman had been dreaming for years when she stumbled on the rundown church campsite that is now the Joanna Life Skills Centre.

Her husband Rob was passing through the small farming area in South Australia’s Coonawarra region for work when he spotted it.

Once Carol saw it, their Adelaide life as they knew it changed forever.

“I was hysterical. All I could see was people in a safe place, warm in bed and with food in their mouths. And that was just so important to me,” Ms Coleman said.

“It wasn’t a choice. It was like this has been shown to us. We have to do it. We just have to do it.”

When they bought the site in 2017, its 12 buildings, with 42 bedrooms, had been vacant for two years and were in need of desperate repair.

It didn’t matter.

“When you’re working in mental health and you see the terrible situations that people are in, you look at a place like this and think ‘this place can make a big difference’,” Ms Coleman said.

Trees and grass surround a white building.
There are 12 buildings on the property including a recreation room, commercial kitchen, and seven housing blocks.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)

“So we packed up and we’re here.”

Over the years, they’ve chipped away at renovations, getting the place up to a good living standard for the people with disabilities and mental health needs that come to stay.

The NDIS registered service looks after 15 people at any one time. Most visit for two weeks to “catch their breath”, while others have stayed 12 months.

While there, visitors help clean and look after the animals. They have the opportunity to learn life skills like cooking and changing a tire.

“The whole idea is that they can look after themselves at the end of it all,” Mr Coleman said.

“While they’re vulnerable, they can be here. And when they’re a little more settled, they can go elsewhere and enjoy their life.”

Two chairs with rugs on them sit by a window, a table with cosmetics and nail polish between them.
Carol has created a pamper room for visitors to relax in.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)

Vision for the site

Carol Coleman isn’t afraid of vulnerable people. Before studying as a nurse, her mother’s trade de ella, she worked as a cleaner at Glenside Psychiatric Hospital in Adelaide.

“Back in the 80s, people were looked after really well,” Ms Coleman said.

“It was once people started to be moved out into the community that people really started to struggle.”

While some residents who went into homes received lifetime support, Ms Coleman said others didn’t.

A few guitars and drums sit on a carpeted floor next to a piano.
There’s lots to keep people busy at the center.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)

“I remember one particular lady was placed in a house across the road from me. She only used the lounge room and the toilet because she was too scared to go into the other rooms,” Ms Coleman said.

“She was a paranoid schizophrenic.

“She ended up walking out in front of cars because she was so distressed.”

Ms Coleman doesn’t know where she ended up.

“It’s people like that you just want to wrap your arms around and go, ‘you can be safe here. You don’t have to be frightened anymore’,” Ms Coleman said.

“There are thousands of people in situations that it’s just cruel to them.

“It’s not something to look down on, it’s something to open people’s eyes and go, ‘How can we help?'”

A worn basketball court surrounded by lawn and gum trees.
The basketball court at Joanna Life Skills Centre.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)

While the center may be Carol’s vision, Rob is just as involved.

His experience managing waste transfer systems for 45 years has been put to good use.

“I find managing people in local government is pretty much the same in managing people here,” Mr Coleman said.

“Everyone has problems. It’s about transferring those skills of dealing with people over to dealing with people on a day-by-day basis.”

Learning life skills

Molly is using the center to catch her breath after a tough divorce.

During her month there, she has enjoyed coloring in, playing puzzles, going to the recreation room, and feeding Rosie the lamb.

“I like it here. It’s much calmer,” Molly said.

“Being in Mount Gambier was so stressful, I was so stressed all the time. I just couldn’t cope. But being here, I love it.”

A woman in jeans and a hoodie sits on some grass patting a lamb.
Getting to know lamb Rosie has been one of the highlights of Molly’s stay.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)

Lately, she’s been busy preparing for her first prom later this month. The Colemans are taking her from her.

“They encourage me not to give up on things. If I say I don’t want to, they say, ‘come on. You can do it’,” Molly said.

“They’re really sweet and kind and caring for me.”

Required to help look after the grounds, Molly has taken to her new responsibilities well.

“It’s all part of normal life. If they’re going to leave here and go and find their own place to live, they’ve got to be able to look after what they’ve got,” Mr Coleman said.

A woman wearing jeans and a hooded jumper holds a rake smiling.
Molly making herself useful.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)

Five years in the making

The work on site continues. In five years, they’ve managed to renovate most of the accommodation — adapting 42 small bedrooms to fewer but larger rooms with more living spaces and wet areas.

“It’s taken us a long time. Two people can only work so fast. And then you have to have the funds to buy materials,” Ms Coleman said.

“It’s been a hard slog but it’s absolutely worth it.”

A man walks into a small weatherboard building on an overcast day.
Rob has turned an old school building on the site into a functioning gym. He just needs to clad the outside.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)

They were able to fund the project early on by accommodating local meatworkers.

“We were contacted by Regional Development when we arrived,” Ms Coleman said.

“That was like a gift from heaven because they basically gave us the opportunity to establish the place. We housed probably 140 workers over two years.”

A horse stands eats at some grass.
Various animals call the center home.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)

future hopes

The Colemans plan to keep adding facilities to the site — like a woodworking shed and community garden.

“The property’s huge. We have to use it,” Ms Coleman said.

Whilst clients can already access occupational therapist, dietitian and physiotherapist support at the center, the couple hopes for more services.

“In the future, it needs to be a one-stop-shop so that people have got all the support around them that they need,” Ms Coleman said.

“These people are humans, they’ve got a whole lot of needs. And it takes an army to fill those needs.”

A pool table and billiards table sit in a large hall with a TV and other games.
Those staying are encouraged to enjoy the recreation room.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)

Having extra staff around is also crucial for lightening the couple’s load.

They have had just one day off in five years but it’s a price they’re willing to pay.

“This is our retirement,” Ms. Coleman said.

Mr Coleman said people tended to stay in contact after they left the centre.

“Carol often gets a couple of phone calls a day from past ones that have been here. And they just check in, say hello,” he said.

“Sometimes they might not be feeling that great. And a chat for five minutes is enough to keep them on track.”

A man and woman stand on a dirt road surrounded by trees, laughing.
Rob and Carol Coleman are committed to being here for the long haul.(ABC South East S.A.: Bec Whetham)

After the implications of renovations and COVID-19, the Colemans say they’re ready to take on more visitors.

“We’ve been under the radar for some time,” Ms Coleman said.

“For a place this big with so many opportunities, people need to know that we’re here.”

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Categories
Business

Fresh food prices may be soaring, but how much of your cash is making it back to the farm?

A person shopping at Australian grocery store, with a basket full of sparkling water, fruits and vegetables.

Lettuces have crossed the $10 mark, milk prices are being bumped up by the major supermarkets and strawberries are $6 a punnet.

Nearly everywhere you look, the price of food and other farmed goods is on the rise.

You would be forgiven for thinking this must be a great time for Australian farmers, preferably while gazing out the window at gentle rain.

Not remove.

Prices on the rise

Understanding what’s driving the price of any commodity can be a mind-bending exercise at the best of times.

The current situation is broadly due to a number of issues, the first of which has to do with the nature of the Australian growing season.

Australian vegetables come from different parts of the country depending on season. At the moment the primary supplier is Queensland.

Earlier this year some of its growing regions were smashed by two floods in 11 weeks.

Flooding of field at Mulgowie School Road in Lockyer Valley showing brown flood water through a field
Queensland’s Lockyer Valley flooded earlier this year and destroyed large vegetable crops.(Supplied: Lockyer Valley Regional Council)

Belinda Frentz is a herb grower on the state’s Gold Coast and deputy chair of Australia’s peak body representing vegetable growers, AUSVEG.

She said the damage to crops caused already high prices to climb even further.

“When you get a loss of that magnitude, it’s not the price that’s significant, it’s the production loss that’s associated with that,” Ms Frentz said.

“Anything that increases in price is usually associated with a loss somewhere in the supply chain.

“When we’re processing less than half of the volumes that we usually would, obviously the demand for that product increases exponentially and there’s just not the availability of the products.”

Farmers with hidden costs

Like every industry, farming has costs. There are start-up costs, such as the price of crop seed for the year, the cost of land, or the price of buying livestock.

Then there are input costs, things like fertilizer, fuel, chemicals, water and labour.

In short, they are the products necessary to do business — similar to fixed costs for personal budgets, such as rent and electricity.

These costs fluctuate naturally, but recent world events have thrown a spanner into the works.

small white urea pellets spill form an augur into a large trailer as a woman watches from the side
Common fertilizer, urea, jumped from $750 a tonne in 2021 to $1,300 in 2022.(Rural ABC: Clint Jasper)

Fertilizer costs began to spike in mid-2021 when China announced restrictions on exports, but the war in Ukraine has driven that price even higher.

The price of fuel has also been abnormally high, particularly for diesel, which is not just used in tractors, but also fuels the trucks that haul produce from the farm to processors, wholesalers and supermarkets.

The ongoing global hangover from the pandemic has also slowed Australian imports of these commodities to a crawl.

Creating a perfect storm

While each of these costs may have been manageable on their own, together they have created a perfect storm.

Ms Frentz said the costs were eating into what little profits many producers were making.

“We all know what our costs of production are and we know that they’ve increased,” she said.

Woman kneels down amongst rows of green and red lettuce. She smiles at the camera holding loose lettuce leaves in her hands.
Belinda Frentz says flood damage to crops caused already high prices to climb further.(Supplied: Belinda Frentz)

“I think the new pricing of fresh [food] will be around the input pressure costs that we’ve got, and that we can’t do anything about.

“Like everybody at the moment under household pressures about the cost of living, growers are experiencing that across the board.

“For us to be sustainable, we have to be profitable.”

A tale of two growers

But with prices so high, how much of that money is actually making it back into the pockets of growers?

Melbourne-based wholesaler Michael Piccolo believed the situation had divided growers into two distinct groups.

“You’ll get a certain grower that doesn’t have the yield, so basically whatever they’re producing is only covering the cost of production,” Mr Piccolo said.

“Then you’ll have a grower who has a full crop and they just base their sales on what’s going on around the Australian market.

A man is standing in front of a sign that says Piccolo Fresh
Melbourne vegetable wholesaler Michael Piccolo believes the market is over inflated.(Supplied: Michael Piccolo)

“Certain markets like Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney will compete against each other, so when one sets a price, everyone else has to follow suit.”

Mr Piccolo also believes that, while input costs are a large part of current costs, it is competitive bidding from buyers that is driving up prices.

“I think it’s a contributing factor. My opinion, though, is that it’s a bit too inflated and we’re about 20-30 per cent above where we really need to be.”

When will prices come down?

The good news is that relief is on the horizon.

Mr Piccolo believes prices will fall as the season shifts away from Queensland growers and back towards those in southern Australia.

“The changeover of seasons happens around September to October, so a lot of these products that we have to purchase from Queensland start to come down during the Victorian season,” he said.

“My prediction is that we’ll start to see prices reduce more towards the mid-to-end of September, and then the Victorian growing season will kick in.

“However, I can’t see it making it’s way back down to the prices we’ve gotten used to,

“I think it will probably settle around at 10 to 20 per cent above what we are traditionally used to pay.”

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Categories
Australia

Pacific farm workers who breached visas by working for wrong employers fight to get them back

Pacific farm workers who breached visas by working for wrong employers fight to get them back

A group of Pacific workers who breached their visa conditions are fighting to get them back, although advocates say it should never have reached this point.

The 24 workers in Bundaberg “absconded” from the Pacific Australian Labor Mobility (PALM) scheme by getting jobs with a non-registered employer when working on the farm they were at dried up.

A spokesman for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) said officials had met with the employees to discuss their individual cases, but solicitor Dana Levitt said they should have helped sooner.

She said the workers were brought to Australia by an approved employer but there were issues with pay and conditions.

“These workers were faced with overheads that they couldn’t meet because they weren’t getting sufficient work,” Ms Levitt said.

“Unable to make ends meet, these workers were very open and vulnerable to inducement from other employers who were not approved employers in the scheme.

“These workers went with that non-approved employer, fell foul of the program and their visa conditions, and have been trying to navigate their way back into the PALM scheme ever since.”

Reluctance to complain creates vulnerability

The PALM scheme allows Australian businesses to hire workers from nine Pacific Island countries and Timor-Leste for seasonal work or longer engagements of up to four years, under certain circumstances.

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Categories
Australia

Foot-and-mouth disease threat prompts Victoria to form emergency animal disease task force

Beef cattle line up under a blue sky

The Victorian government will establish an Emergency Animal Disease (EAD) task force to prepare for an incursion of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), which is currently circulating through parts of Indonesia.

The task force would be co-chaired by Agriculture Victoria chief executive officer Matt Lowe and the Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp, taking advice from Victoria’s Chief Veterinarian Graeme Cooke.

The Australian government has ramped up biosecurity measures to prevent foot-and-mouth and lumpy skin disease entering the country, since it was discovered in Bali, Indonesia a month ago.

Experts fear the exotic livestock diseases could cost the economy billions if it made it into Australia.

“We want to get a focus and targeted government response to a whole range of things we need to put in place in terms of being prepared and to prevent an outbreak,” Victorian Agriculture Minister Gayle Tierney said.

“[The task force] will be looking at things like developing an EAD response plan and will also be looking at access to sufficient personal protective equipment and the supply chain issues that we have in respect to testing, tracing, destruction, disposal and vaccination.”

‘No delay’ in task force formation

Ms Tierney said there had been a “lot of work already underway” that would help mitigate any EAD threats, including coordinating with the national process for service and infrastructure continuity.

a cow, with someone holding its tongue out.
The symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease on the tongue of an Indonesian cow.(Supplied: Dok. Kementan)

“It’s clear that there is anxiety within the farming community, people are wanting to know more and we’ve been able to give very practical advice through webinars,” she said.

“This is a good time [to] have those conversations at a grassroots level that give farmers the opportunity to turn that anxiety into very positive practical measures.

“We have a very clear understanding of what the risks are and what we need to do to ramp things up to ensure our preparedness is the best it could possibly be.”

Three hundred biosecurity staff were being trained through Agriculture Victoria to prepare for an FMD outbreak in the state, learning about scenario planning and emergency exercises.

Ms Tierney said despite Indonesia having FMD present in the country for months, the taskforce was a “rapid response”.

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Categories
Business

Gippsland offshore wind projects await federal government declaration

Gippsland offshore wind projects await federal government declaration

The burgeoning offshore wind industry is waiting on a declaration from the federal government to begin key works on the water.

There are five offshore wind farms planned off the Gippsland coast, with hopes to tap into the existing transmission infrastructure of the Latrobe Valley.

Under new legislation governing offshore wind farms passed by Parliament last year, operators are only allowed to undertake particular activities in zones designated for offshore wind development.

The most progressed project, Star of the South, plans to erect up to 200 turbines in the windy Gippsland waters.

Acting chief executive Erin Coldham said making the declaration would end the uncertainty facing the industry.

“We look forward to the declaration process starting. The end result would provide certainty for offshore wind projects in the region, like ours, which are standing ready and keen to progress,” she said.

“In the meantime, we’re getting on with our environmental assessments, onshore studies and ongoing community consultation to keep things moving.”

A map of the four proposed zones for wind farms
Gippsland has four offshore wind farms in the works.(abcnews)

Country manager for company BlueFloat Energy Nick Sankey echoed the sentiment.

“We are moving forward with our project development as much as we can, but until we have a feasibility license we are not able to deploy certain monitoring equipment and undertake a lot of studies in our site area that we would like to do,” he said.

General manager of development at Wellington Shire Brent McAlister has previously told the ABC there was a significant impetus for making the declaration quickly.

“It’s critical because there is a competition in the world for investment dollars and capital in offshore wind,” he said.

“But the money will go to those countries that have regulatory and licensing regimes in place so it’s crucial to attract investment.”

Meanwhile, the Victorian government has set a target of 4 gigawatts (GW) of generation by 2035 and 9GW by 2040.

To that end, the state government has funded four companies for scoping works: $19.5 million for Star of the South, $16.1 million for Corio and $2.3 million for Flotation Energy.

ABC Gippsland has lodged five requests to discuss offshore wind with federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen since his re-election.

Renewables remain cheapest option

A recent report by Australia’s key scientific research agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), has reaffirmed that renewables remain the cheapest new-build option for energy.

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Categories
Australia

The mystery surrounding Australia’s ancient wild and endangered macadamia trees

Two men stand down hill next to a sign in front of a wild macadamia tree with rainforest behind them.

Ian McConachie is eager to find the answer to an ancient mystery — just how many hundreds of years do Australia’s wild macadamias live?

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains images and names of people who have died.

After decades of visiting a precious remnant of the threatened species’ habitat in Queensland’s Amamoor State Forest, the founder of the Macadamia Conservation Trust has already discovered that looks can be deceiving.

“So many people are familiar with the macadamia but to see it in the rainforests is just quite mind-boggling,” Mr McConachie AM said.

“It’s nothing like you would expect, they hide amongst all the other trees.”

Living time capsules

An older man in a cardigan looks down at the serrated leaves of a wild macadamia tree that doesn't even reach his chest.
Ian McConachie AM says this macadamia tree hasn’t grown in over 40 years.(Rural ABC: Jennifer Nichols)

A self-described “macadamia dinosaur”, retired food scientist, field researcher, grower and passionate historian, Mr McConachie singled out a spindly chest-high tree, as a perfect example of how even a small plant could potentially be hundreds of years old.

“It’s only got about 18 leaves. I first saw it 1979 and between 1979 and now, it has not grown at all. It’s sitting in the rainforest in dense shade, just waiting until it receives light,” he said.

The oldest European-planted macadamia tree has been growing in Brisbane’s Botanic gardens since 1858 and still bears a healthy crop of nuts.

Craig Hardner dwarfed by the oldest known cultivated macadamia tree.
Craig Hardner says this is the oldest-known European-cultivated macadamia tree in the world.(Supplied: UQ)

“One of the initiatives we’re taking is we’re starting to do radiocarbon dating of trees in the rainforest so we can see just what their longevity is and how old they might be,” Mr McConachie said.

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