“It’s disappointing that the Government has decided to shuffle public service positions, and spend more money creating new offices within offices instead of providing real drought support,” said Member for Barwon Roy Butler. 

Mr Butler’s comments follow the sacking of Jock Laurie, the government’s drought coordinator, to make way for the new Office of Drought Response. 

“The drought coordinator’s position was set up to listen to farmers and communicate their views to government – to make sure their concerns surrounding drought had been heard.

Barwon MP Roy Butler has renewed his party’s call for an independent audit of rural and regional public hospital services and staffing.

This call follows the deeply concerning revelations in the Four Corners report Health Hazard. 

Mr Butler says the government needs to undertake an immediate independent audit of rural and regional public hospitals to determine what services are missing or lacking from hospitals; and the distribution of the health workforce across the State. 

“It’s time to make the health, welfare and safety of people across rural and regional NSW a priority,” said Mr Butler.

THE state's mining watchdog has suspended the exploration licence of Narrabri Coal, for building unauthorised tracks in the Pilliga Forest.

The long-wall mine, which forms part of Whitehaven Coal's operations, was found to be in breach of its licence following a state-wide compliance blitz in June.

More than a dozen hollow trees, which provide important habitat to native animals, were knocked down. The unauthorised paths also failed to divert around environmentally sensitive areas.

Resources Regulator head honcho Anthony Keon said the mine's actions showed a "comprehensive failure" to follow "fundamental regulatory obligations".

"The construction of the unauthorised tracks resulted in significant environmental harm," Mr Keon said.

"Exploration activities are subject to strict conditions in order to ensure appropriate environmental protections.

Citizen science group, the Leard Forest Node, has been monitoring the mine's "progressive incursion" in to the Pilliga forest for a couple of years, spokeswoman Anna Christie said.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg, the Narrabri Coal mine has been flying under the radar for several years," Ms Christie said.

She was glad to see meaningful action taken against the mine, rather than just "a fine and a tap of the wrist".

Have your say. Click this link to send a letter to the editor

The suspension will remain in place until the mine conducts a full review of its compliance systems and can satisfy the watchdog that appropriate controls have been put in place.

Five other joint-venture partners also had their exploration licence suspended. The licence holders acknowledged the offending behaviour and offered to suspend all drilling and clearing activities.

The mine will be able to continue operating, however the suspension stops it from expanding or investigating new sites.

Whitehaven CEO Paul Flynn accepted that on this occasion the company failed to properly obverse its exploration obligations

"Based on our inquiries to date, the circumstances and communication failures that led to this outcome are unacceptable," Mr Flynn said.

"Whitehaven took immediate corrective action following the Regulator's site inspection, suspending all exploration activity and commissioning an independent audit and investigation to determine necessary corrective actions.

"The company is committed to ensuring all relevant issues are identified and addressed before exploration activities at Narrabri can resume and will continue to cooperate fully with the NSW Resources Regulator to achieve this outcome."

The Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party put on the table in Parliament a drought package that would provide real support to farmers and farming communities, disappointingly the Government voted against supporting them.

The SFF drought package includes immediate cash grants, to allow creditors to be paid, cash rebates for local government rates, transitioning legacy loans to zero or low interest loans, the establishment of a re-sowing and re-stocking grant and providing financial support for employers to retain employees on farm and in local businesses.

AWU national secretary Daniel Walton late last week rounded on the government for granting the status of "critical state significant infrastructure" to a proposed $589 million LNG import project in Newcastlewhich will now enjoy a streamlined approvals process.

The Berejiklian government has already given the green light for a separate, $250 million LNG import terminal at Port Kembla, backed by mining billionaire Andrew Forrest.

The plans for the two import terminals are racing ahead as Santos's $3 billion Narrabri coal seam gas project, which could supply up to half NSW's gas requirements, remains locked in the state government's approvals process.

But Mr Stokes said the Narrabri project has "big potential impacts" on the environment, and that in any case the state is "best served by a competitive market with multiple sources".

The Liberal-National Government has denied regional communities the opportunity for transparency, voting down a motion for a Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. 

The motion introduced by the Shadow Minister for Water, Clayton Barr to Parliament last night called on the Liberal-National Government to “endorse the position of the NSW National Party Leader and Deputy Premier for a Royal Commission into the Murray Darling Basin Plan for the purpose of openness, transparency and accountability”.

The motion was defeated by three votes (47-44), with Labor and the crossbench voting for it with and The Nationals joining the Liberals to defeat it.

SANTOS'S predictions that its Narrabri Gas Project will be approved by the end of the year have been labelled a brazen attempt to pressure the government.

When Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher told Ticky Fullerton on Sky News in May the company expected approval by "year end" there were a few eyebrows raised.

Barwon MP Roy Butler told The Land: "this is not coming from the government, the company is trying to force a government decision on the back of the Adani Carmichael coal mine approval (in Queensland)."

Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party MP, Roy Butler is calling on the NSW Government to provide immediate rates relief funding to local government. 
 “Rates relief funding to local government would greatly assist in reducing the financial pressure on our rural and regional communities,” Mr Butler said.
Across western NSW towns and communities are struggling through drought and as a result families and businesses are experiencing extreme financial pressure. 

Rural Financial Counsellors are the link between drought stricken farmers and government support.

There is an alarming rate of turnover and vacancies within these financial counselling positions that would appear to be due to the under resourcing and lack of support for these crucial roles.

Currently Rural Financial Counsellors are effectively hosted by the State Government and funded by the Commonwealth Government, this arrangement has varied over the life of this important service.

Australia's key piece of environment legislation, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, is due to be reviewed this year.

Ms Ley said it provided "real opportunity to remove some of the green tape around environmental approvals" while maintaining the integrity of the laws.

"If you're an investor and you've got a proposal … it's reasonable that we accept your investment isn't just going to be parked for years, sometimes, until the issues have been worked through," she said.

"I think we just need to give proponents more assurances along the way."

Ms Ley said she did not intend to shut down court challenges to development decisions, however, "it's not being done in a timely enough manner".

Australian Conservation Foundation nature campaign manager Basha Stasak said talk about cutting green tape was "code for making it easier for the loggers to cut down our forests, the diggers to rip up endangered animal habitat and corporate irrigators to suck more water out of our rivers".

The state’s record-breaking drought continues to bite with farmers and rural communities bearing the brunt of the crisis.
 
While some regions have experienced rain during the past few months, 97 per cent of the state remains in drought, and the seasonal outlook remains bleak with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting drier than average conditions.
 
That is why the NSW Nationals in Government have today announced an Emergency Drought Relief package, bringing the total funding to more than $1.8 billion across the state, to further support farmers and regional communities.
 
I understand the effect this drought is having on our regional economy, communities and families.

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party MP, Roy Butler is calling on the NSW Government to lower the minimum harvested kangaroo carcase weight to 13kg to encourage commercial harvesting. 

Across western NSW, kangaroos are suffering unnecessarily slow cruel deaths due to the lack of water and feed available.

Despite a fall in red kangaroo population reported by the Office of Environment and Heritage, estimated numbers of grey kangaroos has increased^[1]. The high kangaroo numbers have failed to be managed by current commercial harvesting rules.

The Federal Government has announced that rural health will be one of the responsibilities for Federal Minister for Regional Services, Decentralisation and Local Government, Mark Coulton. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has been reappointed.
 
Former Rural Health Minister Bridget McKenzie is moving to agriculture, after last year having her range of responsibilities significantly broadened.
 
RACGP Vice President and RACGP Rural Chair Associate Professor Ayman Shenouda said the college is disappointed to lose a dedicated minister.
 
‘We feel it would have been more appropriate to have a rural health minister, since we have very complicated rural issues,’ he told newsGP.

Energy company Santos has come under fire, for refusing to provide the state government with key information about its Narrabri development.

The company recently submitted an application for the 95,000-hectare coal seam gas project.

But it’s reportedly refused multiple requests for information from the Environment Protection Authority, the Rural Fire Service and Narrabri Shire Council.

The company has also denied an EPA request to assess whether the site can accommodate large volumes of salt waste.

A treaty with Australia’s Indigenous people and addressing climate change were two issues of unfinished business that Bob Hawke saw for Australia, according to one of his oldest friends and most important collaborators.

Bill Kelty, a former head of the Australian union movement who knew Mr Hawke for more than 50 years, told The Age and Sydney Morning Herald on Friday that he had seen Mr Hawke just a few weeks ago.

People are being told their rents will go up under a Labor government but that is a jumped-up scare campaign.

The lowest blow of this election campaign may have come from a firm of real estate agents that abused its position of trust to scare renters about Labor’s proposed negative gearing changes.

If you are one of those renters, relax. You have nothing to fear from the changes. You might even benefit from them. The only interests the real estate firm is protecting is its own.

Hi friends, I suppose most have heard that I have stood aside for the election following public disclosure of a post I made on a Port Arthur conspiracy site on FB, 8 months ago. The Greens found it difficult to refute in this stage of the election which I understand. I really do apologise to all of you who have helped me get this far.

It appears I was targeted by a journo from The Australian using a firm who does handle searches on social media etc, not sure who they are. I really don't think the tragedies of the past need rehashing like this in public view and it must grieve families and survivors of the tragedy to see it being discussed like some political football. I also apologise to those people who are affected in this way, very much.

Barnaby Joyce is refusing to rule out an attempt to regain the leadership of the National Party, as he tries to shake off the scandal in his personal life.

The former Deputy Prime Minister has spoken exclusively to NBN News, tipping a hung parliament, after voters go to the polls next weekend.

The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is seeking public input as part of a new investigation it is conducting into the regulation of lobbying, access and influence in NSW (Operation Eclipse).

The Commission released a discussion paper today, Enhancing the democratic role of direct lobbying in NSW, which, amongst other matters, addresses principles of transparency, integrity and fairness concerning or associated with lobbying practices in NSW. The Commission engaged academics Dr Yee-Fui Ng, Senior Lecturer, Monash University Faculty of Law, and Professor Joo-Cheong Tham, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, to prepare the discussion paper, which invites respondents to address questions based around the main principles.

The discussion paper is appended to an introductory paper, The regulation of lobbying access and influence in NSW: a chance to have your say, which also explains how to make a submission. In this paper, ICAC Chief Commissioner the Hon Peter Hall QC notes that lobbying, when conducted on proper lines, can have beneficial outcomes. However, it could also be argued that “lobbying might lead to decisions by government and/or public officials in circumstances of unjustified secrecy, where processes are sometimes criticised as lacking transparency or accountability, while particular groups or the public generally are denied the opportunity of being heard.”

This is a list of all candidates for the House of Representives and the Senate to choose from when you make your vote count on 18 th May 2019  

There are 1,514 candidates in total (1,056 for the House of Representatives and 458 for the Senate

It’s supposed to be the climate change election, and the UN says the planet’s ecosystem is under existential threat. But Melissa Price is nowhere to be seen.

Hours after the release of a UN report on the dire state of the planet’s ecosystems, the environment minister, Melissa Price, posted a photo of herself on Facebook at the opening of a miniature railway in her electorate.

It wasn’t until more than 12 hours after the Facebook post that the West Australian MP issued a statement responding to the analysis by 450 scientists and diplomats that warned the decline of the natural world was accelerating, and a million species were at risk of extinction.

EXCLUSIVE: Energy Minister Angus Taylor has again attracted scrutiny over previous business interests, after failing to declare his stake in a business he co-founded. Sky News can reveal Mr Taylor failed to properly declare he was a director and 50 per cent shareholder of JRAT International Pty Ltd on the parliamentary register. The Energy Minister neglected to register his interests for two years while he was in office until September 2015, when he resigned as a director and transferred his stakes.

The site of a nightclub destroyed by fire will now house a federal agriculture agency relocated from Canberra. Here’s a look at the timeline to that decision, and what a Senate estimates committee had to say about it

One of the more mysterious stories hiding in plain sight this election is the curious link between the Armidale Club and the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority.

Two facts.

One. A nightclub in a suburban cottage at 91 Beardy Street, Armidale, burnt down in September 2016 after a fire started about 5am. The coroner Michael Holmes found the fire was deliberately lit but was unable to determine the culprit.

Productivity Commission recommended separating management and compliance functions into two organisations

The water minister, David Littleproud, says he would be open to working with the basin states to discuss breaking up the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) between an agency and a regulator, as recommended by the Productivity Commission.

The PC’s five-year review into the management of the Murray-Darling basin said the dual roles of the MDBA – as a manager of the basin plan and a regulator that enforces compliance – were often in conflict.

“Those conflicts would only worsen in the next five years,” the PC report said. “The MDBA should be split into two separate institutions – the Murray-Darling basin agency and the basin plan regulator”.

Analysis of released documents shows that the licences bought by the Commonwealth didn’t exist until the vendors estimated the volumes of the licences themselves, at the suggestion of the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources.  Due diligence was problematic. At least half of the water purchased cannot count towards water recovery targets as it was not included in the baseline diversion limits.