Author: admin

$33 million Agtech program expanded to support more farmers across NSW

The Minns Government is helping farmers across NSW boost productivity, improve on-farm technology and connectivity by expanding its innovative $33 million Farms of the Future Agtech program to 2028.

The Farms of the Future Program is designed to drive the uptake of state-of-the-art agriculture technology which is estimated to boost on-farm productivity by up to 25%, equating to a $3 billion increase in GVP per year.

Agtech includes new technologies and innovations that have the potential to improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of agriculture.

It includes sensors and devices that enable real time monitoring of on-ground conditions such as weather, soil moisture and water supplies as well as devices, hardware and software that enable automation and robotics. 

The expanded Farms of the Future program, which previously targeted 11 LGAS, will now be open to all NSW farmers and will be more sharply focused on accelerating the adoption of Agtech and education around it.

The program will also focus on addressing key barriers faced by farmers in the take up of Agtech such as on-farm connectivity, digital capability, unclear benefits and poor user experience. 

Changes to the program include a broader education offering, ensuring farmers feel equipped with the knowledge and expertise they need to get the most out of Agtech on their property.

Changes to the program, which has now been extended to 2028, include:

  • Industry specific training courses which cover fundamentals right through to aspects of new technology.
  • Demonstration Hubs, located in 10 DPIRD research stations across the state, will allow farmers to witness firsthand how devices operate in real farm settings, observe the data collected, understand how farms use this data.
  • Agtech Alley which is a designated space for Agtech suppliers at major field days to connect directly with farmers.
  • Agtech Toolbox which is an extensive resource offering articles, case studies and how-to-videos.

Further information on The Farms of the Future Program is available here.

Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty said:

“The changes to our Farms for the Future program are about helping more farmers understand and reap the enormous benefits of Agtech including increased productivity, better farm management and greater connectivity.

“Agtech provides more reliable and current information, helping farmers make better and quicker decisions that supports both productivity and sustainability.

“This transition to a broader state-wide program, will help farmers really embrace Agtech solutions and ensure they are supported every step of the way.

Case Study

Michael and Helen Payten: ‘Alfalfa’ outside Canowindra, Central Western NSW

Michael and Helen Payten run a mixed enterprise farm with 50% cropping and 50% pastures for sheep on their 1,180 hectare farm, ‘Alfalfa’ outside Canowindra.

They manage 3,500 breeding ewes and 100 hectares of irrigated lucerne, producing a mix of small and large bales.

Technology currently being used on Alfalfa and connectivity utilised includes spray advisory system, weather station, hay storage monitoring, fuel level monitor.

Michael Payten said:

“We have benefitted greatly from being involved in the Farms of the Future Program. There is great Agtech available, and this program gave us the confidence and momentum to adopt some new technologies.

“The spray advisory system we have installed is becoming a crucial factor in determining optimal spraying windows.

“It combines all the key data including temperature, wind, delta T, humidity & potential inversion layers and takes out the risk of poor spray outcomes, a win for both crop production and the environment.”

Helen Payten said:

“We’re very happy with the tank monitoring, complete with alerts. With four water supply tanks fed primarily by solar pumps, we were always anxious and constantly needing to check tank levels.

“With livestock needs and house water supplies dependent on the tanks, we now get early warning if there’s a sudden fall. It gives great peace of mind.”

NSW Government moves to protect horticulture industries from virus

The Minns Labor Government today issued a Control Order to protect NSW’s valuable tomato, capsicum and chilli industries by reducing the risk of the devastating tomato brown rugose virus entering the state.

NSW remains free of tomato brown rugose fruit virus, which was for the first time confirmed in Australia when it was found this August in tomato crops near Adelaide.

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus is a highly contagious plant virus which could be a serious threat to Australia’s $5.8 billion vegetable industry and the $2.8 billion plant nursery industry.

The control order restricts high risk produce from entering NSW, including tomatoes, capsicums and chillies, from infested properties in South Australia.

Restrictions apply to other properties which are linked to the infested sites.

Plans are in place to eradicate the virus, which has been found in just four greenhouses on three South Australian properties.

The greenhouses are enclosed, which supports efforts to contain the disease and apply control measures to rid Australia of this threat.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development is working with industry, international and national experts to maintain NSW’s disease-free status and safely allow continuing trade in fresh produce, seedlings and seeds.

Containment of the disease underpins these plans and extensive surveillance is ongoing in South Australia, NSW and other states and territories. 

The South Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) is responding to the confirmed detection, which was found in tomatoes.

Industry and home gardeners are urged to be on the lookout for signs of tomato brown rugose fruit virus and call the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline 1800 084 881 if suspect plants are found.

Signs of the virus include:

  • mosaic and mottled patterns, yellowing, discoloration and deformities on leaves
  • fruit with yellow patches, marbling, brown wrinkled spots or uneven ripening.

Symptoms vary between plants and laboratory diagnosis is needed to identify tomato brown rugose virus, which is similar to other viruses from the same family.

More information is available from the NSW DPIRD website.

NSW Minister for Agriculture, Tara Moriarty, said:

“Tomato brown rugose virus is a serious threat to the state’s $115 million combined tomato, capsicum and chilli industries.

“The NSW control order is in place to protect NSW from the disease and allow industry to safely trade in fresh produce, seedlings and seeds.”

“Biosecurity is a top priority for the NSW Government and if problems arise in other states, we need to take swift and urgent action to protect our industries.

“I encourage all growers to look out for signs of the virus in tomato, capsicum and chilli crops.

“There is no risk to food safety or human health from eating tomatoes with the virus.”

More than 235,000 patients avoid ED through HealthDirect

The latest Bureau of Health Information (BHI) Health Quarterly results show the NSW health system remains resilient in the face of unprecedented pressure.

There were 795,817 emergency department (ED) attendances in the April to June quarter, up 3.3 per cent from the same quarter last year and only marginally lower (1.8 per cent) than the record-breaking January to March 2024 quarter.

The NSW Government remains focused on expanding alternative care pathways outside of the hospital.

In 2023-24 more than 235,000 people who were assessed by HealthDirect received advice or referral to a health service avoiding a trip to the ED.

Despite significant pressure, many EDs have exhibited incredible resilience and even significant improvements in key performance indicators, including

  • Canterbury Hospital which saw an 18.9 per cent increase in the proportion of patients treated on time;
  • Moree Hospital which saw a 14.8 per cent increase in the proportion of patients treated on time; and
  • Liverpool Hospital which saw a 15.3 per cent improvement in the proportion of patients transferred from paramedics to ED staff.

The NSW Government’s comprehensive strategy to relieve pressure on EDs includes creating pathways to care outside of the hospital as well as improving patient flow inside the hospital, through:

  • $100 million for urgent care services and $171.4 million for three new virtual care services to divert hundreds of thousands of presentations from EDs;
  • Allowing pharmacists to provide consultations for low complexity conditions, relieving pressure on GPs; and
  • Improving patient flow within the hospital with $70 million for short stay units; $31.4 million for hospital in the home; and $53.9 million to deploy 86 patient flow officers in hospitals across the state.

The Minns Labor Government has also introduced the $189 million Bulk-Billing Support Initiative which will help stem declining bulk-billing rates, and foster greater access to GPs, and in turn, relieve pressure on our busy hospitals.

Minister for Health Ryan Park:

“We are so grateful for the hard work of our dedicated hospital staff who are confronted with record demand.

“While our EDs grapple with unprecedented pressure, I’m really encouraged by the work being undertaken in creating alternative pathways to care outside of the hospital.

“This is almost a quarter of a million people who may have otherwise ended up a long time in a busy ED.

“We are undertaking a comprehensive and world leading range of measures to relieve our busy and stretched emergency departments.”

NSW hospitals falling behind under Labor

Independent health data released today by the Bureau of Health Information (BHI) reveals that hospital emergency department performances in NSW are worsening, with over 69,000 people leaving ED before treatment began or was completed (a 13.3% increase).  

Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman said Chris Minns and Labor were letting our health system fall apart.

“We’re seeing record wait times, overcrowded emergency departments, and critical services being cut, all while Chris Minns stands by doing nothing. NSW families are paying the price for his failure to invest in health care, and it’s clear that under Labor things are only getting worse,” Mr Speakman said.

Shadow Health Minister Kellie Sloane says everyone in NSW should have access to quality health care when they need it, but under Chris Minns and Labor that has never been harder. 

“After two years of Labor’s real cuts to the health budget, people in NSW are struggling. We have a health system that is stretched and a Premier that would rather fight with striking nurses than focus on improving health outcomes for the community.”

“Every day we are seeing the true face of Labor’s health mismanagement – from people sleeping on the floor of Blacktown ED, to cruel cuts to palliative care, to life saving dialysis being rationed in west and southwestern Sydney.”

The Liberals and Nationals built or significantly upgraded more than 180 hospitals and health facilities across NSW, with a further 130 underway when we left office. Our last (2022-23) Budget saw more than triple the health capital spending and double the health recurrent spending of Labor’s last (2010-11) Budget.

Key Stats:

  • Fewer than 55% of patients are leaving emergency departments within four hours, the worst rate since Labor was last in government in 2010.
  • Over 69,000 patients are leaving emergency departments without treatment, a 13.3% increase.
  • 63.7% of all patients who attended an emergency department started their treatment on time – down 2.1 percentage points compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
  • 1 in 10 patients are waiting over 76 minutes to be transferred from an ambulance to ED staff — the longest wait ever recorded.

Lies’: Hanson urges Aussies to ignore Welcome to Country ceremonies in wake of AFL controversy

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has vowed to ‘turn her back’ on Welcome to Country ceremonies and urged “fed up” Australians to join her.

Firebrand politician Pauline Hanson has called for Australians to push back against Welcome to Country ceremonies conducted by Indigenous people.

The One Nation leader delivered a fiery statement in the Senate on Tuesday afternoon, describing the tradition as “divisive” and something “many people tell me they are just over”.

Her remarks follow ongoing controversy over a Welcome to Country performed before the GWS Giants and Brisbane Lions AFL semi-final clash on Saturday.

Brendan Kerin, a cultural educator from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, took to the field at ENGIE Stadium in Sydney and bounty declared the custom, typically conducted before major events and meetings, is “not for white people”.

“A Welcome to Country is not a ceremony we’ve invented to cater for white people,” Mr Kerin said. “It’s a ceremony we’ve been doing for 250,000 years-plus BC. And the BC stands for Before Cook.”

The remarks drew the ire of many who felt it was a departure from the norm and felt more like a lecture that some on social media labelled “a disgrace”.

Senator Hanson agreed and called for the practice to cease.

“If they (Welcome to Country ceremonies) are not to cater to white people, then why are white people constantly subjected to them?” Senator Hanson said in the Senate.

“These welcomes are based on lies that Australia is not our home. So many people tell me they are just over it.”

Body recovered following workplace incident – Hunter Valley

A police operation to recover the body of man located down a mine shaft has concluded.

About 12.45pm yesterday (Tuesday 17 September 2024), emergency services were called to Dry Creek Road, Ellalong, following reports of a workplace incident.

At the scene, police were told that a man had fallen into a decommissioned mine shaft while working.

Officers attached to Hunter Valley Police District, with the assistance of the Police Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit, NSW Ambulance, Fire and Rescue NSW and other agencies, worked to retrieve the man’s body.

About 11am today (Wednesday 18 September 2024), the body of a 59-year-old man was located in water at the base of the shaft.

NSW Resources Regulator has commenced an investigation into the man’s death.

A report will be prepared for information for the Coroner.

A police operation continues in the Hunter Valley to recover the body of man located down a mine shaft.

About 12.45pm yesterday (Tuesday 17 September 2024), emergency services were called to Dry Creek Road, Ellalong, following reports of a workplace incident.

At the scene, police were told that a man had fallen into a decommissioned mine shaft while working.

Officers attached to Hunter Valley Police District, with the assistance of the Police Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit, NSW Ambulance, Fire and Rescue NSW and other agencies, are on scene working to retrieve the man’s body.

He is yet to be formally identified, however, believed to be a man in his late 50s.

NSW Resources Regulator has commenced an investigation into the man’s death.

A report will be prepared for information for the Coroner.

Crossbench urges Labor to fully fund public schools

Labor’s proposed ‘Better and Fairer’ Schools Agreement will lock in another decade of underfunding for public schools, cementing Australia’s school system as one of the most unequal and segregated in the OECD.

The Commonwealth Government must raise its offer to fund public schools from 22.5% of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) to a minimum of 25%. Anything less will lock in another decade of under-resourcing of our public schools.

Greens spokesperson on Primary and Secondary Education, Senator Penny Allman-Payne:

“The federal government’s offer is woefully inadequate, and it will consign another generation of young people to an underfunded education.

“Public education is the fundamental building block of Australian society – if Labor can’t fund that properly, what are they doing here?

“Every school parent and carer can see that this is a deeply broken, inequitable and damaging system. 

“Every day this year, the federal Government will give $51 million to private schools, while leaving public schools underfunded. Every day. Who can look a public school parent or carer in the eye and say that’s a fair system?

“The Government must make a choice. Will it further entrench a two-tier system where public schools, which educate the vast majority of disadvantaged students, are forced to struggle by on inadequate funding? Or will it invest in our young people and properly fund our public schools?

“Let me make this clear: public schools, students and teachers cannot be left to scrape by on less than the bare minimum. Labor’s deal is not a deal for full funding.”

Independent Senator for the ACT, Senator David Pocock:

“Properly funding our public schools must be a top priority and I can’t in good conscience back legislation that will bake in underfunding for a decade to come.

“The ACT has been fortunate enough to be the only jurisdiction to hit 100 per cent of its school resourcing standard but even then we’ve got kids without enough chairs in class, teachers burning out, classes collapsing.

“Australia lags behind OECD countries in equitable access to education and the gap between public and private is widening.

“Every Australian child should have access to the best possible public education and that will take a significant funding commitment from all levels of government.”

Independent Senator for WA, Senator Fatima Payman:

“The Labor Government’s glaring failure to fully fund our public schools is not just a matter of budgetary allocation; it’s a question of values and priorities.

“By neglecting public schools, we are condemning another generation of Australian kids to an underfunded education.

“Every child, regardless of their background, their postcode, their parents income, deserves a fully funded, high-quality education.”

Senator for Tasmania, Senator Jacqui Lambie:

“On the back of the Gonski reforms in 2010, Prime Minister Julia Gillard told Australians that your postcode shouldn’t determine how well you do in life 

“But in 2024 more than half of the $29 billion government spend on schools in Australia goes to private schools! 

“Gonksi was a Labor reform – it blows me away that Education Minister Jason Clare still hasn’t fixed this. While our richest private schools are getting taxpayer money to build libraries that look like castles and sports centres with Olympic swimming pools – my old high school is still using demountables from the late 1980’s.”

Greens to move for Parliamentary Inquiry into PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Water

The Greens will move for an urgent Upper House Inquiry this week after more revelationsthat cancer-linked forever chemicals have been detected in Sydney’s drinking water catchment – this time well above Australian drinking water guidelines.

New testing has found alarming levels of PFAS concentrations downstream of Medlow Dam in the Blue Mountains at 200 times higher than the guidelines – and upstream at more than 50 times the guidelines.

In December 2023, the World Health Organisation concluded that forever chemicals are carcinogenic. There is no safe level of exposure without a risk of adverse health effects.

“The Health Minister needs to come clean about exactly what’s in Sydney’s drinking water. As recently as Budget Estimates last week, Minister Park said that Sydney’s drinking water is safe, yet now we have independent testing showing PFAS concentrations well above the drinking water guidelines,” said Greens MP and water spokesperson Cate Faehrmann.

“I wrote to the Health and Water Ministers back in June seeking urgent independent testing which they refused to do. Then last week, I was informed that as a result of recent media investigations, Sydney Water and WaterNSW have added PFAS monitoring to their testing procedures.

“It shouldn’t have to take media exposure before the government acts, yet that’s exactly what’s happening. And the public shouldn’t have to rely upon independent testing for the truth to come out about what exactly is in their drinking water and whether it’s safe.

“Members of the public are writing to me in confusion and distress. They don’t know whether they should be drinking the water coming out of their taps. Meanwhile the government says it still doesn’t know the source of the PFAS and it could take months before they do.

“It’s not good enough. The Government can’t be trusted to tell the public everything they need to know about this issue. The public deserves answers and that’s why I’ll be moving for an urgent Parliamentary Inquiry into this issue this week,” said Cate Faehrmann.

Greens call for federal probe into missing First Nations men and children in WA

The Australian Greens have today called for a federal investigation into missing First Nations men and children in Western Australia, after years of inertia by police and government.

In a letter to the Australian Federal Police Commissioner and the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Greens Senators Dorinda Cox and David Shoebridge said the WA Police Force had had enough time to act, and that it was time for a larger, federal investigation.

In recent years seven First Nations WA men – Zane Stevens, Jeremiah “Jayo” Rivers, Wylie Oscar, Clinton Lockyer, Wesley Lockyer, Brenton Shar, Jimmy Taylor – have gone missing.

The Greens say their families have been in a holding pattern ever since, and deserve better.

While the WA Police Force seems to continue operating as though its business as usual, the government has yet to formally respond to the Missing and Murdered First Nations Women and Childrens report which was tabled over a month ago.

A rally will be held in Perth today for missing First Nations people.

Australian Greens First Nations spokesperson, Senator Dorinda Cox:

“The police and the government are failing the families of these missing men.

“These are humans, people whose families are sitting in a holding pattern waiting for any news.

“Instead the police seem to be operating as though its business as usual, and the government won’t even respond to the Missing and Murdered First Nations Women and Childrens report which was tabled over a month ago.

“Families shouldn’t need to go to public meetings, rally, or fund private investigations to get answers.

“We haven’t even seen rewards being offered for information relating to these cases, yet we have for property offences in Western Australia.

“First Nations people are going missing and have been disappeared by systems at an alarming rate – we are demanding truth-telling and action.”

Australian Greens justice spokesperson, Senator David Shoebridge: 

“Families of missing people shouldn’t have to fight the justice system to get answers about what happened to their loved ones but they do.

“We know that police responses to First Nations families can retraumatise those seeking help and that substandard investigations by police mean missed opportunities to locate missing First Nations men.

“The racist justice system has failed these men and their communities for too long and a comprehensive investigation is urgently needed.”

Targeted Sanctions in Response to Human Rights Violations in Iran

On the second anniversary of the incarceration and tragic death of Mahsa Jina Amini, the Australian Government is imposing targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on an additional five Iranian individuals.

Mahsa Jina Amini’s death galvanised months of protests in Iran, which were brutally quashed by Iranian security forces.

The individuals sanctioned today include senior security and law enforcement officials who have been complicit in the violent repression of protests in Iran.

The human rights situation in Iran remains dire, particularly for women and girls. In early 2024, Iranian authorities launched a new campaign to enforce mandatory hijab laws through increased surveillance and harassment. Female human rights activists continue to be detained and handed death sentences.

Today’s listings mean the Albanese Government has now sanctioned 195 Iran-linked individuals and entities across multiple sanctions frameworks, including almost 100 individuals and entities linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

These sanctions illustrate the Government’s commitment to holding Iran to account for human rights violations and other destabilising activities.

Australia stands with Iranian women and girls in their struggle for equality and empowerment.

For further information on Australia’s sanctions settings, please visit the Sanctions regimes page on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.