The Victorian Government is supporting an open and orderly restart of the onshore conventional gas industry, with the Petroleum Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 passing the Legislative Council.
Production of the estimated resources could generate as much as $310 million annually for regional economies and create up to 6,400 jobs over the lifespan of these projects.
It’s likely that many readers drive through the Black Spur bends along the South Gippsland Highway between Koonwarra and Meeniyan.You may have noticed the delays and disturbance as highway re-alignment works proceed. You may not have noticed the platypus and Sacred Kingfishers that inhabit the adjoining wetlands.
The Victorian Government will continue to back farmers and protect our biosecurity with strict enforcement of on-the-spot fines for those caught trespassing onto farms in the name of animal activism.
Victoria’s population is set to double by 2050. As our population rises, so will our demand for quarry materials such as rock, gravel and sand in order to build homes, infrastructure and private sector development. It’s vital to ensure extractive resources are sourced close to where they’ll be used in construction.
The Fire Services Property Levy rate will be reduced on residential properties across the state as part of an overhaul that will make the charge simpler and more consistent – and reflect the establishment of Fire Rescue Victoria.
Newscorp has announced the closure of around 100 of its regional print newspapers. These newspapers will now become digital only papers.
Korumburra is a resilient community with so much positivity during such a difficult and challenging time.
Most Southern Gippsland tourism businesses began the summer season with a sense of real optimism. Forward bookings at accommodation places were looking particularly strong and for the year ended December 2019,
Thinking about post-Covid-19, the environment is my number one issue. I was disappointed in the federal election result, disappointed that we elected a government which refused to even utter the words ‘climate change’.
One of the state’s most endangered native animals has been brought back from the brink of extinction thanks to a conservation program backed by the Victorian Government.
The re-establishment of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot on Phillip Island is the first time in Victorian history a species declared extinct in the wild has had its decline successfully reversed.
Major Initiative by State Govt to Match Workers to Employers
The State Govt announced today a new program that will allow for unemployed people to find work with various types of employers. Employers and the unemployed sign up and are then matched to appropriate jobs. Positions will be for at least 3 months.
Our world consists of two basic parts; the ground on which we stand and what is going on in our heads. Normally (and we all like to think we’re normal enough to survive), there should be some kind of connection and congruence between these two basic parts. But oh, how easy is it for us to be picked up from the ground and wafted away on the wings of some seductive dream!
Working for an organisation that has long offered flexible work arrangements, our recent experience being forced to work from home for an extended period of time has thrown us some interesting insights why this option wasn’t more widely taken up in the past.
A group of us in and around Fish Creek have been thinking about a future based on a fair society with a sustainable environmental footprint. Around the planet the climate-change issue has driven a lot of people to do this with the tag lines of Just Transitions or Green New Deals. It seeks hope in dark times, but things have gotten even darker.
The growing signs that some of the social isolation restrictions are likely to be eased in the near future is good news for all of us.
Critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrots have been released into the wild, as part of an innovative trial funded by the Victorian Government to save the species from extinction.
With less than 50 adult Orange-bellied Parrots remaining in the wild, the four-year Mainland Release Trial aims to increase the size of the birds’ population in conjunction with increasing their survival in the wild.
With so much negativity being broadcast by some sections of the media recently, you could be forgiven for assuming that the Victorian property market had ground to a complete halt since ‘social isolation’ became such a common part of our language.
We have an update to the article in the last issue on the Victorian government’s scrapping of the temporary moratorium on onshore gas drilling.
A recent report from The Australia Institute argues that ‘analysis of the Government’s own Victorian Gas Project Progress report finds the decision is based on misleading claims that exaggerate benefits, understate costs and ignore alternatives.’
We can’t rely on the local economy just returning to normal in six months or even twelve months by itself. The Federal and State governments have done what they can; the rest is going to be up to us and, to a degree, fate. According to Ken Henry, the former head of Treasury, the economy is not in hibernation, but is on ‘Life Support’. Local business and former employees need help.
Scientific advice to governments and communities is one important thing scientists do. There are many scientific voices in the media, so it can be confusing. These voices can also often lobby politicians for vested private interests rather than for broad community benefit. That is why CSIRO is important – it is largely funded by the public for public benefit in Australia. It is regularly scrutinised in open senate estimates committee hearings to test its integrity and it is an independent statutory agency, not a government department controlled by a Minister.
The Victorian Government is working closely with the state’s agricultural sector to ensure its crucial supply chains can continue unbroken during the coronavirus pandemic.
The speed at which the corona Virus swept around the world is staggering. The effect is akin to bumper to bumper traffic driving at full speed down the freeway only to find everyone coming to a screeching halt at the front followed in quick succession by everyone in the chain behind.
From the economies point of view Corona Virus is likely to affect the way we do business far more than people realise.
