Government News

Information session: Farm Business Transition Program Round 2 

Applications are now open for Round 2 of the Farm Business Transition Program. Information and Q&A sessions are being held across WA’s Wheatbelt, Great Southern, South-West, Mid-West and Peel regions throughout March. Sheep producers are encouraged to attend to discuss and ask questions in-person on: Producer eligibility and eligible activities How to apply and what’s required Differences from WA’s Supply Chain Capacity Program Application support and resources. About the program The Farm Business Transition Program supports sheep producers to increase on-farm adoption and uptake of alternative farming systems and practices. Funding supports the development

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General News

WA Police: Act now or risk having your firearms seized

Transitional Firearm Authorities Act now or risk having your firearms seized Some firearm licence holders are subject to Transition Authorities issued under the Firearms Act 2024.   If you have been contacted by the WA Police Force, you must take the following action immediately:   If your Transitional Authority is nearing expiry Complete the requirements of your transition to a new firearm authority under the Firearms Act 2024 OR Deposit your firearm(s) with a licensed firearms

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Justice Craig Bydder
Legal

Update on Tony Maddox court case

The Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decision mid-year in the appeal brought by Toodyay farmer Tony Maddox – a case that has become a test of how Western Australia’s Aboriginal Heritage laws are applied to ordinary landholders. Last Friday the Supreme Court heard that the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage did not notify anyone that all the tributaries of the Avon River were being considered for inclusion on the government’s Register

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Opinion Articles

Train Lights, Train Wrecks, and the State That Never Learns

Only in Western Australia could we reach the year 2026 and suddenly “discover” that trains need lights. Not because someone had a brainstorm in Perth, but because enough people have been killed at level crossings over the years that regulators have finally decided visibility might matter. So now we have a draft standard — AS 7531 — and the public is invited to make submissions, as if the laws of physics are up for consultation.

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Opinion Articles

The rural reality check the medical lobby needed

One Nation has floated a proposal to tackle Australia’s chronic rural GP shortage by requiring doctors to spend time in the regions before enjoying full Medicare billing privileges in the cities. From the reaction in some quarters, you would think someone had proposed cancelling anaesthetics. Apparently, asking newly minted doctors to spend a stint in the bush now qualifies as conscription, economic coercion and constitutional catastrophe. Let’s inject a little oxygen into the room. Medicine

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Opinion Articles

Transitions without the capacity

“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design” Friedrich Hayek 25 Feb 2025: the State Minister for Agriculture announced a $3.3m to Beaufort Rivier Abattoir as part of the live export transition. 25 Feb 2025: Beaufort River puts out a press release announcing it was shutting its doors “due to ongoing livestock shortages. The decision follows continued supply constraints that have

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Tony Maddox at the Perth Supreme Court. Credit: Justin Benson-Cooper/The West Australian
News Clippings

Countryman: Toodyay landholder Tony Maddox fronts court for Aboriginal Land Heritage Act 1972 appeal

Toodyay landholder Tony Maddox fought back tears before heading into WA’s Supreme Court to appeal a criminal conviction for building a culvert on his private land on Friday. Maddox, a former real estate agent, was convicted under the Aboriginal Land Heritage Act 1972 last year after he was charged and fined $2000 for repairing an existing creek crossing on his property, without knowing part of his land had been designated a site of cultural significance.

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Opinion Articles

What does the rail lease actually require?

This is yet another instalment in my running theme: the State rail debacle. A saga of privatisation, monopoly infrastructure, and governments that appear to have misplaced both the keys and the contract. Twenty-five years after Western Australia leased out its freight rail network, one basic question still has no straight answer: what does the Brookfield/Arc lease actually require? Who is responsible for maintaining and upgrading WA’s freight rail network, and how on earth do we force the

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News Clippings

Farm Weekly: Court case to defend rights of everyone

When Tony Maddox walks into the Supreme Court tomorrow, Friday, February 20, supporters say he will be carrying more than his own defence. He will be testing how Aboriginal heritage law applies to freehold farmland across WA. The Toodyay farmer has pursued a judge-only appeal against his conviction for breaching WA’s unamended Aboriginal Heritage Act (ACHA) 1972, after undertaking works on a creek crossing at his property in 2022. Found guilty in the Magistrates Court

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