Opinion Articles

Buried Alive by the Pastoral Award

The Pastoral Award helpfully tells farmers that: “The average ordinary working hours for a farm and livestock hand will be fixed by agreement … but will not exceed an average of 38 hours per week over a 4-week period,” and then repeats the same rule in a different way: “The ordinary hours of work … will not exceed 152 hours in any consecutive period of 4 weeks.” The University Award contains its own classics, including

Trevor Whittington November 27, 2025

Opinion Articles

How the Net-Zero dream mugged agriculture

There’s a rule in politics as old as the wheatbelt: never sign anything you wouldn’t be willing to enforce yourself. Unfortunately, the Australian agricultural sector didn’t get the memo. A decade ago, farm lobby groups, industry councils, commodity groups and agribusiness roundtables lined up like schoolkids at assembly to clap along to the great net-zero revival meeting. Many signed a pledge, waved the flag, posed for the photo and strutted back to the paddock believing they’d

Trevor Whittington November 20, 2025

Media Releases

Albany Zone moves to support Nationals’ Net Zero policy

Members of Western Australia’s peak farming body has passed a motion to “endorse the Federal National Party’s decision to abandon Australia’s current net-zero by 2050 commitment.” The meeting of the Albany Zone of WAFarmers yesterday formally called for the organisation’s policy to be updated to “reflect recent political, economic, and technological developments surrounding Australia’s emissions reduction commitments.” The motion also “calls on: The WA Liberal Party and the Federal Liberal Party to review and realign

Trevor Whittington November 7, 2025