Canberrans stressed amid stamp duty concession reviews
Canberrans have been receiving what they say are aggressive letters from the ACT Revenue Office after a review of their stamp duty concession. Debt support services say most people are trying to pay their debt off, where possible.
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ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
WA dairy farmers dismayed at 'stagnant' milk prices amid rising costs
West Australian dairy farmers say they are disappointed by the ongoing stagnation of farmgate milk prices as repeated dry seasons and rising costs take a toll. Processors recently published their 2025-26 supply agreements as part of transparency measures in the Dairy Industry Code of Conduct. For the third successive year, WA processors have been offered no substantive price increase. The disappointment was shared by interstate producers, where processors have offered slight increases. Dairy farmers in WA's South West have called on local milk processors to review their offers, with one major processor, Bega, already conceding to a two-cent-per-litre rise. Brunswick dairy farmer Michael Partridge said the initial price offered by Bega was not enough. "Prices haven't moved for three and a half years; last year was a really hard year for farmers in Western Australia," he said. "The Dairy Farm Performance Program, which Dairy Australia did, showed 50 per cent of dairy farmers made a loss, and there was an average 2 per cent return on investment, and the prices didn't move, which was extremely disappointing." Though 2-cents-per-litre extra from Bega was not enough, Mr Partridge said it was a start. "I was pleased to hear that Bega has announced a 2-cent price rise, but it's not enough to turn the industry around," he said. He called on other big processors to do the same. "We really need the other two processors, Brownes and Lactalis, to follow suit, and push it further," he said. WAFarmers Dairy Council president Ian Noakes, who also runs a dairy in the south west of the state, said the stagnation of pricing ignored the fact that production costs had risen substantially for dairies. Mr Noakes said his lobby group was seeking a 5-cent increase to support farmers to be profitable. He said WA's average farmgate price ranged between 60-70 cents per litre, and that pricing hadn't materially changed in the last three years. While East Coast dairies had access to overseas export markets, WA's dairy farmers were constrained to a comparatively small, local market. For that reason, Mr Noakes partially blamed the major supermarkets' low-priced home brand milk ranges for the subdued pricing offered by WA processors. Mr Noakes recently presented to an ACCC inquiry into Australia's major supermarkets, urging the regulator to recognise the damage of home brand milk ranges. The ABC contacted WA's major dairy processors for comment, of which Coles was the only one to respond. "We introduced a direct sourcing model for our own brand milk in 2019 to ensure we could provide fair, competitive and guaranteed farm gate prices to dairy farmers directly," a Coles spokesperson said in a statement. "Our multi-year agreements for our direct supply dairy farmers aim to support them in longer-term planning, and as part of the process of setting these agreements, we consider a range of factors including supply volumes, customer demand, farm production costs, and dairy market condition,s including commodity prices." Harvey Fresh's parent company, Lactalis, declined to comment, and Brownes and Bega were yet to respond.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Minimum standards for hireable e-scooters should be considered: Road safety commissioner
Western Australia should consider setting minimum standards for hireable e-scooters, and regulating — rather than outlawing — bigger, faster devices, says the state's road safety commissioner. The issue of regulating the e-rideables has been thrust into the spotlight after 51-year-old Thanh Phan was killed at the weekend after being struck by a hired e-scooter in the Perth CBD. A 25-year-old UK tourist Alicia Kemp has been charged with causing death while driving dangerously under the influence of alcohol. The City of Perth yesterday indefinitely suspended the hiring of e-scooters, a move welcomed by one of the state's top trauma surgeons. Road Safety Commissioner Adrian Warner welcomed the move too, but told the ABC he believed other local governments should look at their own data before following suit. He believes e-scooters could operate safely in the CBD with some additional technology. "Modern devices are often equipped with cameras in-built into the device which can detect whether you've got a helmet on your head, can detect if you've got two people on the device, for example," he said. Mr Warner suggested the City of Perth would be looking for those features as part of its tender for e-scooter providers, which closes later this month, after an initial two-year trial period ended earlier this year. The commissioner said he would be talking to local governments about whether the state government should set minimum standards, such as those features, for hireable e-scooters. "It may well be that creating a safer category of device that's raising the threshold helps local governments in terms of their tendering and their business licensing and gives good signals to the industry that you have to keep improving your safety standards," he said. But Mr Warner, who said he rides e-scooters himself sometimes, said a fundamental risk remained, because there was no way of an e-scooter changing its speed limit depending on whether it was on the road or a footpath. Nonetheless, he indicated he was supportive of regulating e-rideables in a way which kept people riding them, because he saw significant benefits in getting people out of cars. A review of WA's e-scooter rules released last month found a "concerning" lack of compliance and made a number of recommendations — including reviewing the penalties for e-rideable offences. It also suggested a closer look at whether larger, faster and heavier electric vehicles warranted their own category of regulation, rather than just being illegal because current rules treat all e-rideables similar to bicycles. "There is a group of people who want to ride further and faster on bigger, heavier, more powerful devices," Mr Warner said. "At what point do we look at these devices and say, look, they're not really so much like a bicycle as that we should treat them more like a motorcycle or a moped? "What kind of driver licensing requirements will apply? "They certainly need to address issues around registration and insurance, because that's another issue. "People who are impacted by a crash at the moment, particularly if there's an unlawful behaviour, really have no recourse in terms of compensation except to take someone to court, now, that's out of the realm of possibilities for most people." While Mr Warner said much of that depended on the Commonwealth looking at its import rules and vehicle safety standards, he believed there was appetite for the change. He said "most jurisdictions" he'd spoken to agreed with that position, and that it would be discussed at a road safety meeting in Melbourne in coming weeks. Police and Road Safety Minister Reece Whitby indicated on Friday he was not a fan of those e-rideables being available in Australia, especially given they are currently illegal. 'When I go see my fellow police ministers around the country, I'll be raising this issue … we need to ban the importation of very high-speed e-rideables,' he said. Since e-rideables became regulated in late-2021, the Road Safety Commission said there had been nine fatalities involving the devices – five in WA in the past year-and-a-half, with two in the past two weeks. Mr Warner acknowledged that trend was 'not good' and that compliance with the rules was an issue. In response, he called for a 'balanced' approach between education and enforcement. "I'm always surprised, with the amount of advertising we do, when we're doing targeted advertising, particularly on social media," he said. "But people aren't understanding the rules. "We've got to get that balance right, we need to keep doing a bit of enforcement, keep doing education, keep engaging with the community. "And importantly, get that golden rule out, that is, if you're on a bike, if you're on a scooter, your job, the golden rule, is to not hit a pedestrian." WA police said they would be "out in force" in Perth and Northbridge on Friday night, speaking to every e-scooter rider to either thank them for following the rules, or educating or fining those breaking them. The road safety commissioner said police were doing an "appropriate" job of enforcement, while balancing their other priorities. "Their enforcement activity has resulted in a shift in terms of the numbers of illegal devices that are being used so openly," he said.
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
From celebrity hideaway to feral goat problems: What's next for these derelict island resorts?
Derelict Queensland island resorts that were once playgrounds for the rich and famous are facing a state government takeover, amid frustrations they have been used for land banking. Premier David Crisafulli has issued his strongest warning yet to the owners of the crumbling island getaways — some of which have been left to rot, overrun by weeds and feral goats — saying it was now the time to "use it or lose it". The Queensland government's bid to reclaim what were once the crown jewels of the state's tourism industry is part of a plan to revitalise the sector and double spending on tourism to $84 billion annually by 2045. Mr Crisafulli has accused some operators of "land banking" — holding onto prime sites without investing in them, while waiting for land values to rise — and said the Department of Natural Resources had begun issuing notices to those not doing the right thing. "These are assets that belong to the people of Queensland. I'm just not comfortable that in many cases, international corporations come in, buy the rights, sit on it, and just see an appreciation in its value," Mr Crisafulli said this week. The government can cancel or reclaim leases if operators fail to meet their obligations. At the top of the government hit list is Double Island off Cairns, once a celebrity hideaway for the likes of actors Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt. It has now become an uninhabitable mess. Last year, the then-Labor state government took the unprecedented step of launching court action to strip a Hong Kong-based developer of the lease, following years of decay and public access disputes. The current government is now preparing to sell the 19-hectare island, but it will not simply go to the highest bidder — the state wants a buyer with the financial and managerial muscle to return it to its former glory. Across the Great Barrier Reef, once popular tourism destinations are now scarred by dilapidated infrastructure and environmental degradation. A 2024 parliamentary inquiry found high operational costs, cyclone damage, and a lack of lease compliance enforcement had left several island resorts in disrepair — including those on Great Keppel (Woppa), Hook, South Molle, and Lindeman islands. Brampton Island, near Mackay, was sold to United Petroleum in 2010 for $5.9 million. Today, its oceanfront pool lies unused, filled with sand. The 1980s party paradise, Great Keppel (Woppa) Island, off the central Queensland coast, is currently battling a feral goat problem. Keswick Island, just off Mackay, has faced stalled development and restricted public access for years. The island's lease has been held by Chinese-owned Oasis Forest Ltd since 2019. Resident Adrian Hayne said unreliable access had made life difficult. Mr Hayne said a failed 1990s plan for the island promised a marina, resort and housing. "We've had four separate takeovers of the island and all have been failures." Mr Hayne said he supported stronger government oversight of island leases. "Selling the islands is one thing, but making sure things get done is a whole other ball game." Island broker Hayley Manville has sold half a dozen tropical islands, including Long Island, Palm Bay, Lindeman and Daydream. Now she has begun marketing Double Island on behalf of the Queensland government and said interest was at an all-time high. "You get a mix [of potential buyers] — billionaires, high-net-worth individuals, offshore investors from Singapore and Dubai, even not-for-profits looking to turn an island into a wellness retreat or rehab centre," Ms Manville said. "Islands tend to draw in dreamers. We get a lot of inquiries, but a lot of people mix up ambition and ability. She said Australian buyers had become more active since the COVID-19 pandemic. "Australian investors have realised there's a real shortage of luxury resorts — and those are the ones that tend to thrive on these islands." Australian businessman Christopher Morris has recently spent tens of millions of dollars reviving run-down resorts in north Queensland and said island tourism was anything but simple. "It probably costs double to run a resort on an island compared to the mainland. You've got no utilities. Power, water, waste — everything — has to be generated or brought in," he said. Mr Morris bought Pelorus Island near Townsville just over a decade ago and said he had spent upwards of $25 million on refurbishments, including a solar installation and backup generators. Guests now pay $18,500 a night for the entire island. He then bought nearby Orpheus Island in 2017. A night there starts at $2,000. Mr Morris said it had taken years to see a return. "You're probably looking at three years before you make any money. It's about building the brand, getting overseas visitors, and working with travel agents," he said. Mr Morris said he linked his properties with private boats, helicopters and other tourism experiences. The billionaire said he had his eye on Double Island and had submitted an expression of interest for the site. He said the state government could do more to support credible island resort operators and pointed to insurance costs and red tape, such as complex approval processes and infrastructure challenges. As the billionaires circle, Keswick Island resident Adrian Hayne said he would like to see the islands remain open for everyone to enjoy.
