Latest news with #Grampians
ABC News
5 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Garden Benefits
Jane visits life-long gardener Bev Brownstein, who is still gardening every day in her 90s. Designer/Owner: Bev Brownstein Location: Ivanhoe East, Vic, on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country Climate Zone: Cool temperate Garden Established: Bev has been here 20 years. Some plants are about 80 years old. Style: Large suburban garden, about 3,000-square-metres. Key Features Bev and her late husband moved here from Victoria's Wimmera district 20 years ago and they started work on the garden straight away. She describes her garden as 'Like me: it's semi disciplined, but in its spirit, it's inclined to be a bit feral.' A huge, variegated elm dominates the back garden, where Bev spends most of her time. 'You do it bit by bit and you've got to have a love of it,' she says. She spends about two hours a day working in the garden. Another huge specimen – an enormous tree philodendron – also features: 'It's bigger than the one in the botanic gardens,' says Bev. A potager garden has all the herbs that she needs for cooking. At the back of the block under a large English oak is a shade garden with hardy ferns, cliveas, hellebores and rainforest plants. All the leaves from the deciduous trees are composted to create the 'garden gold' that fuels her garden. She learnt to garden at about 4 or 5 from her grandmother. She and her husband walked a lot in the Grampians with their six children, and that made her more aware of the 3,000 varieties of wildflowers in the area. She still loves native plants and has created a bush walk in the garden. Both her doctor and physio agree she's 'reasonably fit for her age' but recommend that she keep moving – so she does! Bev advises mixing up different garden activities and 'be kind to your body, as you would your plants'. She has been told not to lift more than 5kg but has found ways around it, by sliding bags of potting mix from the car onto a trolley, for example. Bev also reads a lot: 'Boredom is self-inflicted in a way – you've got to make and effort that you're caring for your neurons,' she says. VARIEGATED ELM Ulmus cv. TREE PHILODENDRON Philodendron bipinnatifidum PROSTRATE SWAMP SHE-OAK Casuarina glauca 'Cousin It' Melaleuca sp. STANDARD GREVILLEA Grevillea bipinnatifida cv. ENGLISH OAK Quercus robur
ABC News
09-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Mass livestock sell-off as farmers run out of feed and water amid drought
Farmers running out of feed and water for their stock are being forced to sell animals in huge numbers as drought conditions roll on in southern Australia. Some farmers have been handfeeding livestock and trucking in water for the past 18 months. But they are reaching a breaking point, where the cost and logistics are too much — so they are selling their stock. Brie Lewis farms near Cavendish, in the foothills of the Grampians, in western Victoria. She said the drought was dealing a crippling financial and mental blow. "We don't really have a choice but to buy feed, so we're just buying in feed and spending so much money," she said. "It could be anywhere from $7,000 to $10,000 or even more, every week, and we would have spent upward of $250,000 just last season alone." Ms Lewis said some people had reached breaking point. "Who knows how much longer this is going to go on for?" she said. Rainfall data shows many parts of southern Australia have received close to or even their lowest totals on record in the past 18 months. Ron Rutledge is the livestock operations manager for Nutrien in southern Australia. He said in recent weeks, there had been a huge jump in current and future breeding stock being sold off. "We're calculating an extra 30 to 35 per cent of calves are being sold at the moment. We're seeing high numbers of cows being slaughtered, and in the sheep sector, one in five ewes sold for processing have probably got a lamb inside them," he said. He said grain was getting harder to source, hay was scarce and water shortages were critical. "People have got to do their budgets with their livestock analysts and ask if it is really worth putting hay and grain down the throat of the animal," he said. Mr Rutledge said the Victorian government needed to do more to support struggling farmers, and said freight subsidies should be available for things like trucking in water and sending sheep away on agistment. Michael Purcell is a cattle producer from Acheron, in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range, north-east of Melbourne. He spoke to ABC Rural at the Wodonga saleyards, where he was selling most of his calves as part of a massive 6,000-head yarding. "We've pretty much run out of feed, so all the calves had to go so we can try and keep the cows through to the spring," he said. Mr Purcell said one positive in an otherwise grim situation was that cattle prices were holding up reasonably well — which often did not happen in drought conditions when markets were flooded with livestock. "Clearly the rain in the north has grown a lot of feed," he said. He said he was not banking on seasonal conditions improving anytime soon. "I like the line, 'If you want to make God laugh, make a plan', so there are a lot of things that can change between now and spring," he said. Mark Billing heads up the advocacy group Dairy Farmers Victoria and is a dairy farmer at Larpent, in south-west Victoria. He said while the cost of buying in fodder was enormous, water shortages were hitting even harder in the dairy sector, given the enormous water requirements of dairy cows. He said while he did not support subsidies for transporting fodder — given they had been shown to push up the price of fodder — water transport subsidies were desperately needed. "I think the best we can do is make sure the government is fully aware of what's happening and how critical the situation is," he said. The South Australian, Victorian and Tasmanian governments have all announced varying drought support schemes. In South Australia, drought support now totals $73 million, while in Victoria there is a $13.5 million package and in Tasmania, a $4.8 million scheme. In Victoria, the majority of that funding is in the form of infrastructure grants, where farmers in eligible local government areas can apply for up to $5,000 on a dollar-for-dollar basis. An Agriculture Victoria spokesperson said more than 1,569 grants had been provided to primary producers "to upgrade farm water systems, install stock containment areas, and to purchase grain and fodder storage infrastructure". The spokesperson did not say whether freight subsidies for transporting livestock and water were being considered.
SBS Australia
06-05-2025
- Business
- SBS Australia
Anthi is one of many Australians who can't afford to rebuild, insure or move house
Anthi says the cost of insurance limits the options of places she can move to. Source: Supplied Insurance is increasingly unaffordable, with many properties across Australia at risk of becoming uninsurable. Insight explores the solutions and asks, who's going to take the risk? Watch Insight episode Uninsurable on . On the surface, the small Victorian town of Pomonal seems an ideal place to move to if you're looking for a tree-change: a tight-knit local community, affordable house prices, and a backyard that opens up onto the beautiful Grampians National Park. Despite this, local resident Anthi Emmanuoil-Playne has a warning for others considering moving there. "If you don't have a lot of money, it's not worth buying in areas like this because the insurance costs too much. It's just too hard to get financing," she told Insight. Emmanuoil-Playne and her partner initially moved to the town in 2022 after getting priced out of another area. "We used up all of our life savings buying this place. This is all we could afford." They didn't have long to settle in before disaster struck. In February 2024, terrible fires devastated the Grampians and nearby towns such as Halls Gap and Pomonal. The flames tore through their 1.6-hectare property, destroying their home. Emmanuoil-Playne had insurance and was given around a $300,000 payout, but says it wasn't enough to rebuild in a way that meets Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) ratings, which means her home is resistant against future fires — and less risky for insurers. "We wanted to put in all of the systems required — the sprinklers, the double glazing … and for every BAL level you go up, it's an extra $10,000." To add to the sting, building material costs have tripled. Emmanuoil-Playne and her partner are rebuilding with fire safety in mind, knowing that the area will almost certainly experience more natural disasters and insurance costs may be out of reach. "We haven't re-engaged with this insurance company to see whether or not we can afford it. I'm a bit scared about looking," she says. "If we can't afford it, the reality is that we have to move … [but] I don't know of many other places we could actually afford to move to. Elizabeth Mackney has lived in the northern NSW city of Lismore for over two decades and was accustomed to the extreme weather of the area. But as Cyclone Alfred approached the coast in March of this year, she braced for the worst. Mackney and her son were still living in a flood-damaged home following the 2022 Lismore floods after a three-year battle with her insurer, waiting for her claim to be resolved. "I remember saying to the kids when it happened: 'We have to expect that we could be dealing with this for 12 months'," she told Insight. Mackney spent the next three years battling her insurer after they disagreed over the price of repairs. She ended up taking them to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, which ruled in her favour. "The onus is completely on you to make sure they are delivering the product that you have paid them for." In February of this year, she finally received a payout from her insurer. During that time, her children moved out of the home because of health concerns, and the strain of the situation contributed to a marriage breakdown. "Our house is still not repaired because we've only just received the payout." When it comes to the high price of insurance, Andrew Hall, CEO of the Insurance Council of Australia, which represents the country's general insurance industry, says he "understands the frustration" many people feel. But he said it's not a case of price gouging, with premiums determined by multiple factors. He says Australia's insurance sector has been through a period of losses due to costly insurance events and inflation. "The 2022 floods were the biggest insurance losses we've experienced. This last year has been the first year in which companies have returned to profit. And that's because, for the first six months of this financial year, we didn't actually have any natural disaster events." In 2024, Australia's insurance industry recorded an after-tax profit of $6.1 billion — three times higher than the previous five-year average, according to KPMG. When it comes to property insurance, Andrew explains that it's the premiums of the many that pay for the claims of the few. But the problem is, Australia doesn't have a large enough population to cover high numbers of huge insurance payouts in the event of a big disaster, so the industry has to rely heavily on reinsurers (companies that insure insurers) based overseas. "We need access to more capital to underwrite the risks we have in this country," he says. And global reinsurers are becoming increasingly wary about Australia. Leading global reinsurer Swiss Re, for example, has acknowledged the impact of rising natural disasters, which contribute to increased claims and potentially dented profits. Economist Nicki Hutley researches the costs of insurance and extreme climate events for the Climate Council. She says people across Australia will face rising premiums as insurance companies seek to spread the risk, which means more people everywhere will go without insurance or become displaced. Climate Council analysis shows 652,424 properties (4.4 per cent or one in 23) across the country are already at high risk from one or more hazards — properties for which insurance is often already unaffordable or unavailable. This number is expected to grow to 746,185 (5 per cent) by 2050 and 1.3 million (8 per cent) by 2100. "There are areas of Australia that now have so many properties that are effectively uninsurable, meaning too expensive. It's not safe for people in certain areas to stay in those places, and the insurance is telling us that," she said. Coupled with the issue of high premiums is the issue of underinsurance, with people unsure about what their property insurance actually covers. A federal inquiry into insurers' responses to 2022 flood claims across Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania found people didn't always understand the level of risk they were taking on. Professor Paula Jarzabkowski, a financial researcher and expert on insurance, says we need to increase our risk literacy. "We need clearer contracts. But we also need to take responsibility for our own risk. Now perhaps more than we used to think we had to." Hall from the insurance council agrees. "Plain English is critically important," he says. "And it's something the industry has been working on." He says insurers aim to restore and rebuild the property that was there but because of increased resilience compliance, the sum insured is often lower than what it costs to rebuild. The 2019 bushfires on the south coast of NSW were a prime example. "A lot of people had their sum insured set at about $400,000 or $500,000 because that's what they thought their property was worth. [But] when you add in the Bushfire Attack Level rating requirements, it's often double that," he said. "Think about if the worst happens in this current day, what would it actually cost to rebuild your property?" State governments take a significant proportion of property insurance premiums in the form of GST, stamp duty and emergency service levies. For this reason, Hall believes they could boost grants to help make properties more resilient. "I think governments need to look at these sorts of programs after these events to help people get back into a better home than the one that they had insured themselves for." The federal inquiry made 86 recommendations, including banning development in serious floodzones and introducing a nationwide buyback scheme, where a government agency or authority buys homes in high-risk areas with the aim of relocating residences. Denise Hutch was offered a buyback from the NSW government's Resilient Homes Program for her Lismore home after the Wilson River flooded in 2022. "It's on the floodplain and they want everybody off it," she says. When water rose to just below her ceiling, Hutch climbed out of her attic window and onto her roof, where she was rescued by SES volunteers. Like Emmanuoil-Playne, she had bought in Lismore because it was affordable, though like many in the area, couldn't afford the flood insurance, so took the risk and went without. She's grateful for the buyback offer, but says the first offer wasn't enough to buy anywhere else so she's now awaiting a second. "If that's not enough money, I don't have a lot of choices after that." Experts agree the best way to make home insurance more affordable is to reduce the risk. Hall says this can be achieved by increasing the durability of our homes and stopping building on floodplains. "We have to act now. The longer we put this off, the more it's going to cost everybody," he said. Hutley says while making a property resistant to fire or flood can help reduce risk, it can be prohibitively expensive, especially without government grants. And in some areas, we simply shouldn't be rebuilding at all, she adds — which has immense social and economic consequences. "You're basically asking communities to disband. What happens to those people, their work, their school, their communities? Where do they go when there's already a housing affordability crisis in Australia?" The most important way we can reduce risk, she says, is "mitigating against climate pollution in the first place". Jarzabkowski says to keep people insured, we need to make houses more durable and move people away from high-risk areas. "We actually need to revisit the way society wants to take risk … otherwise, we're going to have hollowed-out communities. We're going to have a few wealthy people who can look after themselves, but even they will be at threat. "And we're going to have a lot of people whose lives have broken down, their livelihoods have broken down. And I think we're already seeing the start of that." As insurance costs skyrocket, Anthi Emmanuoil-Playne worries about the future of her town as a whole. "We've had some people who have already left," she says. "I think house prices are still reasonably affordable. But it's more about everything else that goes along with it. We had friends recently tell us that to insure their place, it was going to cost them $30,000 for the year." "In the future, I don't think this town will exist." Share this with family and friends
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Fears for incredibly rare plant found in only one place in Australia
There are fears over the survival of an incredibly rare plant found in only one place in Australia. The 'precious' Grampians rice flower, otherwise known as pimelea pagophila, is a delicate and intriguing native that is only known to exist in two small populations in Victoria's Grampians National Park (Gariwerd). While the endangered plant, which is endemic to the Mt William Range, is 'naturally scarce across its known range', botanist Alastair Robinson told Yahoo News Australia local conservationists working to save the species have noticed a dramatic drop. 'Though never very plentiful, its numbers at the known sub-populations have indeed seen a marked decline in recent years,' Robinson, Manager Biodiversity Services for the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV), explained. 'For example, it used to be easily seen around the perimeter of the Mt William car park, but that is no longer the case.' It was this noticeable decline that prompted RBGV scientists and members of Friends of the Grampians Gariwerd to survey the known sites a few months ago, during which they found just 148 of the plants. Now, there are concerns the handful remaining have been totally wiped out by the horrific fires that burned more than 110,000 hectares of the reserve, located about 200km west of Melbourne, over the summer. 'The priority now is to survey in the Grampians to establish survival numbers — if any,' Robinson said. However, it's too early in the season to conduct survival surveys now, he told Yahoo. 'These will take place once the winter growing season is well under way, allowing plants time to develop,' the botanist said. 'In order to have certainty about the identity of the plants, it will be necessary to wait until the flowering period (October onwards) to provide a reliable count of surviving plants. At this point, we simply do not know if any have survived.' Luckily, prior to the destructive blaze, RBGV scientists were able to collect seed from one stand of plants. 'Seed scientists at the Victorian Conservation Seedbank are currently conducting investigations into the germinability/survivability of the collected seed,' Robinson explained. 'It appears that even healthy-looking seed exhibits low survival rates, possibly hinting at an underlying genetic cause.' While they wait for the seasons to change, the team at the seedbank will work to overcome the low survival rates to 'diversify the number of distinct individuals' in their possession, with the hope of translocating them back into the wild. 'This will ideally be supported by population genetics work to ensure that the plants we select for breeding are genetically resilient, and thus more likely to produce viable offspring capable of generating self-sustaining populations,' Robinson said. However, experts came very close to missing out on the opportunity. 🌷 Rare plant that grows in two places in the world discovered in secret location 🌳 Woman's 'incredible' 500-year-old discovery hidden behind invasive weed 🔥 Couple's 'wonderful' encounter amid devastation in national park The Victorian Conservation Seedbank, which safeguards the state's rare and threatened plants, is entirely donor-funded, so the ability to collect seeds depends entirely on grants. 'We currently have a priority list of species to collect across seven different regions based on rarity and likelihood of extinction from threatening stochastic events like bushfires — two of these regions are the northern and southern Grampians,' Robinson told Yahoo. 'A funding bid to collect extensively in these regions last year failed and several of the targets that might otherwise have been collected last season have since had their entire populations burnt out, so [the Grampians rice flower] is not the only plant for which an opportunity was missed. 'Fortunately, the 'Preventing the extinction of Victoria's threatened flora' project funding allocated funds to this species, and so it was possible to make the collection in question when we did.' The Grampians rice flower is one of 17 critically threatened Grampians endemics the Federal Government provides funding for. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
