Latest news with #JoshHack
ABC News
28-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Flood-hit dairy farmers are struggling, and it may mean higher milk prices
Exhausted and sore, slowly dragging their muddy hooves through the paddock to be milked after several days stranded. This is how some cattle emerged from the NSW floods, while hundreds more were washed away. "The calves were the ones that really took a hit," Croki dairy farmer Craig Emerton said. "We lost roughly 55 under 12-months-old." NSW is known for its fresh milk production, and typically cows are milked two or three times a day — every day of the year. The industry estimates more than 137 dairy farms across the state's Mid-North Coast and Hunter region were impacted by last week's record flooding. Some farms were isolated, equipment damaged and feed depleted. If cows were not lost, many are now unwell, suffering from lameness, mastitis and discomfort after missed milkings. "If they don't start milking again at a certain time, they stop milking," Josh Hack, a farmer and agronomist in Taree, said. "For these dairy farmers to get up and get going again … They've got no feed, they can't access feed, and now there's no cash flow." Dairy farmers have been increasingly forced to leave the industry in recent years, partly due to extreme weather, such as droughts, floods, and bushfires. Already NSW farms declined from 1,725 in 2000 to 452 in 2024, according to NSW government figures. Now farmers such as Mr Emerton — a fifth-generation farmer who lost dozens of cattle — may be the next to bow out. "I'm nearly 63. To build this back to what we had last week is going to take five years," Mr Emerton said. "Do I have it in me physically to do that now? Before this, I had been thinking about retirement." The impact of the floods could ultimately drive up the cost of milk for consumers with production expected to dwindle. Eliza Redfern, analysis and insights manager at Dairy Australia, said the challenging weather conditions across the region were having an impact on milk production at varying levels. EastAUSMilk forecast the flood could cut NSW production by 5 per cent. The price of milk will be what determines if some farmers survive long-term. On June 1, the farmgate prices will be set, which is the price paid by suppliers to farmers for milk. "We're totally reliant on this milk price being released," Port Macquarie dairy farmer Emily Neilson, said. "If it's not good enough, we're going to lose farmers in droves." Ms Neilson, whose farm supplies milk to Paul's Dairy, has a confronting few months ahead. From the outside her paddock looks lush and green, but underneath it's waterlogged. With winter approaching, it was too late to re-sow. "We don't know what we're going to feed the cows for the next six months," she said. Ms Neilson may have to buy extra truckloads of hay bales for her cows and 110 heifers. "Our feed bill per month, if we have to put everything on hay, will be a minimum of $70,000 a month," Ms Neilson said. "On the current milk price, our income is around about $65,000 a month. So if the feed bill is $70,000, I can't even pay my staff." She said currently they were not even receiving 55 per cent of the retail price for milk. The Dairy Australia outlook released this week was expecting higher farmgate milk prices for the upcoming season. Whether that gets passed onto consumers depends on retailers. "The retailers set the price paid for milk and dairy at the supermarket check-out," Ms Redfern from Dairy Australia said. If consumers don't carry the cost increase, they are often borne elsewhere in the supply chain, she added. In the short-term, Taree farmer Josh Hack said getting feed to farmers was crucial. Charity organisations such as Need for Feed were doing a great job, but it would be hard to help the volume of affected farms, he said. "For some people, this is a 12-month to two-year feed gap." Before last week's weather event, there were the 2021 floods, followed by years of more unpredictable conditions. Malcolm Holmes, chair of the NSW Farming steering committee, said dairy farming was an "intense business". Each farm employs at least three or four staff with dozens more in the community, he said. But the sustainability of the industry was being questioned in the face of ongoing challenges. "There's a lot less dairy farmers than there used to be," Mr Holmes said. "Some areas will bounce back, but I think a number of farmers will really question, 'is this really worth it'?"
ABC News
28-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Can farmers endure repeated floods and drought?
Josh Hack: Early on in the piece, we were sort of a bit worried. There was some reports from private forecasters saying, you know, 600 odd mils and there wasn't many models showing that, but the Bureau of Meteorology wasn't really showing anything until we got to the weekend before, sort of two to three days before. But once we sort of got to that one or two days out, we knew that we were going to get some decent rainfalls and we were going to get floods. And the time this river stayed up is just phenomenal. Like, 2021 hit that peak and it was coming up and then going down within two to three hours. This stayed up 30 hours above the 2021 flood. And you've got animals. So if they did seek refuge, you know, trying to stand in water and trying to hit that refuge for that amount of time is pretty draining on them. Sam Hawley: When it looked like heavy rain was on its way, Taree Farmer, Josh Hack, knew he had to act and he was right to predict the worst. Like so many others, Josh is now facing the clean-up from the record-breaking floods that devastated large parts of the New South Wales Mid North Coast and Hunter regions. Today, we consider the plight of Australia's farmers like Josh, but also those further south, fighting their way through severe drought and ask the question, is Australia really still fit for farming? I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. News report: In communities right along the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, clean-up efforts are in full swing. News report: More than 700 homes and businesses have been declared uninhabitable so far, but authorities are warning that number will rise. Flood victim: It's diabolical, to be honest. There's certainly farms who have had most, if not all, their herd washed into the ocean. Flood victim: We actually never, ever thought that it would reach that magnitude, especially where we are. Flood victim: People are just traumatised, and some of them have been through it before. And to be back here again, it's just unbelievable. Josh Hack: My name's Josh Hack. We have some beef cattle in the Manning Valley, but we're also contract drone pilots and also do agronomy on farms as well for clients. Sam Hawley: Sounds like you're out and about at the moment. Josh Hack: Yeah, mate, yeah. So we're just trying to move some of our stock off Dumeric Island, which has been hit pretty hard. And I've been lucky. I've sort of only lost a handful there, but a lot of people have lost hundreds. So, yeah, the preparation for me has really paid off. But, look, you know, no-one could really prepare for a 1 in 500-year flood. Sam Hawley: Oh, gosh. OK, yeah. Just tell me what it's been like over the past week for you. What did you have to do to save your stock? Josh Hack: OK, so we're at about 200 head. We moved about 40 of them with trucks and stuff, and the rest of them we just made sure we, you know, hold those cattle down into the lower areas until sort of the day or two before and then moved them to the higher paddocks as possible because we knew that they're going to be there for a while and we need to save the feed there. However, all those paddocks have gone under as well. Now, those cattle stood in the water and we've been lucky enough not to lose too many. A few calves and bits and pieces and another 20 weaners that we lost. But those weaners were in the safest part of any of the farms. They were on a hill. And they decided to jump back into the water to go back to another island. And there's nothing we can do about that. They've just decided they wanted to do that. But there was another 40 cattle with them and they didn't do that. So... Sam Hawley: Right. Interesting. Josh Hack: It's pretty tough. But, like, across the whole floodplain, it's just a disaster. Like, the silt levels, the fences are gone. You know, we've spent two days trying to get cattle in because the fences aren't there, trying to get them through silt, trying to get them into yards. We've got to clean yards and try and work out which yards we can get into. Then we're going to try and scrape all the silt away from the yards so we can get trucks in. Yeah, so it's quite an effort just to try and get animals out to get them to a safe spot. Sam Hawley: Yeah, I bet. Yeah, I was going to say the aftermath is often so much worse, right? Because you see the extent of that damage. Josh Hack: Yeah, absolutely. Every day that water went down, two to three days after, you've just seen more and more and more damage. And, you know, the town is amazing, like, the amount of people getting around and helping each other. Sam Hawley: Yeah. Josh Hack: But they're going to need help for a long time going forward. And from the farmer's point of view, which is, you know, where I sort of... it's my industry I work in, you know, they're going to need a lot of feed. Feed's hard to get because we've had droughts down in South Australia, Victoria, so all the feed down southern parts of the country has really sort of taken up. And then if you go to Queensland, they had the floods in Western Queensland as well, which a lot of feed went out that way. So, you know, the donated stuff isn't easy to find for people like Need for Feed. So they're going to have to be purchasing it. Like I said, it's just... it's a week or two, three weeks away, four weeks away when people... you know, that hype goes away and the energy levels drop. And speaking to one dairy farmer, you know, they went through the 2021 flood and, you know, they got back up and milking and the place was a disaster, but they had their house as a refuge. And it's just such a different thing when you don't have your house anymore and it's all full of sludge and you've got to try and work out how to clean it. You don't have that refuge you can go back to and have a cup of tea and just take the five minutes you need to take. And that's the hard bit is there's so many places now under that wouldn't have been under, you know, in those other floods. Sam Hawley: Wow. Absolutely devastating. And as you mentioned, quite incredible that you have been through these devastating floods, but then you go south and there are so many farmers dealing with really severe drought. I mean, Josh, being a farmer in Australia, it is so tough. Are you going to keep going? Josh Hack: Oh, look, it is. And look, these guys, they all say they're going to keep going and it's easy to say. But without the Australian support, I can tell you now, like they've been hit from pillar to post, especially locally around here. We've had the droughts from 16 to 19, 21, we had a one in a 100 year flood. In 2023, we had the driest winter on record. OK, and then 2025, we're at a one in 500 year flood. So these guys weren't back on their feet. Some of them were just getting there. But, you know, the enormity of the tasks ahead, you know, they're trying and they're trying to punch through those jobs. But the enormity of this task ahead, they need hope. And the Australian people have got to be able to give them hope. And when I say Australian people, it means the Australian government and give people hope that they're going to get the support they need in the in the short term, not to mention the long term future. Sam Hawley: Yeah, and we need our farmers, Josh, that's for sure. Josh Hack: Yeah, no, you do. Look, and, you know, me and my family, like we started beef farming as it's our investment. You know, we sold our house and bought cattle. So, you know, it is tough, but what's tough is seeing your mates and your friends and people that are hard as rocks, that are such good people that are just really broken. And yeah, there's a lot of them. There's dairy farmers, there's beef farmers. You go up river here to Mount George and through into Gloucester. Rivers have changed course. There's river flats that are just gone. There's pastures that have been planted across the whole district in March and April that we're all ready to feed off. So they've spent the money this year. They've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars getting their pasture ready for the year, and it's all gone. And these guys need hope so that they know that they can, you know, afford to do some of these things in the short term. Jess Davis: I'm Jess Davis, and I'm a climate reporter, but I'm based out in Western Victoria. Sam Hawley: Jess, we're seeing a really terrible set of circumstances unfolding for New South Wales farmers who've been coping with this devastating flooding. But if you head further south, the farmers there are in drought. And it hasn't made huge headlines until recently. But just tell me, how bad is it? Jess Davis: It's quite stark how different the picture is in different parts of the country right now. Farmers in parts of southern Australia have been calling this the forgotten drought for the past 15 months from Ceduna, which is west of Adelaide in South Australia, all the way to Wilsons Promontory, east of Melbourne, western Tasmania. Large swathes of that southern stretch of coast have seen some of their lowest rainfall on record. And the landscape is just desperately dry. It's a normally very lush, fertile region in southwest Victoria. And if you look at the paddocks, they're just red dirt and dust. So it's really a dire picture out here. Sam Hawley: And you have been speaking to some farmers in the region, including Charlie de Fagely. He has seen four droughts in his lifetime, and he actually thinks this one is the worst. Jess Davis: That's right. Charlie and his wife Liz own a sheep farm with a flock of about 10,000 sheep near Ararat, which is two and a half hours west of Melbourne. Charlie de Fegely, sheep farmer: This is probably the toughest couple of years I've had. Because it's two years. All the others were just a failed winter, failed spring, and it broke the following autumn. This is by far the worst. Jess Davis: At the moment, he's bringing in 60 tonnes of feed every 10 days for his flock because there's just nothing left for them to graze on. Sam Hawley: And there's a lot of farmers in that area, and many of them are now having to actually sell their stock, aren't they? Jess Davis: That's right. Just last week, I went to the sale yards in Ballarat, and they told me that 20,000 cattle had been sold just out of southwest Victoria in the week. Now, most of those were going to northern New South Wales and Queensland. And in one way, it's one of the saving graces for farmers out here, is that until last week, conditions in northern New South Wales and Queensland have been really good. And so they've been able to sell their stock at pretty good prices. You know, other droughts that are more widespread, the prices for stock really plummet, and so you can't even sell them. But for this drought, farmers have been able to get relatively good prices. Now, something that's, you know, a big risk now is that because of the floods in New South Wales, we've seen those pastures ruined by too much rain rather than too little rain. And that's only going to push prices of hay and feed up. And there are farmers out here who are already telling me that that not only is it expensive to get feed, but they actually can't find a supply. So that is the two disasters coinciding is going to really exacerbate some of these problems. And there could be some very difficult decisions for farmers coming up. Sam Hawley: Such a hard time for them. So, Jess, we know drought and flooding rains are not unusual in Australia, that's for sure. But these two things occurring at the same time and obviously the severity is getting worse. So what role do scientists say climate change is playing here? Jess Davis: That's right. Australia does have a long history of droughts, but a lack of autumn and winter rainfall is something that both southwest and southeast Australia are now becoming increasingly familiar with. The weather systems that lift and carry moisture from the ocean to fall as heavy rain on land. They've been absent from southern Australia in recent months. And the majority of climate projections show this trend continuing. And it's particularly stark in southwest Western Australia, where we've seen this drying trend since the 1970s. And scientists have actually been able to attribute that to human caused climate change, largely from the burning of fossil fuels. Now, if you look at the floods, rainfall and flood predictions are a little trickier than that of heat and dry. But what we do know is that the warmer the atmosphere gets from the burning of fossil fuels, the more moisture it can hold. And ultimately, the more fuel big rain systems have to tap into. And so heavy rainfall is expected to become more intense as the climate gets warmer. The projections are a little bit trickier in rural areas and large river basins where floods are driven by multi-day rainfall events, like we saw last week and by the preceding soil moisture conditions. But there is evidence that the flood peaks for rarer flood events like this one have increased across many parts of the world. Sam Hawley: OK, well, it does seem like it's becoming a lot tougher for farmers in Australia. When things are good, they can be really good. But when they're bad, my gosh. So I guess, Jess, the question is, can farmers in Australia actually adapt to what the climate is doing to survive, to be able to farm in this country? Jess Davis: They can and they already are. And Charlie de Fagely, he told me that every drought they've learnt to do something differently. So that includes what they feed their sheep, what they grow in their paddocks and importantly, how they manage water. So he spent a lot of money so that every paddock has water piped and there are troughs. Through the floods there have been similar stories, including one farmer who built a ramp for his cows after the 2021 floods so that they would have higher ground to escape to. That saved his dairy herd this time around. But sadly, not all farmers will survive these kinds of conditions. They have to really implement modern farming practices and technologies and have the money and resources to be able to do that. Sam Hawley: Jess Davis is a reporter with the ABC's Climate team. Josh Hack is a farmer from Taree. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead and Adair Sheppard. Audio production by Sam Dunn. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. Thanks for listening.
ABC News
26-05-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
ADF sent to NSW flood zones
Andy Park: Hello, welcome to The World Today. It's Monday the 26th of May. I'm Andy Park coming to you from Gadigal Land in Sydney. Today, send in the army. How much longer can the ADF be relied upon for ever increasing natural disasters? And one state banned posters of grinning federal election candidates all over the neighbourhood. Could it be a sign of things to come? Voter: Rather than being really in your face, it was a bit more laid back, I'd kind of say. And, you know, I do think they're kind of a bygone thing and it's nice not to have to waste as well. Kyam Maher: The majority of feedback that I get and I think most members of parliament get is a welcome relief that we don't see the corflutes. Andy Park: The Prime Minister has announced further flood support for the mid north coast of NSW, including deploying defence personnel to help with the clean up. Over the next few days, getting food and water into communities cut off by floods will be a major priority. But the Weather Bureau is also warning that more wet weather could hamper the clean up effort. Bridget Fitzgerald reports. Bridget Fitzgerald: For the second time in four years, Josh Hack has watched his friends and neighbours do their best to manage a devastating flood. Josh Hack: They'll say they're OK, but they're all broken and they need their help. Bridget Fitzgerald: The Taree farmer and agronomist says the scale of the flood caught many by surprise. Josh Hack: We're all planning for the flood. We're all planning for, you know, the worst case scenario, 2021, you know, one in 100 year flood, surely we're not going to get two in four years. So, you know, we planned for that. You know, there's farmers that have done things with infrastructure and stuff since then to try and help plan for that. But unfortunately, this was unplannable. Bridget Fitzgerald: He's counting his losses, but says he's been lucky. Josh Hack: It's pretty tough for everybody. And I've been very lucky. Like, I get most of my animals. Yes, I've lost some, you know, and some of the ones that I lost are the ones that were probably in the best spot, but they, for whatever reason, decided to go for a swim, to try to go to a different spot. Bridget Fitzgerald: In Kempsey, 300 kilometres north of Sydney, restocking critical supplies has been a slow process. Greg Steele: We just can't get food into them. Bridget Fitzgerald: Greg Steele is the Kempsey SES unit commander. Greg Steele: Normally, the resupply wouldn't be quite so difficult. However, we've had a power failure in the CBD, which has obviously spoiled a lot of the a lot of the foods that require refrigeration. Bridget Fitzgerald: He says work's being done to make sure shops can safely store the supplies. Supermarkets in flood hit towns like Kempsey and Wingham were shut over the weekend, with road closures causing supply delays. Janelle Saffin is the New South Wales recovery minister and minister for the North Coast. Janelle Saffin: About 12,000 people still remain isolated. So whilst we're going into recovery, there's still a response happening with the SES. There were flood rescues over the last 24 hours. There were 11, 532 calls. So we've got the two things happening at once. Bridget Fitzgerald: And flood affected communities are set for another wet night. Senior meteorologist Dean Narramore from the Weather Bureau says the rain is more likely to be a frustration rather than a threat. Dean Narramore: We're only expecting that 10 to 20 millimetres, maybe isolated, 30 to 40 millimetres at most. It's going to move through very quickly, not the hundreds of millimetres that we have seen. Bridget Fitzgerald: He says strong and gusty winds could cause some property damage and hamper the clean up. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says 70 Defence Force personnel will be deployed to the New South Wales Mid North Coast region. Anthony Albanese: They will be involved in clean up, in debris removal, in welfare checks and re-establishing critical infrastructure that is so important for these communities. Bridget Fitzgerald: Anthony Albanese says people in Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Mid Coast and Dungog are eligible for the disaster recovery allowance, which can provide up to 13 weeks of income support. So far, more than 500 properties have been declared uninhabitable. But there are fears thousands more have been seriously damaged or destroyed. Andy Park: That report from Bridget Fitzgerald and Alison Xiao. The commitment of ADF personnel to the Mid North Coast flood zone doesn't come without risk. Take the 32 soldiers hospitalised after truck rollovers in their deployment to flood affected Lismore in March. The uncomfortable truth is that Australia's renowned voluntary emergency workforce is shrinking, forcing a growing and controversial burden on the Defence Force to respond to ever increasing natural disasters. But is there a third option? Milad Hagani is an associate professor and principal fellow in urban risk and resilience at the University of Melbourne. He joined me earlier. Milad, the SES is stretched and has increasingly come under criticism. How rapidly is Australia's volunteer base to respond to natural disasters and emergencies dwindling? Milad Hagani: The volunteer workforce across the country is dwindling, basically. And interestingly and coincidentally, last week was the National Volunteer Week in Australia. There are many reasons that have been speculated and documented in relation to this. One is the fact that the current volunteer workforce is ageing and going out of the workforce and they are not being replaced by younger generations. And it is apparent that, for example, the role of volunteering, the issue of volunteering has not been necessarily communicated with the younger generation as a core Australian value. They may not even be aware that their role in emergency services is needed. So that's something that could be done to bridge the gap and send a message across to the younger generations that they can come and replace and have an experience with emergency services, basically. Andy Park: What are the problems with calling in the army? I mean, some might say we are taxpayers, we pay for them to be ready and that perhaps domestic deployments can act as a sort of training exercise. Milad Hagani: There are both sides of arguments and they are both valid. And we have seen even some defence personnel sometimes after some of my publications, they contacted me and they said they are willing, they are willing to help in these kind of situations. And if you talk to the local residents, they have mixed views on this. Sometimes they really feel supported by the presence of ADF personnel helping them. However, we need to note that ADF personnel are not necessarily trained for this. It's a resourceful organisation. It's got the required equipment and the personnel. However, it's not necessarily trained for these kind of situations. So it's a mixed view. Some people do see that they are necessary for these kind of large scale emergencies. And some people think that distracts from their core mission, that is defence and getting prepared for military missions. Andy Park: Supposed to be fair, Disaster Relief Australia will be committing more volunteers than the ADF personnel in this current floods clean up. I mean, the PM paid tribute to the organisation, which is largely staffed by veterans, DRA. He also stopped short of committing to longer term funding today. So is that the new model that will help quieten critics of ADF deployments to tackle domestic natural disasters? Milad Hagani: I believe it could be. I believe it could be. As you mentioned, the organisation is run by veterans and is growing in terms of numbers. However, at the moment, with the number of volunteers that they have, they cannot necessarily compare in the scale with the workforce of other emergency, more established emergency services such as SES. But however much help they can provide in these kind of emergencies, that is a seal of use and a kind of a guarantee. I think that there are good reasons to invest more in DRA and I think that could be a model for the future. Andy Park: Milad Hagani, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow in Urban Risk and Resilience at the University of Melbourne. Thank you for your time. My pleasure. On ABC Radio across Australia, streaming online and on the ABC Listen app, this is The World Today. Thanks for your company. Australia's first ban on machetes is set to begin after a brazen and violent daylight gang brawl in a Melbourne shopping centre at the weekend. The Victorian Premier's ban comes after a series of high profile and tragic knife crimes both here and overseas. One victim is campaigning for a complete ban on pointed kitchen knives in the UK. The tip and not the edge of the knife being the most harmful source of her own critical injuries. Kimberley Price filed this report. Kimberley Price: Crowds of shoppers flee a Melbourne shopping centre on Sunday as a violent brawl unfolds. A man wielding a machete is seen on CCTV lunging towards two people before a shopper called Anthony stepped in to make a citizen's arrest. Anthony: I saw one of the guys with the machetes just kind of bring it out from his waistband, sort of remove the sheath and then have it in the air and start swinging at it. One of the guys ran towards us into the shopping centre and that's the guy that I tripped over. Kimberley Price: Two teenagers were arrested at the shopping centre and charged with a fray, intentionally causing injury and possession and use of a controlled weapon, while a 20 year old was seriously injured. It wasn't the only knife related incident in Melbourne over the weekend. On Saturday, Victoria police shot dead a woman after she drove at officers while they were arresting a man allegedly armed with a machete. Today, Premier Jacinta Allan declared Victoria will fast track Australia's first machete ban. Jacinta Allan: We must never let the places where we gather, the places where families come together to meet, to shop, to enjoy the peace of their weekend become the places we fear. Kimberley Price: It will be illegal to sell machetes in Victoria from midday Wednesday. The government says the move is an attempt to dry up the market before a ban on possessing the weapons comes into effect in September. Jacinta Allan: This comes also off the work that is being done to provide Victoria police with expanded knife search powers, which has seen a record number of these dangerous weapons being seized and taken off the streets. Kimberley Price: The Australian Bureau of Statistics says knives were the most common weapon used in homicides between 2010 and 2023. Recent high profile incidents like Sydney's Bondi Junction shopping centre stabbing where seven people were killed underline the danger. As authorities hold inquiries into these deadly incidents, overseas, Leanne Lucas, who survived the Southport stabbing in England last year where three children were killed at a dance studio, wants to see an end to the sale of pointed kitchen knives. Leanne Lucas: I feel like I've just had my eyes opened to the dangers of how domestic tools can be weaponised and the fact that they're so readily available. A safer option is to go for a curved or a blunt tip knife that reduces that risk of the kitchen knife being used ever as aa weapon. Kimberley Price: Dr Vincent Hurley is a criminologist at Macquarie University and former New South Wales police officer. He welcomes the Victorian government's ban, but argues it doesn't go far enough. Vincent Hurley: If you go back and look at graffiti about two decades ago, state governments decided to put spray cans behind grills in hardware stores to stop graffiti. If governments were serious about knife crime, then they would put behind grills, machetes, axes, tomahawks and all these sharp implements. They would do what they did with the gun buyback scheme 20, 30 years ago after Port Arthur, where they would pay people to hand in axes, machetes, zombie knives and things like this. Together, those two things would be an excellent suggestion to try and reduce knife crime. It would have to make a difference. Kimberley Price: Dr Hurley believes Leanne Lucas's campaign could prevent some crime, but it wouldn't stop people from accessing other bladed instruments. Vincent Hurley: Knife crimes account for most deaths in Australia against violence against women and machete attacks like this. It is the idea that they are so easily accessible that they are a weapon of convenience. Anyone can purchase them. Kimberley Price: Victoria Police continue to investigate Sunday's shopping centre incident, while the state inquest into the Bondi Junction stabbing attack remains ongoing. Andy Park: Kimberley Price there. Household power bills are set to rise about to 9 per cent from July for some, following a pricing decision by the Australian Energy Regulator. For more on this, business correspondent David Taylor joined me earlier. David, what is the default market offer and how will it change from July 1? David Taylor: Well, Andy, I'll hit you with some jargon first up. The Energy Regulator has released its final determination for the default market offer for electricity prices for next financial year. So the default market offer is a price for electricity for customers on standing offers. So not negotiated contracts with their providers. Most households and businesses, Andy, are on standing offers. It's basically what you get when you call up or sign up for a deal. From July 2025, residential customers on standing offer plans will experience increases of half a per cent to 3.7 per cent in southeast Queensland, 2.3 per cent to 3.2 per cent in South Australia and 8.3 per cent to 9.7 per cent in New South Wales. And Andy, small business customers on standing offer plans will experience increases of 0.8 of 1 per cent to 8.5 per cent. And there's a big range there because, Andy, it depends on the region that you're in. Andy Park: So why is this safety net energy price for households and businesses increasing? David Taylor: Well, simply because the cost of making or producing the energy has gone up, especially in New South Wales. Now, Clare Savage is the chair of the regulator that's made this decision. It determines prices for New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. She says it was a difficult decision to make and many factors determine an energy bill, including the cost of making power. Clare Savage: Retailers, the people who sell it to you, they buy forward contracts in there against sort of spot prices in the market. And those forward contracts have been higher. And some of that's to do with less reliable coal plant that's been running in New South Wales. So it can fall over sometimes and drive big price spikes. 9.7 per cent, yes, is the worst case scenario. But what we want to see customers doing is out there looking for the best deal. Some of the cheapest plans in the market can be between 18 and 27 per cent below the default market offer. So shopping around is a great strategy. David Taylor: Clare Savage there. And one thing that Clare Savage hasn't mentioned is, of course, the cost of finance for these energy companies to produce the energy, because they obviously have to finance the way they do business. Rising long term interest rates, therefore, are also a big part of this story. Tim Buckley is a director of Clean Energy Finance. Tim Buckley: It's complex. Energy is complex. There are four key components, network costs, wholesale prices, retail costs. All of those have gone up significantly across the board. Interest rates are up. So network costs are up. Unfortunately, the network exists for 50, 60, 70 years. The grid transmission poles and wires, they're there for 50, 60, 70 years. So we're exposed to long term interest rates. And there's also a slow delay in getting that through. So interest rates were in a 60 year down cycle until three years ago. They've been going up. This, unfortunately, is the inevitable delayed work through of long term interest rates going up. Andy Park: Clean Energy Finance Director Tim Buckley and David, when hearing prices are rising, many might be concerned it's bad news for inflation. Could that be the case? David Taylor: It could be. But we have found, Andy, that energy prices are very political. And in terms of headline inflation, the Treasurer and Treasurers across state and capital territories have decided to offer rebates. So we'll have to wait for political decisions on the back of this independent regulatory decision. But so far, history shows that big price changes like this don't impact long term inflation. Andy Park: David Taylor. If there's a young person in your life with ADHD, you'll know that diagnosis can take years and cost thousands of dollars in specialist bills. And it's not just young people either. Now, New South Wales is to allow GPs to diagnose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder without a referral. Angus Randall reports. Angus Randall: When mother of seven Neridah Armstrong sought treatment for her son Andrew, who has ADHD, she faced lengthy wait times to see a specialist. Neridah Armstrong : You have to get a referral from your GP. You have to send it off to a practice. They decide whether or not they want to see you. If they don't, you're back to your GP and you continue that cycle until you find somebody that's actually willing to take you on. Angus Randall: She eventually found treatment for her son, but says others haven't been so lucky. Neridah Armstrong : He knows a lot of people that have actually stopped treatment, don't take their medication. Angus Randall: The New South Wales government has announced GPs will soon be able to diagnose ADHD and prescribe some medication once they've completed special training. The government's funded 1000 training spots, meaning one in 15 GPs across the state could gain this accreditation. Ryan Park is the state's health minister. Ryan Park: When people are waiting up to two years to get a diagnosis and then ongoing treatment, it's my responsibility and the mental health minister's responsibility to make sure that we're looking at ways to reform that system. Angus Randall: The move is backed by the Royal Australian College of GPs. Dr Rebekah Hoffman is chair of the New South Wales and ACT division. Rebekah Hoffman: They won't have to go back to the paediatrician or the psychiatrist for their routine medication on an ongoing basis. The GPs that will want to do this training are the ones that already work in this space. Angus Randall: It's a condition that the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says affects around 7% of children. There's no test for ADHD. It's up to the doctor to make their diagnosis based on an assessment of the patient and information from the family. Dr Rebekah Hoffman insists GPs will have the time and training to make the right decision. Rebekah Hoffman: It is a really difficult diagnosis to make and it's not one which GPs will be making haphazardly. It's something that I completely agree isn't going to happen in a 15 minute consult and the GPs that already work in this space are doing the 60 to 90 minute consultations in line with what's happening with psychiatrists and psychologists to make these diagnosis. Angus Randall: The Royal Australian College of Physicians, which represents paediatricians, says it wants to work with GPs but diagnosing ADHD should remain specialist led. Dr Nitin Kapur is the college's head paediatrician. Nitin Kapur: It's unclear what training is being proposed here first of all and ADHD is not a single diagnosis. It co-occurs with developmental, behavioural and other mental health conditions and these can include anxiety, depression, trauma, learning difficulties and a short course. And we don't even know what we're talking about that the GPs do will probably not do justice and will likely result in misdiagnosis. Angus Randall: Queensland GPs have been diagnosing and prescribing ADHD medication in children since 2017 and WA brought in similar reforms earlier this year. Dr Chris Soo is a Gold Coast GP specialising in ADHD. He says GPs are already offering many specialist services so this would be no different. Chris Soo: GPs do like vasectomies. GPs work in vein clinics and skin cancer and learn to diagnose those sorts of things. General practice is its own specialty these days. Angus Randall: He hopes the New South Wales rollout will be smoother than Queensland's. Chris Soo: When Queensland brought it in, they brought it in and then basically didn't tell GPs about it or anybody about it. And I do a lot of advocacy work and people all around the country very senior, very high up in ADHD advocacy have no idea that. So Queensland GPs are actually allowed to totally initiate, diagnose and do everything for like any patient below the age of 18. And then no one got told about the regulation, didn't promote it, nothing. It's almost like they went, you can do it but maybe you shouldn't. It's great that they're being funded to do training because the whole system works better if clinicians get good training. Angus Randall: The state government says New South Wales GPs could be managing ongoing prescriptions for ADHD patients within months and assessments for children could start from early next year with adults to follow soon after. Andy Park: Angus Randall there. Well a sausage sandwich, a core flute in a public school. These are the very symbols of a federal election here in Australia. But in one state, one of these election essentials has been absent. Coreflutes or posters of grinning politicians were in fact banned on public roads and infrastructure in South Australia. Could this be a precedent that other states and territories follow? Luke Radford reports. Luke Radford: A sea of colours and slogans as far as the eye can see is a surefire indicator that it's election time. But in South Australia, political core flutes have been restricted to just private property and these voters don't miss them. Voter: Rather than being really in your face, it was a bit more laid back, I'd kind of say. And, you know, I do think they're kind of a bygone thing and it's nice not to have the waste as well. Voter: I thought it was really good. Voter: I was pleased not to have the coreflutes. Luke Radford: Coreflute election posters were banned from public roads, trees and telegraph poles last year to reduce waste and remove unsightly clutter. Initially proposed by the Liberal Party, it gained bipartisan support from the Labor Government. South Australia's Attorney General, Kyam Maher, says it's been a big win. Kyam Maher: The majority of feedback that I get and I think most members of Parliament get is welcome relief that we don't see the coreflutes, you know, the vigil pollution. Luke Radford: While both the punters and pollies are glad they're gone, the state electoral commission has found one downside. After a recent by-election, it found 27 per cent of surveyed voters reported the absence of coreflutes made them less aware the poll was happening. Mick Sherry is the SA electoral commissioner. Mick Sherry: It doesn't mean that those particular electors weren't aware of the by-election by many other sources of information that we provide. It was just the fact that the coreflutes weren't there in their eyes that created a lack of awareness. Luke Radford: It's worth noting that this was at a by-election, which typically have less media attention and lower turnouts than general elections. In fact, the federal election body, the AEC, told the ABC it's not worried. A spokesperson pointed out that the percentage of people voting in South Australia has actually gone up slightly since the last election. Some experts have concerns, like Australian National University lecturer Dr Andrew Hughes, who says the lack of coreflutes may benefit major parties over smaller groups and independents. Andrew Hughes: They are so supportive of coreflutes. They see them as really critical tools, not just for awareness raising of their profile and their party, but also because it levels the playing field. And it's the one area where they can actually spend the same as a major party candidate and therefore be competitive on. Luke Radford: He also says coreflutes play a role in increasing awareness that an election is on. Andrew Hughes: And it's a common finding I have here in Canberra as well and people I've spoken to across the nation again. It's a very common finding that people aren't aware of elections being on sometimes unless they see coreflutes up and then they start to look into the election itself a bit more closely. The implication, though, is on 27 percent of people, if they don't vote, for example, they vote informally or they don't participate and engage in democracy, then it's a weaker democracy we have overall. Luke Radford: Despite Dr Hughes' concerns, these voters still support the ban. Voter: There's enough news and, you know, social media about elections being on. Voter: I think you'd have to be living under a rock not to know about it. Voter: I think social media was really good for replacing that, actually. Andy Park: South Australian voter Lily ending that report by Luke Radford. And that's all from the World Today team. Thanks for your company. I'm Andy Park.
ABC News
26-05-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
Support for NSW flood victims
Andy Park: The Prime Minister has announced further flood support for the mid north coast of NSW, including deploying defence personnel to help with the clean up. Over the next few days, getting food and water into communities cut off by floods will be a major priority. But the Weather Bureau is also warning that more wet weather could hamper the clean up effort. Bridget Fitzgerald reports. Bridget Fitzgearald: For the second time in four years, Josh Hack has watched his friends and neighbours do their best to manage a devastating flood. Josh Hack: They'll say they're OK, but they're all broken and they need their help. Bridget Fitzgearald: The Taree farmer and agronomist says the scale of the flood caught many by surprise. Josh Hack: We're all planning for the flood. We're all planning for, you know, the worst case scenario, 2021, you know, one in 100 year flood, surely we're not going to get two in four years. So, you know, we planned for that. You know, there's farmers that have done things with infrastructure and stuff since then to try and help plan for that. But unfortunately, this was unplannable. Bridget Fitzgearald: He's counting his losses, but says he's been lucky. Josh Hack: It's pretty tough for everybody. And I've been very lucky. Like, I get most of my animals. Yes, I've lost some, you know, and some of the ones that I lost are the ones that were probably in the best spot, but they, for whatever reason, decided to go for a swim, to try to go to a different spot. Bridget Fitzgerald: In Kempsey, 300 kilometres north of Sydney, restocking critical supplies has been a slow process. Greg Steele: We just can't get food into them. Bridget Fitzgearald: Greg Steele is the Kempsey SES unit commander. Greg Steele: Normally, the resupply wouldn't be quite so difficult. However, we've had a power failure in the CBD, which has obviously spoiled a lot of the a lot of the foods that require refrigeration. Bridget Fitzgearald: He says work's being done to make sure shops can safely store the supplies. Supermarkets in flood hit towns like Kempsey and Wingham were shut over the weekend, with road closures causing supply delays. Janelle Saffin is the New South Wales recovery minister and minister for the North Coast. Janelle Saffin: About 12,000 people still remain isolated. So whilst we're going into recovery, there's still a response happening with the SES. There were flood rescues over the last 24 hours. There were 11, 532 calls. So we've got the two things happening at once. Bridget Fitzgearald: And flood affected communities are set for another wet night. Senior meteorologist Dean Narramore from the Weather Bureau says the rain is more likely to be a frustration rather than a threat. Dean Narramore: We're only expecting that 10 to 20 millimetres, maybe isolated, 30 to 40 millimetres at most. It's going to move through very quickly, not the hundreds of millimetres that we have seen. Bridget Fitzgearald: He says strong and gusty winds could cause some property damage and hamper the clean up. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says 70 Defence Force personnel will be deployed to the New South Wales Mid North Coast region. Anthony Albanese: They will be involved in clean up, in debris removal, in welfare checks and re-establishing critical infrastructure that is so important for these communities. Bridget Fitzgearald: Anthony Albanese says people in Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Mid Coast and Dungog are eligible for the disaster recovery allowance, which can provide up to 13 weeks of income support. So far, more than 500 properties have been declared uninhabitable. But there are fears thousands more have been seriously damaged or destroyed. Andy Park: That report from Bridget Fitzgerald and Alison Xiao.
