FlowNews24

After visiting South Australia's Riverland and mid-Murray on Thursday and en route to lower Murray communities on Friday, the federal leader of the Liberal Party and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton speaks with FlowFM listeners again about making good on his pledge to them to visit late in 2022. We discuss building back better roads, bridges and levee banks to mitigate future flooding, the Liberal Party's position on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament and on celebrating Australia Day on 26 January.

The NSW Irrigators Council's CEO talks about the recent survey in a stretch of the Darling River that failed to find a single Murray cod as an opportunity to rethink water recovery as the pre-eminent means of environmental restoration in the Murray-Darling Basin.

The shadow roads minister says the NSW government has poorly handled the policy of signage before encountering mobile speed cameras, contrasts the two policies announced by the Labor Opposition then Coalition Government this week to incentivise good driving behaviour - and calls for the release of a plan to take back some regional council roads into state ownership.

The ANZ's Head of Agribusiness Insights Michael Whitehead speaks with us about the beginning of 2023 and planting decisions for cropping farmers considering the market, climate and a range of other factors.

The South Australian Climate, Environment and Water Minister Dr Susan Close joins us on FlowFM to share the status environmentally of the River Murray flows out through the Murray Mouth, saying she has concerns about the impacts on the marine environment.

The Deputy Premier says the state government is looking for federal funding support to build a desalination plant on the southern Eyre Peninsula for water security, but acknowledges the Albanese Labor Government's timelines could be so long that a decision might need to be made sooner.

We also discuss with the Labor environment minister the discovery recently of the Western Whipbird in the Mallee region of Victoria-South Australia in the Ngarkat forest, a species that had previously been thought extinct.

The Wool Producers Australia chief executive officer Jo Hall responds to comments by shadow agriculture minister David Littleproud here on FlowFM earlier that morning regarding the European Union's view on the sustainability of wool, describing their stance as 'a joke' - and outlines the efforts the peak body is making not just to change the EU's stance, but to improve the shearer supply in Australia via possible British and Indian pathways. We also discuss what will be happening soon on progressing electronic traceability of sheep in Australia.

... and the shadow agriculture minister also shares just how far short the meat processing and other agriculture workforce supply is despite the efforts of the Albanese Labor government.

The federal National Party leader discusses how the European Union's view that synthetic fibres are more sustainable than wool or cotton poses a risk for Australian fibre producers.

The Malinauskas government announced on Wednesday that former Liberal MP for Flinders Peter Treloar is the new presiding member of the Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board. It's a return to what was called a Natural Resources Management Board when Mr Treloar was previously involved.

We also speak with the EP farmer about the closing stages imminent of his role appointed by the former Liberal government chairing a site selection committee to determine where a new desalination plant might be placed on the lower Eyre Peninsula for water security. We discuss the possibilities of water security via desalination on the West Coast at places like Ceduna and Elliston, but the potentially prohibitive construction and piping costs.

A Coalition government pledge to expand the financial level of compensation available to emergency service volunteers if re-elected at the March 2023 state election has been welcomed by the president of the NSW Rural Fire Service Association representing volunteers, Scott Campbell.

Could the continuing farm and processing labour shortage cause problems at the farmgate for Australian cattle and sheep producers? We chat with Episode3.net analyst Matt Dalgleish on the activity in the cattle and sheep markets, a serious price correction but low supply in cattle in early January 2023 and where he sees the year going for our farmers' returns on their hard work.