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Canberra Comment

US election coverage - captivating or clap-trap?

Posted: 7/11/2008 | Was so much Australian media coverage of the US elections really necessary in the land down under, and do people really care about the outcome on the other side of the world? |

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Drought's real meaning lost in new talk of dryness

Posted: 29/10/2008 | The Government is looking at a new approach to drought and it starts with a refusal to call it that from now on. |

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Are the water upgrades being watered down?

Posted: 17/10/2008 | The Federal Government needs to break its silence on the thorny issue of infrastructure upgrades and come clean with the farming community about how and when it will spend money to modernise irrigation systems at the farm level. |

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Time to get Adelaide off the Murray Darling teat

Posted: 19/09/2008 | If the Murray is so important to the environment, why is a major capital city at the bottom of the system still demanding water from it? |

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Iconic Toorale is gone, with no environmental benefit

Posted: 11/09/2008 | There's a new national park in the far north west of NSW, but there are huge dark clouds hanging over Bourke, and in indeed Australian agriculture, as a result of the $23.75m purchase this week of the iconic western Warrego property, Toorale Station. |

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Preference deals with the Greens - how will it play out in the Senate?

Posted: 27/08/2008 | IF farmers are wondering what the new look Senate will mean for them, they should just take a look at politics in NSW and the behind-closed-doors relationship between Labor and the Greens for a taste of what might be in store Federally. |

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Farmers can wear the cuts, but not the uncertainty

Posted: 15/05/2008 | As the dust settles on Labor's first budget, it's the lack of detail, not the funding cuts, which should have farmers upset. |

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2020 summit a breath of fresh ideas

Posted: 20/04/2008 | I never doubted good ideas would flow at this weekend's 2020 summit in Canberra, but I now think something might even come of them. |

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Apple pie jokes not funny for growers

Posted: 3/03/2008 | Prime Minister Kevin Rudd might have thought he was being funny when he answered a serious question about the apple trade dispute between Australia and New Zealand, but the issue isn't funny for growers. What do you think? |

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Rural communities should embrace sorry

Posted: 13/02/2008 | Farmers should step up and use this week's apology as a catalyst for change in rural communities. |

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Where is Senator Scullion?

Posted: 1/02/2008 | The Opposition's ag spokesman appears missing in action as farmers try and recover from drought. |

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Farmers pass Government - but has it done the hard yards?

Posted: 3/10/2007 | In many respects, farmers see the Coalition as doing what is just necessary to get a pass in time for the election. |

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Australian quarantine running a fever

Posted: 27/08/2007 | The latest disease to hit Australian shores raises more concerns about Australia's quarantine and the risk of human error. |

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What is the best broadband for rural Australians?

Posted: 8/08/2007 | The forgotten 1pc of the population live in about 80pc of the country not serviced by existing or new broadband technology. |

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Benefits for Victoria evaporate under cloud of parochialism

Posted: 25/07/2007 | Victoria's tactic of drawing out negotiations over the Federal Government's $10 billion plan for water security in the Murray Darling Basin has backfired this week. |

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Labor crisis not helped by wage skimping

Posted: 11/07/2007 | The minimum wage deferral does nothing to help agriculture's image when it's looking for 50,000 extra farm workers. |

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Wheat leadership needs national intervention

Posted: 30/05/2007 | What has to happen to pull the grains industry together? |

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Quarantine just not apples

Posted: 16/05/2007 | Quarantine officials have confirmed there's a pretty fair chance Australia will get lumped with fireblight if we let apple imports from New Zealand go ahead. So why are we allowing this to happen? |

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Costello pulls election rabbit out of budget hat

Posted: 9/05/2007 | There was something for everyone in this year's broad, but predictable, pre-election budget. |

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Climate change and the global warming might be the big issues on this year's national agenda, but there's no hotter place than Canberra in 2008 as the new Labor Government exercises its new-found power.