arbilp3

With the state of the world getting more challenging it is inevitable that food prices will continue to grow. Let that also be a challenge for you to grow some of your own food. It is possible, even if you don't have much space or money.

Policy changes introduced and maintained under Abbott's leadership [PM from Sep 2013 to Sep 2015] played a central role in driving that growth. The rate of growth in overseas student numbers from 2013 to 2019 is extraordinary (an increase of over 200,000 in just six years). These understandably fell during COVID and then increased even more rapidly after COVID due to further measures to accelerate the return of students implemented by the Morrison Government. These measures included unrestricted student visa work rights, fee-free applications, and a covid visa, which attracted huge numbers of students to switch to this cheap visa with unrestricted work rights and no requirement to study. The new Albanese Government was slow to tighten these policies.

For the first time, important Koala habitat corridors throughout Greater Sydney have been mapped... [It is] a cost-effective opportunity that allows Sydney’s critical Koala populations and other threatened species to persist amidst growing threats from development. https://www.tec.org.au/greater_sydney_koala_green_belts_corridors_of_survival

This is really positive news and needs to be done for all Australian cities. Wildlife corridors help animals survive through the ability to move, not caught in bush 'islands' where they are endangered by threats like fire and lack of food with nowhere to go.

This imposing bird has become rare because of loss of habitat. Last year it won Birdlife's Bird of the Year voting competition. Here's a little video but there's plenty more if you're interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ePEdJaD9KE&t=21s

There is growing momentum that the insanely generous capital gains tax discount needs to change.

Recent Parliamentary Budget Office figures show that more than 80% of the discount goes to the top 10% of income earners and if that was not bad enough almost 60% goes to the top 1% (those who earn more than $362,900).

That’s $13 billion a year going just to the top one percenters...

The Government needs to answer... Who should pay more tax on their extra income, those on the lowest wages, or those with the most? It’s over to you Prime Minister.

https://thepoint.com.au/opinions/260302-the-simple-question-at-the-heart-of-the-capital-gains-tax-debate-why-do-should-pay-more-tax-minimum-wage-workers-or-wealthy-investors

Roo & Wombat little mates https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZwo9PtIHZU

While we're on the topic of bees, let's see what is happening with honeybees (European bees) and the implications for big sectors of our cropping industry and our economy.

After Sammirr's great post on their bee hotel, here's some easy instructions on how to build bee accommodation. There's lots of videos on YouTube so you can get different ideas and become better informed. Some bee hotels, using bamboo stalks, are a fun project to do with children. https://www.aussiebee.com.au/bee-hotel-building-tips.html

Australia has close to two thousand species of bee. Some form hives but many are solitary. Some nest in a wall. Some nest in the ground.

This article is a visual feast. Even if you don't read it, the images shown will inspire you. Had to share it. Apologies if I'm putting up too many posts.

So, when someone is called a bush rat, we now know it's a compliment.

>Why are native rats so important?

Australia is home to about 50 living species of rats that have adapted to its environments over thousands if not millions of years.

These rats often perform essential roles in nature...

"We know them to be really good pollinators, especially of our banksias...," "They're good at moving seeds and eating seeds ... they're really good dispersers of fungi spores, the mushrooms that are so key to our ecosystems...

Bush rats have been shown to keep black rats from reinvading places the native species is re-established.

Black rats often like to nest in homes and eat your food, but bush rats prefer to avoid developed places.

"[Bush rats] tend to live in these dense, complex, vegetated, native bushlands," Ms Wauchope said.

Boosting bush rat numbers can also help feed native predators — like goannas, owls and snakes.

Without bush rats these predators sometimes will eat poisoned black rats and then die themselves.

I am truly worried that we will get caught up in yet another overseas war.

A chronic welfare crisis... has been unfolding quietly since the 1990s. The root cause? Rampant habitat loss and the relentless expansion of the blue gum plantation industry.

With their native forests destroyed, koalas are forced to seek shelter in blue gum plantations—a dangerous and temporary refuge. When harvesting begins, koalas risk being injured or killed as the trees they rely on are cut down. Those that survive are left homeless, with nowhere safe to go.

The landscape has now reached a tipping point. It simply can no longer support the koalas that depend on it.

Starving, emaciated koalas are falling from trees, being brought into care—many too far gone to be saved. And for those that survive, there is no safe habitat left to return to.

This travesty has been hidden behind closed doors for far too long. A comprehensive and transparent investigation is long overdue.