by bpckle | Mar 31, 2025 | Media
The thylacine might walk again. Or Lake Pedder might rise again. The possibility of ecological restoration in the island state plays into the appeal of going back in time
There is something about Tasmania that makes it a place where people want to restore the past, and not just because Tasmanians still regularly report seeing thylacines bounding off into the forest.
Certainly, it’s a retro kind of place. The landed gentry are still a thing, the powerful families of modern Tasmania tracing their ancestry back to the original squatters, who either took the land by force or bought it from the colonial government, no questions asked. Georgian mansions scatter the rural landscape; in Hobart, convict hewn stone is a building material of choice. Nearly 70% of Tasmanians had both parents born in Australia (the overall figure for the country is 47%), and more than 80% identify with a white ancestry (65% for Australia as a whole). If you ignore the giant cruise ships, the Teslas and the puffer jackets, you could imagine yourself in mid-century Australia.
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by bpckle | Mar 29, 2025 | Media
This immense worm moves slowly and gracefully underground and can grow to the length of an outstretched arm
The giant Gippsland earthworm already has an upbeat campaign song.
“I am a real worm, I am an actual worm,” bangs the chorus of Doctor Worm, a late-90s novelty hit by the American indie rock band They Might Be Giants.
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by bpckle | Mar 28, 2025 | Media
Heavy rainfall expected to stretch from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast to the Victorian border, with the potential for isolated falls of up to 100mm
A wet and wild weekend is on the way for much of Australia, as heavy rain in Queensland moves east and a tropical low off the coast of Western Australia threatens to develop into a cyclone.
Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra can all expect a washout on Saturday, with heavy rainfall expected to stretch from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast down to the Victorian border, including the potential for isolated falls of up to 100mm.
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by bpckle | Mar 28, 2025 | Media
Wettest March day for 15 years in some parts of northern Australian state, while storms and hail hit Mediterranean
More heavy rain has hit Queensland, Australia, just weeks after the devastation of Cyclone Alfred. Much of north and central Queensland was put under severe weather alert for heavy rainfall earlier this week, as six-hourly rainfall totals of 30-60mm were anticipated, with the risk of seeing up to 120mm locally in this period.
In the north-west of the state, this rain caused the Haughton River to rise rapidly, with water levels reaching 2.68 metres on Wednesday night, exceeding the 2.5-metre major flood level.
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by bpckle | Mar 28, 2025 | Media
Exclusive: Cost blow-out has experts worried people will use ‘huge’ volumes of pesticides to protect themselves from ‘tiny killers’
Australian households will spend $1.03bn every year to suppress fire ants and cover related medical and veterinary costs, with about 570,800 people needing medical attention and 30 likely deaths from the invasive pest’s stings, new modelling shows.
The Australia Institute research breaks down the impact of red imported fire ants (Rifa) by electorate, with the seats of Durack and O’Connor in Western Australia, Mayo in South Australia and Blair in Queensland the hardest hit if the ants become endemic.
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Blair: $1.7m in medical costs, $1.5m in vet costs and $5.1m in household pesticide costs.
Dickson: $1.4m in medical costs, $1.2m in vet costs and $4m in household pesticide costs.
Ryan: $1.5m in medical costs, $1.3m in vet costs and $3.4m in household pesticide costs.
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by bpckle | Mar 26, 2025 | Media
Critics say industry threatens the endangered Maugean skate and laws were rushed through with ’no proper process’
Controversial legislation to protect the Tasmanian salmon industry has passed parliament after the government guillotined debate to bring on a vote in the Senate on Wednesday night.
Government and Coalition senators voted in favour of the bill, which was designed to bring an end to a formal reconsideration by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, into whether an expansion of fish farming in Macquarie Harbour in 2012 was properly approved.
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