The rural network, Victoria
‘It doesn’t need to be one or the other’: balancing brolgas and windfarms in Victoria Victorian brolga numbers have shrunk due to habitat loss and drying wetlands. Now conservationists are calling for careful planning of windfarms
Regional Australians have opened their hearts to refugees – we should open pathways to match Dellaram Vreeland Advocates are calling on the federal government to open a new visa pathway for refugees via broader community sponsorship of asylum seekers
Regional Australians are five times more likely to die in road accidents – so what are we doing about it? Gabrielle Chan The national road toll is trending up despite decades of road safety campaigns. We need better data – but state governments are holding back
Wildlife Victoria’s Travelling Veterinary Services team – in pictures The service launched in 2022 in response to a statewide veterinary worker shortage and a critical gap in round-the-clock wildlife veterinary support
Protecting private land to save the plains-wanderer, a bird ‘teetering on the edge of extinction’ With an estimated wild population of just 250, they may be Australia’s rarest bird and most of their remaining habitat is on farmland
Extravagant maker of schemes: unpicking Barnaby Joyce’s anti-renewables campaign Gabrielle Chan The spectre of a $100 lamb roast helped the Coalition win the 2013 election. Will ‘foreign-owned swindle factories’ have a similar effect in 2025?
Ballarat’s history of sexual abuse is an enduring wound. How can we heal together? Dellaram Vreeland The Victorian regional city has endorsed a design for a memorial to survivors of sexual violence, and to recognise historic abuse by Catholic clergy
A Gaza ceasefire pilgrimage walks 45km through central Victoria – in pictures Walkers journey from Daylesford to Ballarat – the distance roughly the same length as the Palestinian territory
Victoria’s Landcare groups have 60,000 volunteers – but will there be funds to support them? The volunteer environment network says lack of money is stifling the growth of local groups despite an increase in interest on the ground
I’m a CFA volunteer – and as firefighters we have to put community safety above politics Cam Walker A threat by some volunteers to refuse to fight fires on renewable energy developments undermines the trust placed in us to protect lives and property
Is ‘urban narcissism’ behind rural Australia’s doctor drought? Gabrielle Chan The gap between health funding in the city v the regions is $850 a person a year – but the human cost is far higher
If regional communities don’t want a windfarm, why would they accept a nuclear power station? Gabrielle Chan The Coalition’s energy policy is leveraged on regional discontent about renewables. But many farmers don’t want nuclear in their back yard either
Voter views on animal welfare are changing – and taking the live sheep export trade with them Gabrielle Chan Labor says it will phase out the practice by 2028 – 10 years after it first announced the policy. But farm advocates say the timeline is ‘radical’
So scarlet it was maroon: five places to watch Australia’s autumn leaves turn Towns across the country are putting on a show as the cold nights draw in. We’ve picked five spots from Queensland to Gippsland to take it in
‘I’ve got nowhere else to go’: as winter draws in, dozens rely on insecure housing in Ballarat People living on the shores of Ballarat’s Lake Burrumbeet say they have to choose between rent or food and petrol – and they have chosen the latter
In rural Australia, everyone knows your business – so it’s harder for victims of violence to get help Gabrielle Chan Living rurally raises the risk of intimate partner violence for women. The main risk factors are the same as in the city, but there are issues specific to the bush that have to be addressed
‘A little pocket of joy’: regional music festivals get creative – and rope in the CWA – to survive Five major music festivals in regional Australia have just been cancelled or suspended. Smaller operations know they have to offer something different
If Australia has reached ‘peak milk’, what does that mean for our food security? Gabrielle Chan Consumers assume Australia has milk production covered – but the national dairy herd is declining and imports are at record highs
Ballarat has lost another remarkable woman. In this dark time, I recall her enthusiasm and joy Dellaram Vreeland The death of Hannah McGuire is the latest in a series of tragedies that have rocked our regional Victorian city – but grief will not define us
Regional Australia needs health workers and teachers – but it has to have childcare first Gabrielle Chan Almost half the population live in a ‘childcare desert’ while employers are crying out for workers – it’s time to connect the dots
About 103 results for The rural network, Victoria 
