News

The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions has advised that ongoing fox and feral cat control will continue in the Wheatbelt region, including areas of Dragon Rocks adjacent to local properties. The program uses 1080 baiting to help protect native wildlife and may take place up to once a month throughout the year. Landholders are reminded that 1080 baits are highly toxic to domestic animals, particularly dogs and cats. There is no safe time for pets to roam in baited areas. Farmers are asked to take precautions around working dogs and to ensure all farm residents, employees and visitors are aware of the baiting activity.

The Lake King townsite will soon be supported with back-up power supply during unplanned outages. Western Power has developed and will soon be implementing a new back-up power solution to improve reliability for much of the Lake King townsite during extended unplanned outages.

Six remote and very remote Western Australian local governments have successfully presented a motion at the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) National General Assembly, calling on the Australian Government to increase Financial Assistance Grants and recalibrate their distribution to better support rural councils funding general practitioner (GP) services. The motion was carried unanimously. The Shires of Gnowangerup, Jerramungup, Kojonup, Lake Grace, Narembeen, and Ravensthorpe are leading the charge, highlighting the unsustainable financial burden placed on local governments to attract and retain GPs in their communities. These councils are collectively contributing over $1.475 million annually—funds that would otherwise support core local government responsibilities.