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Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by First Nations people.
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Australia’s high energy costs, combined with the desire of many people to be part of the climate change solution, mean it makes sense to find heating solutions that are not only environmentally friendly but also cost-effective.
Rising damp is a huge problem for older homes. Here is how to identify, treat and prevent rising damp from damaging your home.
Late last year, to the alarm of many, a 12-storey apartment block in North Melbourne, built just five years prior, was approved for demolition. Just one example of the average 100,000 buildings that get approved for demolition in Australia each year, it demonstrates what can happen when a short-sighted approach to the urban planning of our cities takes hold — the proliferation of low-grade buildings with short lifespans.
I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, double-storey brick homes with Greek columns that aspirational migrants built in the 1970s and half-crumbling, Federation-era mansions once occupied by people whose names still appear in history textbooks.
The most recent upgrade to the NCC / BCA included requirements for houses and apartments to meet higher thermal comfort standards in NatHERS. NSW, ACT, Tassie and the NT brought it in last year. Queensland and Victoria only started yesterday (May 1) despite the latter promising it in 2022. SA and WA will adopt it sometime later (news travels slowly going west).
An important principle was invoked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in defence of the government’s Future Made in Australia industry policy announcement.
The dangerous impact of plastics goes way beyond landfills and the environment – it’s no longer just about billions of plastic items choking our waterways, littering our land and getting into our soil.
Landscapes that have escaped fire for decades or centuries tend to harbour vital structures for wildlife, such as tree hollows and large logs. But these “long unburnt” habitats can be eliminated by a single blaze.
In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared the museum is “not a university”, and will gut its research capabilities, starting this July.
We’ve long known Australia’s main environmental protection laws aren’t doing their job, and we know Australians want better laws. Labor was elected promising to fix them.
While the Federal and NSW State Government recently implemented an all new ‘cost of living’ package to take the burden off thousands struggling with their power bills, there is a large portion of Australian households who are ineligible and still looking for other ways to save.
