Lives will continue to be lost among rural Australia's aviation sector unless there are major changes in training, safety and maintenance standards, according to a commercial mustering pilot who has gotten out of the industry because he didn't like what he was seeing.

The welfare of 300 cattle in remote south western Queensland is being compromised by the Queensland government's refusal to grant exemption permits for essential agricultural work, according to their Victorian owners.

Quilpie mayor Stuart Mackenzie has been unable to convince deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss that his shire should be included on the Drought Communities Program, despite being drought-declared under Queensland guidelines since 2013