Mary-Anne Thomas grew up in the country, and knows about long bus rides to school and how to bag a slaughtered animal.

Bold tax reforms are needed to lure more businesses to the bush and capitalise on the boom in working-from-home tree-changers many regional areas are experiencing.

The Pacific Island nation, which is COVID free, believes its plan is a ready-made solution to the pandemic-induced labour shortage crippling the agriculture industry.

Early voting for the Rockhampton mayoral and Townsville's Division 10 Councillor By-Election opens today.

It's hoped with Brexit in the rear view mirror, the trade agreement Australia is negotiating with the EU and UK will take centre stage.

The federal government has made another tweak to temporary visas, in an effort to combat the agricultural labour shortage.

The Thomas Elder Markets (TEM) team has been discussing the phase 1 deal as a major challenge for Australian agriculture for the past year, and expects that China will have to preference goods from the US in order to protect its export markets.

Newly-released documents show government agencies warned ministers in 2000 not to reduce Australia's options on climate change action.

The change will take effect from Friday.

Farmers have called on the federal and state governments to stop pointing the finger at each other and work together to solve the agricultural labour shortage.