Sober in the Country: Rural health advocate Shanna Whan fights to save farmers from self-medicating with alcohol

The drought is pushing more farmers to drink, but one woman has campaigned tirelessly to raise awareness of the unspoken costs of alcohol abuse and misuse in the outback.

Shanna Whan has been campaigning for more
support for people in the bush who want to go sober.

Shanna Whan is a rural advocate, a finalist in the NSW Rural Woman of the Year Awards, and the founder of a volunteer-led support group called Sober in the Country, which supports more than 250 people.

Ms Whan believes the escalating drought, financial hardship, as well as the uncertainty and isolation of rural life is driving more people to drink.

Read the story from ABC Rural by David Claughton - “Sober in the Country: Rural health advocate Shanna Whan fights to save farmers from self-medicating with alcohol.”

Key backbencher warns Frydenberg to tread carefully on energy policy

One of key backbench rebels pushing for more coal-friendly policies through the so-called Monash Forum has warned the energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, to tread carefully on the design of the national energy guarantee.

Liberal party MP Craig Kelly in the press gallery at federal parliament.

Craig Kelly, who is the chair of the Turnbull government’s backbench environment and energy committee, told Guardian Australia that Frydenberg only had party-room sign-off for the broad concepts of the national energy guarantee – not any of the specifics.

Kelly revealed on Tuesday that he was one of 20 Coalition backbench MPs who had joined the Monash Forum, which is ostensibly aimed at encouraging the government to construct new coal-fired power stations – but the Liberal says the new ginger group is also about exerting internal influence over the final design of the national energy guarantee.

Read Katherine Murphy’s story from The Guardian - “Key backbencher warns Frydenberg to tread carefully on energy policy.”