A personal view of Australian and International Politics : 2026

Wednesday, 15 April 2026

Israel-Lebanon peace talks begin but Hezbollah won't be held to any deal. What you need to know on Iran today.

Extract from ABC News

By Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran in Jerusalem

Topic:Unrest, Conflict and War

15 minutes ago

Piled up burnt out cars and man sitting in foreground — A man sits next to wreckage where a building was destroyed by an Israeli air strike last weekin Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Hello, ABC Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran here in Riyadh.

It's the end of day 46 of the war, day seven of the ceasefire (except in Lebanon) and day two of what the US is describing as its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Here's what you need to know today:

The first round of talks between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States has happened in Washington, D.C. — the US State Department is describing them as the first talks of their kind between the two nations in three decades. Israel continued strikes on southern Lebanon, hours before the negotiations began.
Israel offered to hold talks with Lebanon last week, seemingly buckling to pressure from the Trump administration after hundreds were killed in intense attacks on the country, many of them civilians, as opposed to fighters from the Lebanese militants Hezbollah.
The Iranian-backed group has demanded the Lebanese government suspend the negotiations, insisting it won't be held to any deal. Israel is also saying the focus is on the disarming of Hezbollah first, before any talks on a ceasefire in Lebanon can be considered.
China has labelled the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as "dangerous and irresponsible". Beijing is Iran's biggest customer for its oil industry and will be feeling the pinch if any attempt to stop ships moving through the vital channel. It comes as Bloomberg reported Iran was considering a "short-term pause" in shipments through the Strait, in a bid to avoid any confrontation between ships and the US Navy.
Pakistan's defence minister has been talking up the prospect of further talks between the US and Iran, perhaps as soon as the end of the week. Representatives from both countries remained in Islamabad, after leaders such as US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf left the first round of talks, trying to make progress on the negotiations.

Here's what all that means

Just last week, more than 300 people in Lebanon were killed when Israel said it attacked 100 different sites across the country in the space of just 10 minutes.

Israel insisted it was pursuing Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group that had opened fire on Israel in solidarity with Tehran five weeks earlier.

The number of civilians filling morgues and hospital emergency departments, particularly children killed and maimed in the strikes, marked another shocking point in the conflict.

And, it seemed to even rattle the White House, with Donald Trump telling the Israeli Prime Minister to "low-key it" — in other words, show some restraint.

A day later, Benjamin Netanyahu announced he would be prepared for his country to hold peace talks with the Lebanese government. That was something which Israel had not only rejected but flatly ridiculed weeks earlier.

Its foreign ministry had spent the days prior posting memes on its social media accounts criticising the Lebanese government's weakness and inability to stand up to Hezbollah.

But the pressure from the US president was too much to ignore. And that's why talks between Israel and Lebanon, two countries which have technically been at war for decades, got underway in Washington DC — chaired by the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

As with the talks on the broader Middle East conflict between the US and Iran, anyone expecting a sudden breakthrough and resolution of deep enmity will be sorely disappointed.

There is too much to wade through for that to happen. And there was no tangible outcome, other than a commitment to talk further.

And this is the impact on Australia

ABC News Daily: The government is urging Australians to do what they can to use less fuel, but when will more severe restrictions kick in? Saul Kavonic, energy analyst at MST Financial on why we're facing a 'doomsday' scenario that's been war gamed for decades. (16m 13s 🎧)

And here's how to stay up to date:

You can keep track of the latest updates from Iran and around the world throughout the day via our live blog.

Thanks for joining me. I'll see you at the same time tomorrow.

Scientists confirm skull found in Gippsland cave a century ago belongs to giant echidna.

Extract from ABC News

By Jack Colantuono

15 hours ago

an artist's impression of a giant echidna standing in grassland — Megalibgwilia owenii was an extinct giant echidna that lived during the Ice Age. (Supplied: Museums Victoria/Chris Edser)

In short:

Researchers have used a fossil found in a Gippsland cave 119 years ago to show that giant echidnas lived in Victoria during the Ice Age.

The discovery fills a major gap in the species' known range and adds new insight into the state's ancient megafauna.

What's next?

Researchers will continue to review historic collections and explore cave systems across Victoria in search of further evidence of the state's lost Ice Age animals.

A fragment of bone found more than a century ago, in an East Gippsland limestone cave once explored by torchlight and rope, is now reshaping what scientists know about Victoria's Ice Age past.

The fossil, a partial skull, reveals the extinct giant echidna Megalibgwilia owenii once roamed the region alongside some of Australia's most extraordinary megafauna.

It was rediscovered in the state collection at Museums Victoria, where it had been preserved since it was first found in 1907 in Foul Air Cave near Buchan, more than four hours east of Melbourne.

Museums Victoria vertebrate palaeontology collection manager Tim Ziegler said the find was as much about revisiting the past as it was about rewriting it.

A man in caving equipment standing inside a cave that is illuminated by torch light — Tim Ziegler returned to Foul Air Cave at Buchan as part of his investigations. (Supplied: Museums Victoria/Robert French)

"It feels really special to do the fundamental work of building our knowledge and our understanding of just what Victoria was in deep time,"

Dr Ziegler said.

Missing puzzle piece

The identification marks the first confirmed evidence of the giant echidna in Victoria, filling a gap of more than 1,000 kilometres between previously known fossil sites in South Australia and New South Wales.

"But until now, you know, this is a missing piece of the puzzle," Dr Ziegler said.

"And in fact, just this one fossil, preserved by random chance in a pitfall trap and then discovered almost by random chance as well — it fills a gap in this long-beaked echidna's range across the entire continent.

"It's actually amazing that one fossil here spans more than 1,000 kilometres of unknown territory for this creature."

A photo of a, ancient, brown cranial fossil of an animal — The cranial fossil of the Megalibgwilia owenii, found in Foul Air Cave in Buchan, Gippsland. (Supplied: Museums Victoria)

During the Pleistocene epoch, tens of thousands of years ago, the now-extinct echidna could grow to a metre long and weigh up to 15 kilograms — about the size of a small child.

It used its long, straight beak to forage through hard soils for insects.

Its presence adds to a growing picture of a vastly different Gippsland landscape, once home to enormous marsupials and formidable predators.

"We know that on top of the Buchan Caves, the kind of animals that roamed there in the past included marsupials that weighed more than a ton, predatory jaguar-sized animals with no living relatives," Dr Ziegler said.

A natural time capsule

The caves themselves, carved through ancient limestone on Krauatungalung Country near Buchan, have long been recognised as a rich fossil site, but scientists say their full story is still unfolding.

A photo of an old cave located at Buchan — The extremely rare Megalibgwilia owenii fossil was discovered in Buchan's Foul Air Cave back in 1907. (Supplied: Museums Victoria)

"It's a very special place; the caves at Buchan are like a natural time capsule for these skeletal remains,"

Dr Ziegler said.

"It's one of the most diverse and abundant fossil sites in caves in south-eastern Australia."

While the fossil's rediscovery relied on modern techniques, including 3D scanning and detailed anatomical comparisons, its origins trace back to early 20th century expeditions, when naturalists first ventured into the cave system.

For Dr Ziegler, that continuity between past and present is part of what makes the work meaningful.

"The special thing for me as well, working in a place like Buchan, is that the history is so important too," he said.

"I can go and find who exactly was involved in these expeditions more than 100 years ago … that still creates new meaning today for the community as it is."

A photo of an old, ancient, brown bone fossil — The right lateral fossil of the Megalibgwilia Owenii, known as "Owen's echidna", found in Foul Air Cave. (Supplied: Museums Victoria)

Revisiting the past

The discovery also highlights the enduring scientific value of museum collections, where specimens gathered generations ago can yield new insights with fresh eyes.

"Nothing is ever forgotten in a museum collection," Dr Ziegler said.

"But it's our job to bring that meaning back out again and return it to the community."

Researchers say the finding could prompt renewed searches through both historic collections and unexplored cave systems, in the hope of uncovering more evidence of the giant echidna's presence.

"So we're really filling in the picture, finding pieces of the jigsaw to rebuild this Ice Age megafauna of our past,"

Dr Ziegler said.

A photo of an ancient, brown fossil of an animal — The dorsal fossil of the Megalibgwilia owenii, found in Foul Air Cave. (Supplied: Museums Victoria)

And with vast stretches of Victoria's fossil record still largely unknown, he said the next breakthrough could come from almost anywhere.

Whether deep underground, in a dusty archive, or hidden in plain sight, waiting, as this one did, for more than a century to be seen.

Trump lashes out at European ally Meloni amid tensions over Pope and NATO.

Extract from ABC News

By Thomas Morgan in London, with wires

Topic:World Politics

3 hours ago

Giorgia Meloni and Donald Trump shaking hands. — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has long been considered one of Donald Trump's closest allies in Europe. (AP: Evan Vucci)

In short:

Donald Trump says he "was wrong" about Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and now finds her "unacceptable", in a verbal attack on a politician viewed as among the US president's closest allies in Europe.

It comes after Ms Meloni expressed solidarity with Pope Leo amid a feud with the US president over the Iran war.

She also suspended a military deal with Israel and recently blocked US planes from landing at a Sicilian air base.

US President Donald Trump has criticised Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as a rift between him and the so-called "Trump whisperer" widens.

In quotes first published by Bloomberg, Mr Trump gave several critical remarks to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in which he said: "I thought she was brave, I was wrong."

The US president's criticism, made on Tuesday local time, came on the same day Italy suspended a defence cooperation agreement it had with Israel.

"When there are things we don't agree with, we act accordingly," Ms Meloni said, after it emerged that Israeli troops last week fired shots at Italian personnel working for the UN in Lebanon.

The agreement, which covered the procurement, training and the "import, export and transit of defence and military equipment", had been up for renewal. It first came into effect under previous prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2006.

Ms Meloni also pushed back on Mr Trump's extraordinary back-and-forth exchange with Pope Leo XIV, saying she supported the pontiff's anti-war stance.

"I express my solidarity with Pope Leo, frankly I would not feel very comfortable in a society where religious leaders do what political leaders say,"

she said.

A man dressed in white robes stands at a lectern — Pope Leo has publicly decried the "madness of war" to his 1.4 billion followers. (AP: Gregorio Borgia)

The two public stands against the US and Israel, combined with Italy's recent decision to deny US planes permission to land at a Sicilian air base, appear to have strained the Italian prime minister's once-close relationship with Mr Trump.

"I'm shocked by her," Mr Trump told the Corriere della Sera.

"She doesn't care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would let it blow Italy to smithereens in two minutes if it could."

Mr Trump also appeared to group Ms Meloni in with other European allies, with whom he has grown increasingly frustrated in recent weeks due to a perceived lack of support for his military strikes on Iran.

"Meloni doesn't want to help us with NATO, she doesn't want to help us get rid of the nuclear weapon.

"She's very different from what I thought."

Domestic considerations for Meloni

Ms Meloni has long been considered one of Mr Trump's ideological allies in Europe, and the US president has previously issued glowing endorsements of her leadership and style.

Commentators had previously described her as the "Trump whisperer", while Mr Trump showered her with praise, including that she was a "fantastic woman".

But the US president is finding himself increasingly isolated over the war in Iran, with many leaders now providing more forthright criticism of his actions.

Recent polls suggest Mr Trump is deeply unpopular among Italian voters and Ms Meloni's closeness with him is believed to have contributed to her defeat last month in a referendum on judicial reform.

The war in Iran has also pushed up energy prices in Italy, which is heavily dependent on oil and gas imports.

Birds flying in the foreground as a large gas tanker is docked at sea with a large city skyline in the background. — Two thirds of Italian voters oppose the US's decision to go to war, polling shows. (Reuters: Francis Mascarenhas)

Trump more isolated in Europe

Mr Trump's criticism of the Italian prime minister comes just a day after he also labelled the pope "WEAK on crime".

He then posted and later deleted an AI-generated image of himself depicted as a Jesus-like figure, in a move that garnered criticism from both Catholics and Evangelicals.

In response, the pontiff said he would continue to call for peace and was not afraid of the Trump administration.

The blow-up with both the Italian leader and the pope also came days after Mr Trump posted that "an entire civilization will die tonight" if Iran did not strike a deal with the US.

Mr Trump also suffered another setback in Europe this week, after his ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, lost a parliamentary election in a landslide, ending 16 years of rule.

ABC/wires

Tuesday, 14 April 2026

Ex-CIA director calls for ousting Trump: ‘25th amendment was written with him in mind’

Extract from The Guardian

A man in a suit sitting at a table with his chin on his hands.

John Brennan says president who made volatile remarks about destroying Iranian civilization ‘is clearly unhinged’

Brennan, who served as head of the spy agency during Barack Obama’s presidency, told MS Now on Saturday that Trump’s recent volatile remarks about destroying Iranian civilization and the danger he posed to so many lives merited his removal from the Oval Office.

“This person is clearly unhinged,” he said. “I think the 25th amendment was written with Donald Trump in mind.”

Brennan added that Trump was too much of a liability to be allowed to continue to be commander-in-chief, with immense firepower at his disposal, including the US nuclear arsenal.

The ex-CIA director’s comments cast him at the forefront of a mounting debate over Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran and his increasingly violent threats to inflict mass destruction on that country. On 7 April, the president warned that Iran’s “whole civilisation will die tonight” if the Iranian regime failed to meet his ultimatum – a threat Brennan said hinted at the deployment of nuclear capabilities.

As Trump has ramped up his aggressive and expletive-filled rhetoric, an increasing number of Democrats have responded by calling for the 25th amendment to be invoked. The measure, baked into the US constitution in 1967, allows for the vice-president and a majority of the cabinet to remove the president on the basis that he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”.

More than 70 Democrats in Congress have called for the amendment to be applied, according to the latest count by NBC News.

The chances of that actually happening are close to nil, given the lock-tight loyalty that continues to be shown to Trump by his vice-president, JD Vance, and his entire cabinet. However, concern about Trump’s increasingly charged language and dystopian threats are likely to persist given the failure of peace talks between the US and Iran on Saturday as well as the possibility of renewed hostilities.

Brennan’s comments were especially striking given that he is under active investigation by Trump’s US justice department as part of the president’s vendetta against his perceived enemies. Under pressure from the White House, the justice department put Brennan and the former FBI director James Comey under criminal investigation in July.

Two months later, Comey was charged with two counts accusing him of lying to Congress during testimony in 2020 over the Russia election interference investigation. A judge has thrown out that prosecution.

It is understood that the investigation into Brennan is ongoing. In March, the chair of the House judiciary committee, Trump ally Jim Jordan, claimed the inquiry was “heating up”.

Iran briefing with Matthew Doran: Warning of a global food crisis and accusations of piracy as the blockade begins.

Extract from ABC News

By Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran in Riyadh

Topic:Unrest, Conflict and War

1 hours ago

Woman holds crying boy — Mohammed, 8, cries next to the coffin of his father who was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon’s coastal city of Sidon. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

G'day. ABC Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran here, writing to you from the Saudi capital Riyadh.

It's day 45 of the war, day six of the ceasefire (except in Lebanon), and day one of the United States's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Here's what you need to know today:

The US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has begun, after Donald Trump accused Iran of "extortion" in the first round of peace talks between the US and Iran. Soon after the blockade came into force, the US president took to his Truth Social platform to say that Iran's navy had been "completely obliterated", then conceded it had some "fast attack ships" still at its disposal. He warned they would be eliminated if they approached US forces.
The Iranian regime had said any attempt by the US military to block ships that had made it through the strait would be considered "piracy". The country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said any US ships approaching the strait would be viewed as violating the ceasefire. Iran has also said other ports in the Gulf region will be considered legitimate targets if the situation deteriorates further.
Ship tracking showed at least two ships made it through the strait before the blockade began. Despite Trump's insistence that other countries would join the blockade, some NATO allies, including the UK and France, said they would not take part, instead favouring a mission to keep the strait open when the war was officially over.
Pakistan's prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, says "full efforts" are still underway to bring an end to the war, even after the first round of talks he hosted in Islamabad failed to yield a breakthrough.
In Lebanon, the death toll from Israeli strikes has risen to 2,089, with 166 children among them. Israel said it had killed 250 Hezbollah terrorists in the past week alone since it intensified attacks on Lebanon in the hours after the broader Middle East ceasefire was announced. But in making that announcement on Monday, local time, it only named six members of the Iranian-backed militant group it had killed. Israel's ground invasion continued in southern Lebanon, according to the IDF, which said it also encircled the town of Bint Jbeil. It came ahead of talks with Lebanon in Washington on Tuesday, local time.

Here's what all that means

Sitting in Riyadh, with rain, thunder and lightning outside the window, it seems the storm clouds of war across the region are getting darker once more.

But there's a lot of uncertainty about how this blockade announced by the US president will actually change things, particularly because there aren't that many ships going through the Strait of Hormuz. So what will really change?

Certainly, Donald Trump's threats to attack any ship that approaches US Navy vessels could plunge the Middle East back into war.

That's also true of the Iranian counter-threat against American warships and its pledge to target ports throughout the Gulf.

Iran is accusing the US of planning "piracy" on the seas, while the US is accusing Iran of precisely the same thing by charging tolls for safe passage.

Even if this doesn't amount to a return to war, after less than a week of a fragile truce, the ongoing crisis in the strait will have dire consequences across the Middle East and around the world.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is warning a protracted dispute in the Strait of Hormuz could cause a food crisis around the world. Surging fertiliser prices would be just one consequence, making food more expensive and harder to grow.

A long-term dispute could also bring China into the equation. A large amount of China's oil supplies come through the strait. Beijing has been sounding concerned about the war and the shipping constraints, but the more the chokehold on supplies is felt in Asia, the more it will likely exert its influence to try to resolve it.

All the while, Israel is locking in behind Trump. Benjamin Netanyahu says the US blockade is the way to go.

He continues to talk up how much the US and Israel are in lockstep in this war — partly a reflection of being the junior partner in the conflict, but partly for domestic political purposes.

Recent polling in Israel has suggested people aren't happy with the ceasefire in place, however temporary it may be.

And the Israeli prime minister is still prosecuting the need to continue the deadly campaign in Lebanon against what he says are Hezbollah targets, which claims more and more civilian lives by the hour.

Talks between Israel and Lebanon are due to begin in Washington on Tuesday, local time — but Israel is promoting them in terms of seeking the Lebanese state's cooperation to force Iranian-backed Hezbollah to disarm first, and pursuing a ceasefire on that front second.

It reinforces the argument by critics of Israel across the Middle East that it is only pursuing this to try to appease the Trump administration during particularly tense negotiations, rather than achieve a lasting peace to its north.

Although the criticism will not only be directed at the Netanyahu government. Senior Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa told the Associated Press the group won't actually adhere to any deal struck between Israel and Lebanon.

And this is the impact on Australia

Debunking four myths about Australia's fuel crisis: If you listen to increasingly shrill calls, it is time to rebuild our oil industry. While the sentiments might be well-meant, a few unfortunate facts have been overlooked.

And here's how to stay up to date:

You can keep track of the latest updates from Iran and around the world throughout the day via our live blog.

Thanks for joining me. I'll see you at the same time tomorrow.

Race to save Brisbane River's Australian lungfish from its own appetite.

Extract from ABC News

54 minutes ago

A man holds a very large lungfish in his arms. — Seqwater senior scientist David Roberts is working to help hungry lungfish. (Supplied: Seqwater)

Researchers hope they have found a way for a fascinating living fossil to breed in the Brisbane River again.

But its insatiable hunger is making the task harder.

Believed to be the closest living fish relative to humans, the Australian lungfish has remained anatomically unchanged for more than 100 million years.

An old dusty-looking fish with prehistoric scales and flippers and milky eyes. — Granddad was a Queensland lungfish that died at the age of 109 at the Shedd Aquarium in the United States. (Kenneth Lu, Granddad, CC BY 2.0 DEED)

Listed as vulnerable, the threatened species is a remarkable survivor with a unique single lung that allows it to surface, breathe air, and process oxygen through its gills.

"We know they live a long time, in the wild probably about 80 to 90 years," Seqwater senior scientist David Roberts said.

"But in captivity, we believe these fish could live 100-plus years."

Dam disruption

Luckily, that longevity has given researchers time to solve a serious problem created when the Brisbane River was dammed to secure water for south-east Queensland.

Aerial of Wivenhoe Dam. — Wivenhoe Dam is in south-east Queensland. (ABC News)

They discovered that downstream of the 40-year-old Wivenhoe Dam, there were plenty of older lungfish, but very few juveniles.

The breed critically depends on Vallisneria, commonly known as eelgrass or ribbon grass, for both food and nursery habitat.

But the aquatic plant was yet to recover after it was scoured from the riverbed during Brisbane's devastating 2011 floods.

A long clump of Vallisneria being held on someone's arm. — Vallisneria can easily be cultivated. (Supplied: Colin Burke)

Dr Roberts said while the omnivores survived in the river by eating clams, crayfish, and other invertebrates, the loss of the plant meant the lungfish had no way to hide their precious eggs when breeding.

"So, for three weeks, this egg is just sitting somewhere, unprotected, open to consumption by all sorts of critters," Dr Roberts said.

"And then after they hatch, the little larva is pretty much defenceless for probably the first six months of its life."

It was a different story upstream of Wivenhoe Dam.

A small lungfish held up in a person's hands. — Juvenile lungfish have been very hard to find downstream of Wivenhoe Dam. (Supplied: David Roberts, Seqwater)

In Queensland's Mary and Burnett rivers, where lungfish are endemic, researchers said Vallisneria beds typically recovered within three years of a major flood.

"There were always plants drifting down the river from other locations, little pockets of plants that are protected from the flood or in feeder creeks or side creeks," Dr Roberts said.

"They produce plants and seeds, and they float down and re-establish the river."

Water pours from a floodgate at Wivenhoe Dam after the 2011 flood. — Water pours from a floodgate at Wivenhoe Dam, north-west of Brisbane, days after the 2011 flood. (ABC News: Kerrin Binnie)

But Wivenhoe Dam disrupted the plant's recovery and the lungfish's ability to breed.

"Unfortunately, below the dam, there aren't many feeder streams, so there are no real pockets of plants around to start," Dr Roberts said.

"The dam is just unfortunately too large for these small plants that are floating down the river to make their way all the way through the dam, downstream."

A lungfish in shallow water. — Lungfish in the Brisbane River. (Supplied: Colin Burke)

Trial and error

The researchers' initial attempts to grow the eelgrass in six fenced enclosures, 750 metres downstream of the dam, were very successful.

A fence in a shallow part of a river with lots of aquatic plants growing in it. — Aquatic plants raised in enclosures couldn't grow fast enough for the hungry lungfish. (Supplied: Colin Burke)

But the torpedo-shaped, large-scaled lungfish broke through the barriers at every opportunity.

In one flood event, Dr Roberts said a lungfish raid on the cultivated eelgrass was so intense that researchers were tripping over them.

"They were jumping out and splashing around … just sitting there, 'Munch, munch, munch' on our plants."

Showing what little is left after the lungfish ate the plants in the enclosure. — The hungry lungfish ate all of the plants in the enclosure. (Supplied: Colin Burke)

They were uprooted, and the new habitat was decimated when the fences were removed.

Native turtles and invasive fish species, including carp, tilapia, and goldfish, joined the feast.

'Feedback loop'

PhD candidate Colin Burke, from Griffith University's Australian Rivers Institute, is leading the project to help restore the lungfish habitat.

A man wearing a hat and orange and blue shirt holds up a lungfish about to release it from a low boat. — Colin Burke is researching how to restore lungfish habitat. (Supplied: Colin Burke)

But he said the lungfish's insatiable hunger was working against the very plant it needed to survive.

Last summer, he trialled a simple new approach that was cheaper and far less labour-intensive.

Instead of fenced buffets of eelgrass, he provided many tiny dining spots, where the lungfish could graze.

Chucking it out

At five different shallow spots along a 1.5-kilometre stretch of the Brisbane River, he threw out large lumps of cultivated eelgrass and another edible aquatic plant.

A man wearing waders throws plants out into the water. — Colin Burke releasing aquatic plants for lungfish. (Supplied: Colin Burke)

"We've been finding little, tiny beds establishing along the riverbank, which is quite good," Mr Burke said.

"I think this method spreads out the potential grazing opportunities.

"So it's not just one big patch that lungfish and other fish and aquatic creatures can just circle and linger at for a long time."

Little bits of grass in the shallows. — The scattered Vallisneria is taking hold in the shallows. (Supplied: Colin Burke)

The PhD student has also driven stakes into the river to provide Vallisneria with more opportunities to catch and establish.

Mr Burke believes it is the first attempt to restore aquatic plants this way, and once his second paper is published, he hopes to repeat the experiment further downstream.

"When you see the little plants pop up, it's quite exciting to be honest."

Plants wrapped around a stake underwater. — A stake provided a place for the Vallisneria to grow. (Supplied: Colin Burke)