Smart and Vickery: No response re national expert
Chris Oldfield. For more than a month, CEO Trevor Smart and Mayor Erika Vickery have not responded to questions relating to Australian Roads Research Board (ARRB) Chief Technology Leader, Asset Performance Tyrone Toole's expertise. Mr Toole has spent a lifetime building and researching roads around the world.
Road seals need accurate calculations
Chris Oldfield. When crunching numbers about whether to seal a road, the cost should be spread over 60 years "or as long as possible". Australian Road Research Board Chief Technology Leader, Asset Performance Tyrone Toole said it would be pointless to only spread the cost over 10 years.
Labor matches childcare pledge
Gabrielle Duykers. Kingston has successfully secured a new $1.8 million childcare facility, after the Federal Opposition agreed to match the recent election promise of its opposition ... Labor shadow minister for early childhood education and development, Amanda Rishworth, announced the bipartisan agreement during an interview with the ABC last week.
Grateful reflections
Our community achieves an epic milestone this week with the 100th edition of Naracoorte News. Your support has helped us achieve our community dividend of over 1.2 million words of local stories published and more than $65,000 donated to local service, arts, and sports groups. I am filled with gratitude as I write to you. We launched in May 2020 because of our unified disdain for Australian Community Media’s disgraceful corporate behaviour that stopped our paper and told us we were not worthwhile.
Childcare for coast
Gabrielle Duykers. Kingston has been promised a new $1.8 million childcare centre under a re-elected Morrison government, just months after the local council was denied funding to establish the facility. Childcare shortages in the small coastal town have been an issue for more than 30 years.
Councils warned: ‘Don’t lose access’
Chris Oldfield. Regardless of the number of cars using a road, if there is access “don’t lose it”, a leading Australian road expert, Tyrone Toole has warned councils. Even if a local government body thinks there is no other way than to delete a road, Mr Toole suggests the council “takes another look at it”. His comments followed questions by The News regarding the Shuard’s La debacle – a 600m stretch across a wet low-lying area enabling all-weather access to farms. Without community consultation, Naracoorte Lucindale Council deleted it and others from its road register.
Jam-packed program for Arts Festival
Katie Moorhouse. Paintings made into puzzles, recycled metal sculptures, and the Penola RSL’s artistic showcase of ‘Animals in Wartime’ are just some of the eclectic exhibitions on show over the weekend of May 12 – 15 as part of the 2022 Penola Coonawarra Arts Festival.
Agricultural research cut
Gabrielle Duykers. Localised farm trials in the Limestone Coast and western Victoria will be significantly reduced after a research and innovation body chose to reprioritise its spending ... Historically, the Mackillop Farm Management Group (MFMG) used funds from its members to conduct variety trials in areas throughout the region where there are either no National Variety Trial sites, where nearby trial sites have different growing conditions to those on members' farms, or to conduct specific cropping trials as selected by the committee. Earlier this month the group announced it would cease funding these trials indefinitely, citing rising running and management costs.
