Business

An increase in wheat prices helped lift the NAB Rural Commodities Index* by 3.2 per cent month-on-month in April, after the Index slipped 5.7 per cent month-on-month in March. NAB’s May Rural Commodities Wrap released today reports the Index is now around levels seen in April 2023.  

What is it about a street parade? ... Beef Week Street Parade draws a massive crowd into the CBD ... St Mary’s Primary School principal John O’Brien wore an 80s inspired outfit and with the students sang 80s hits  Poison  (Alice Cooper) and  Girls Just Want to Have Fun  (Cyndi Lauper) as they walked behind a truck where a gorilla(!) played drums.

The Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee released a report which recommends investment in the financial services available in rural and regional Australia to make up for the loss of services from bank closures in recent years. There are 596 Australian towns which once had a major bank branch but now do not have a bank branch at all. In most cases, our major banks left these towns with no plan on how financial services would be provided after a bank closure.

It may have taken 20 years but a Federal Government inquiry has finally made good on a warning that if the 'big four' banks did not improve their treatment of regional Australian customers, they would be stripped of the privilege to self-regulate. Many thought this day would never come but the most surprised must be the banks or they would have never behaved in the ways outlined in detail during a senate committee’s 15-month deep dive into the welfare and economic impacts of regional bank closures.  

A tavern, to cater for 800 patrons, proposed for the corner of Marmion Ave and Peony Blvd has been deferred for up to three months with a shortage of parking bays one of the issues highlighted. To be called The Carnaby the $3 million tavern is proposed to operate from 11.30am to midnight seven days a week.

Forestry Corporation has today reached an important milestone to explore the potential for windfarms within public pine plantations to contribute to the NSW transition to renewable energy … Neoen, Iberdrola Australia, TagEnergy and Mainstream Renewables Power and Someva Renewables joint venture have been awarded permits to investigate wind farm opportunities in some pine plantations…

Wilya Janta, an Aboriginal Housing consultancy has recently taken another step forward with their plans for sustainable housing in Tennant Creek and remote communities. They have taken a 60-year-old abandoned brick-making machine and given it a new lease on life.

Dale Tudor, a dedicated volunteer at the Maldon campus of Dhelkaya Health, shares his story to inspire others to join in giving back to the community. "After spending time visiting my dad here, I got to know the staff, and eventually, I decided to become a volunteer" ... Dale finds joy in connecting with both residents and staff.

Official recognition of banking as an essential service, the end of self-regulation of the banking industry and a pathway forward for the consideration of a new government bank are some of the key recommendations to come from a Senate inquiry into the impact of regional bank closures.

The commercial and industrial property tax reform will progressively abolish stamp duty and replace it with a more efficient commercial and industrial property tax ... ARR.News asked a question about primary production property, answered by a government spokesperson.

With renewed bucket list charm, the Great Northern Brewing Co. Cairns Amateurs Carnival gets the fun back on track in 2024 with three days of fashion, horse racing, social events, and pure springtime revelry from Thursday, 12 to Saturday, 14 September. Injecting more than $3 million into the region’s coffers each year, all eyes will once again be on Tropical North Queensland in September when Cairns’ iconic and time-honoured event puts on a show, drawing up to 10,000 city and country folk together in a colourful spectacle dating back to 1959.

Shaped by the highest volume of feedback since its inception in 2018, the 2023-24 annual GenCost report has been released ... GenCost is a leading economic report by CSIRO ... in collaboration with AEMO on the cost of building future electricity generation, storage and hydrogen production in Australia. The latest report introduces a range of changes in response to stakeholder feedback, most significantly, the inclusion of large-scale nuclear for the first time.

After many years of planning by DownsSteam, the engine "Pride of Toowoomba" made its first official trip to and from Wyreema on Saturday morning. After waiting for many years, steam train fans were not going to miss out on the chance to ride the rails aboard carriages hauled by the refurbished "Pride of Toowoomba" ...

Barham & District Medical Centre, our community owned facility, will transition to a new management team in the coming weeks. The Executive Committee of Local Health Medical Trust (LHMT) met with the Kingston Village Super Clinic team on Friday morning to discuss details and assist with their smooth transition into the Barham-Koondrook community.

Barham is currently hosting the inaugural bowls Over 60s State Carnival. The previous format of Over 60s State Championships had 16 bowlers participating. With the new State Carnival event, 750 bowlers with 1,000 entries have made their way to Barham.

Australia’s longest-running culinary competition for emerging chefs is coming to Grafton ... Assessed to globally recognised standards, each chef will have two and a half hours to prepare and present two plates of a main course and a dessert to the panel of judges.

FLTLT Kristi Adam. The tiny town of Nhill in the Wimmera region of far west Victoria, was once home to Executive Officer of 100 Squadron, Squadron Leader Samuel da Graca Costa, who recently returned representing Air Force at the Nhill Air Show - flying the CA-25 Winjeel.

Kimberly Grabham. ‘Make Balranald great again’. This was the resounding message and vibe of a recent meeting held at the Discovery Centre Café ... Recently appointed Director of Governance, Business and Community Services, Glenn Carroll said it was time for Balranald to take the reins and benefit from the significant boom the area is having...

No-one ever said preserving and restoring a silo complex would be easy. A passionate group of volunteers is working hard towards this goal, spending dozens of hours every month fixing floorboards, replacing rotting wooden posts, and applying for grants.