Business

A powerful show of community resilience and strength unfolded at Nobby ... as family, friends and supporters gathered to honour the life and legacy of 21 y/o Lauren Smith, whose life was cut short by epilepsy ... the Smith family, alongside local haulage company OBrienco Transport, officially unveiled a specially branded B-Triple truck dedicated to Lauren’s memory...

Ivona Rose. When Donné Restom's writing mentor gave her the prompt "these are the things I know about death", the exercise set the Umina Beach singer on a cathartic personal and professional journey. Grief and resilience evolved into the one-woman dark comedy show Everyone in My Family Is Dead or About to Be, set for Gosford's Fun Haus Factory ...

Normanby Aboriginal Corporation and Esparq Ventures have announced they have raised $600,000 as part of their mission to raise $10 million to commercialise, launch, and nationally scale their innovative and sustainable enterprise, Bush Beef ... ethical, climate-friendly food sources are in growing demand ... ARR.News found out more from Dominiqe Bird of Esparq Ventures.

The town's time capsule was installed in its new home last week, lowered carefully from above onto the original stand. Once displayed in the grounds of the former St Paul's Church, in Moppett Street, the time capsule was donated to the town by David Kenton, when he purchased the land from the church several years ago.

Madison Eastmond. Crowds of Riverlanders lined the main street of Barmera for the annual Christmas pageant and firework display ... the community gathering providing another successful showing of local festive cheer and spirit despite the weekend heatwave.

More than 70 community members gathered at a meeting in Charlton this week to discuss the current temporary closure of the Charlton Shire Hall due to the potential friable asbestos identified in the decorative brickwork wall cavities in June ... Laboratory analysis confirmed the presence of Amosite asbestos within cavities ...

Five Riverina growers and one labour hire provider have been issued compliance notices following surprise inspections by the Fair Work Ombudsman, with combined back payments totalling $5,710 ordered for four employees. The Fair Work Ombudsman conducts unannounced workplace visits across Australia to verify that employers are paying correct wages and overtime rates, issuing proper pay slips and providing information about employee rights.

I feel 2025 has been one of the most instructive leadership years I can remember. We have seen plenty of leadership lessons and styles on the world stage, much of it on what not to do! Many regional and rural businesses have faced uncertainty, skill shortages, rising expectations from staff, rapid shifts in technology, and the everyday pressures of running operations that never stop. Yet it has also been a year where I’ve watched extraordinary leadership rise from ordinary circumstances.

Community feedback confirmed grocery and fuel purchases are essential and today’s changes mean that from 1 January 2026, most retailers must accept cash for in-person transactions of $500 or less between 7am and 9pm. Small businesses with aggregate annual turnover under $10 million will be exempted from the mandate, however, the mandate will apply to small businesses that choose to share a trademark with a larger retailer.

Woodfordia’s Festival of Small Halls has announced that Irish/Canadian powerhouse Irish Mythen and Australian folk troubadour Kaurna Cronin will feature on their next tour in March 2026, which takes in 13 regional Victorian towns while also visiting the magnificent Port Fairy Folk Festival.

The Nationals WA have called for urgent action after widespread power outages left more than 24,000 homes and businesses across the Mid West and Geraldton without electricity today [14 December 2025] on a day where temperatures exceeded 35 degrees in parts of the region.

Practically at our back door are these exquisite murals painted in Griffith. Located in Banna Lane, and with over 30 large-scale murals, the Griffith art trail is constantly evolving, making it the perfect weekend adventure for locals and visitors alike.

Gemco Rail is proud to announce that wagon manufacturing is now established at our Karratha facility, marking a major step in bringing rollingstock capability into the Pilbara and closer to our customer operations.

Historic sale achieves $170K mare, equal Australian record $110K gelding, and exceeds $8 million for first time. The 51st Annual Dalby Australian Stock Horse Sale has cemented its position as the world's premier Stock Horse sale, delivering a historic weekend that shattered records and exceeded $8 million in sales for the first time in the event's history.

A study tracking not only the forces that drive drought but the damage it leaves behind has revealed that droughts have lasted longer in Australia in recent decades, especially in areas with the most people and farms. UNSW researchers analysed drought trends across Australia between 1911 and 2020 based on rainfall shortages and falling river and dam levels.

Horsham Rural City Council is thrilled to welcome The Australian Ballet to Horsham for a magical evening of world class dance, transforming the City Oval into an outdoor theatre. Ballet Under the Stars will delight audiences with a varied program of ballets ...

Five years after establishing a community-driven food system in the Upper Murray, the Acres & Acres Co-op paused operations at its retail outlet ... to review the business. Following a trial period, Acres and Acres is now operating under a new model and a new board ... "The new model has already allowed us to reduce the price of many products in-store as our markups are very low.

Gratitude may seem small, but in the hands of an authentic leader it becomes a powerful force that strengthens trust, lifts performance, and keeps regional teams connected, committed, and thriving.

Farm communities and landscapes cannot continue to be vandalised in the state government’s sledgehammer approach to powering the nation, NSW Farmers says. As renewable developers bulldozed rural landscapes, NSW Farmers' President Xavier Martin said it was clear the Minns Government was ignoring farm communities and the damage inflicted on them by their industrial scale developments.

Chris Elliot. Wilcannia residents in the space of less than 300 years have moved from the traditional wooden message stick that, while designed to carry a lot of data, had low transfer speed, as it depended on how fast the carrier walked. In 1866 it took 70 days for a letter to come from London to Wilcannia. Now, at current average speed of 80Mbps you can send a 2-million-word document per second from Wilcannia to London.

When Shayne Sutherland and his partner Courtney Ann started Surf Camp Down Under, they had the goal of becoming the best surf school in Australia, and on Saturday night their ambitions were realised. Surf Camp Down Under was awarded the Surf School of the Year award at the 2025 Australian Surfing Awards...