Business

Corryong Health welcomed community members to its first public Town Hall meeting last week which provided the opportunity to submit questions regarding the health service and hear directly from board directors and the interim CEO, Nicole Martin ... This is the busiest time of the year with flu and Covid still present and yet there are not enough doctors. Who is responsible for organising this and why hasn’t it been?

The new MLC Principal, Rebecca Clarke, together with key staff members, will be attending the Dowerin Machinery Field Days. It is the school's first visit in recent years, but the Field Days are familiar territory for boarders, Addison Kellerberrin and Jodie Mukinbudin. “It’s a really good event that gets the whole Wheatbelt community together,” says Jodie.

Restoration of the Riverina’s largest woolshed and its conversion into a museum and major tourist attraction is gaining momentum, with locals hopeful they will officially own five acres of land containing old shearers’ quarters and sheds within weeks. Toganmain Station, located between Darlington Point and Carrathool, was established in 1867 as one of the first grazing properties in the region.

Top Camp’s Damian McAleer is taking part in the first ever Toowoomba Studio Art Trail, a celebration of local artists that will take place over the four weekends of September. In just five years, Damian has transformed from someone who hadn’t picked up a paint brush since his youth to someone running out of space in his house for all his paintings.

Bonza takes a bite out of the ‘Apple Isle’ as it reveals Launceston as its newest destination with the first ever year round direct service from the Gold Coast* starting this November. Flights from just $79 per person (one way) are on sale today [24 August 2023] via the Fly Bonza app.  

AMA NSW President Dr Michael Bonning has slammed the NSW Government for announcing a Special Commission of Inquiry focused on cuts to hospital care.  

The native hardwood industry welcomed announcement by Minister Tierney to offer additional support for workers, contractors, communities and new regional businesses but was disappointed that the mill exit package  doubly punished those businesses that had acted in good faith, said Deb Kerr, CEO of the Victorian Forest Products Association (VFPA).  

It’s enough to make your heart beat faster: Dollars and visitor numbers graphs shooting skywards, heading for $5.3 billion (yes – with a “b”) in earnings from 2.7 million visitors. Wow. Before your blood pressure too goes through the roof, note that the numbers are demand targets, as operators were told by the Department of Tourism last week, in an update of what’s snappily called the T2030 Strategy.

A growing health crisis in the Clarence Valley which has locals waiting up to a month to see a doctor has seen the Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan call on the Albanese Government to “End the Rural Doctor Crisis now” … infrastructure and services in the Clarence Valley are insufficient to cope with the population growth, and the wait to get an appointment to see a doctor is increasing.

Chlamydia is a significant and widespread threat to the koala, impacting their reproductive health and causing infertility. This project will trial a new vaccine implant which would allow for koalas to receive their ‘booster’ dose of vaccine via the implant.

Senators Matthew Canavan and Slade Brockman, have expressed their disgust in the cowardly decision of the National Australia Bank to close its Waroona branch just one week after a Senate inquiry on regional banking was in the region. NAB has announced that they will be closing their Waroona branch on 17 November this year, leaving the town without a bank.

Farmers have rallied against reckless renewables outside Queensland Parliament House, urging Labor to rethink its plans to destroy prime agricultural land and pristine rainforest and animal habitat throughout Queensland ... Federal Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud said Labor’s reckless race to achieve 82 per cent renewables by 2030 needed a Senate Inquiry.

Michelle Daw. Community members are being urged to volunteer for five vacant roles on the Yorke Peninsula Health Advisory Council. Member for Narungga Fraser Ellis, who is the local MP representative on YPHAC, and retiring YPHAC member Rod Thomas have both encouraged local people to consider joining the group.

Here is a summary of the Kyogle Council meeting on Monday, August 14. Councillor Danielle Mulholland brought up the issues around the Bonalbo Multi Purpose Service … The monthly financial report elicited a discussion about how and where council invests its money.

Transmission Company Victoria (TCV) has refined the 5km to 50km VNI West area of interest into a draft corridor for the VNI West project ... Each landholder will be appointed a landholder liaison, who will be their key contact and able to help answer questions on important issues...

People are not taking time off work every Friday during footy season to drive hundreds of kilometres to the next closest bank to get money to pay the players and run the bar for the fun of it. Or drawing on their annual leave to get the cash float for the local show. You don’t clock up more than 500km in two days trying to find a bank that is open to make a security deposit to see the country and you don’t place advertisements in the local paper for coin to provide change at the post office to make new friends.

Allan Marshall recently published an excellent article outlining the important role live sheep exports play in delivering multiple benefits, especially improved animal welfare and global food security ... So why does this closure of the live sheep trade concern Grain Producers Australia?

Oaten hay is more than a simple source of fodder fibre, and new research is backing up this well-known theory. A study from the University of Melbourne has shown that high-quality oaten hay could improve animal production, especially in dairies and feedlots, and support the sustainable development of dairy production both in Australia and overseas.

Behind every rider, from the smallest pony club member to the elite competitor at the Olympics, is a person following with a box full of grooming equipment ... the annual FEI Best Groom Award has paid tribute to the heroes behind the scenes ... last year’s winner, Emma Olsson ... works for six-time world driving champion Boyd Exell.