Business

Perched on the Banks of the Cygnet River, the Kangaroo Island Racing Club is a proud country racing club, with one of the largest membership bases of any country racing club in South Australia.

Country racing always has a story to tell, but none like King Islands. Situated in the middle of the Western Entrance to Bass Strait. The King Island Racing Club Incorporated should logistically not have survived over 125 years of racing.

This years event will be a little different! We will be hosting a range of new entertainment including, jumping castles, water slides, petting zoo, mechanical bull and so much more! Join us on Friday the 17 of December from 5:00 pm for the festivities!

A shortage of hospitality workers has driven Business NSW to call on the government to change the rules about how much pensioners can earn without it affecting their pension. A Business NSW 2021 Skills Survey data highlighted the deepening staffing crisis across the state with particular concern for regional hospitality businesses.

A flower farm by the Richmond River sounds ideal. Planting and picking daisies, gladioli and sunflowers on a sunny day as the goats and Belted Galloway cows munch grass and a chatty duck wanders the 30 garden beds. It sounds idealistic but it’s a lot of hard work. Suellen Thompson and Gray Pritchett moved from Brisbane in March to the 70ha old dairy farm on the Coraki Woodburn Rd and set up Field and Flower.

John McNamara and Sue Spence. Strolling across the grassy threshold of Pilot Hill towards the lighthouse you feel you are entering a timeless realm steeped in history and unspoilt natural beauty. The stark white tower is a spectacular sight up close, especially when you look up at it against a bright blue sky; it defies its humble beginning. When the Pilot Station was established in 1854 crossing the river bar was a major obstacle to navigation.

Emma Pritchard. Grafton has officially welcomed the newest members of its royal family ... two beautiful ladies and two gorgeous young girls, proudly walked up to the stage in Market Square after their names were read out to formally assume their new roles and begin another chapter in the long and proud history of the Jacaranda Festival.

The NSW Sugar crushing season for 2021 officially finished last week with Harwood Mill taking the final delivery of cane on Monday 29th  November. The crop for the Harwood area totalled around 575,000 tonnes which was down on the original forecast.

The federal government has released draft legislation on the reinsurance pool for cyclones and related flood damage which could bring down costs for Cape York residents ...Member for Leichardt Warren Entsch said it was anticipated more than 500,000 residential, strata and small business property insurance policies in northern Australia were expected to be eligible to be covered by the reinsurance pool.

Despite recent flood and rain damage in the eastern states, the ABARES Agricultural Commodities: December Quarter is forecasting a history-making agricultural gross production value of $78  billion – $5.4  billion more than predicted just a few months ago. The value of agricultural exports is forecast to hit a record $61 billion.

After a year of lockdowns the Moooving Art herd have broken loose to explore the region and the Greater Shepparton Visitor Centre needs your help rounding them up! Wandering away from their usual sites, the cheeky cattle have left behind a list of clues to solve before they return home. The treasure hunt consists of several cow locations around the region including Shepparton, Mooroopna, Merrigum, Murchison, Tatura and Dookie.

The Regional Venue Collective is a co-operative approach to venue management between three venues, the Byron Theatre, The Regent in Murwillumbah and Star Court Theatre in Lismore in the adjoining LGAs of Lismore Shire, Tweed Shire and Byron Shire. The venues have come together to host nominated shows and tours and to incubate the creation of original works to tour the region and further afield.

Earlier this year, Rockhampton Regional Council and Queensland Police Service Rockhampton stood united in support of women’s safety by endorsing a locally run initiative – the OzAngel program. Designed to provide businesses with support and resources, OzAngel offers patrons a discreet way to raise the alarm when they feel unsafe in bars, clubs and hotels.

Motherland Australia has announced enrolments are open for its nation-wide rural mothers group service which will return in 2022. Motherland Village is a six-week personalised program delivered entirely online that matches rural mums to their own small support group. The initiative mobilises mothers from across the country and enables them to form meaningful connections and friendships.

Tasmania’s economy continues to surge as the latest ABS export statistics reveal a record export figure of $4.225 for the 12-months to October 2021. This is 18.6 per cent higher than the previous year and marks a run of three consecutive months when the annual export figures have exceeded the $4 billion mark.

If Alan Lyons isn’t fulfilling his duties as clerk of the course at racetracks around the state, there’s a good chance you’ll find him at his Strathalbyn stables training ex-racehorses for the next stage of their career ... preparing them for clerk of the course positions. “The first thing is to take them away from what they’re used to,” Lyons said.

Recent catastrophic bushfires and reports of threats to species have highlighted concerns about the management of Australia’s forests. Most prominently, there are increasing concerns that forest management is failing to ensure forest health, build ecosystem resilience and protect threatened species. These concerns are real, but the key drivers are not well understood. A body of opinion and media coverage often presents timber harvesting as the primary threat to forest ecosystems and suggests that creating more national parks will protect threatened species and habitats and reduce the risk of severe bushfires. Yet the situation is far more complex.

Sheryl Lowe. Father Woods Park statues will be the focus of discussions between Wattle Range Council and the Penola Catholic Community in coming weeks ... Cr Price successfully moved for Council to approach the Catholic Church leaders at Penola to see if they would support the relocation of the statues to Penola due to the safety concerns at the current site.

Workers from the EPIC (Employment Preparation and Inclusion in the Community) program have been assisting in the restoration of Porcupine Village since July this year. The group, which rotates its participants through the village twice a week, initially began by clearing out the historic buildings, and are now focused on doing a number of other jobs around the place, including yard work.

The community is awaiting follow up from local Member for Bendigo West, Maree Edwards, regarding the petition to close local wetlands to recreational duck shooting and instead make them a sanctuary for the threatened species which call them home. The petition attracted just under 500 signatures, mostly local, compared to a petition by shooters to have duck shooting remain which obtained 21 signatures (11 local).