Business

The pub on Casino’s busiest roundabout is up for sale. No one is saying how much it is expected to sell for but Hotel Cecil is on the market ... In 1919, the Cecil was cut into pieces and dragged by a bullock team to its current site on Centre St. This is the first time in 45 years it has been on the market.

Geoff Helisma. After many years of secret negotiations between Clarence Valley Council and Essential Energy, Coffs Harbour City Council and CVC will each hold a 50 per cent share of “the disused Nymboida Hydro Power Scheme and associated water licences” once the deal is settled ... However, it seems that recommissioning the hydro infrastructure to generate electricity is unlikely to proceed.

Emma Pritchard. Grafton Fire Station is among 30 across the state outlined in a proposal by Fire and Rescue NSW to be temporarily taken offline in the event of staff shortages ... If implemented, Grafton Fire and Rescue 306 Station Deputy Captain Chris Rumpf said the proposal could jeopardise the safety of residents who rely on the service.

A nationwide operation has been launched aiming to bolster the supply of local workers to help deliver this year’s bumper grains harvest and relieve pressure on farming communities. Retired and former ADF servicemen and women are being motivated and mobilised under Operation Grain Harvest Assist, to answer the call-up and work on grain farms stationed throughout Australia.

I’m all for saving forests. Unlike the climate change enthusiasts, I learnt how to do it by working as a forester. Forty years ago, after I’d started working in the bush, Neville Wran commenced what has become a tradition amongst Labor Premiers by saving NSW’s rainforests. They were actually quite safe then. Some were selectively logged and regenerated, some were preserved in Flora Reserves. All were protected from wildfire by the clean, open, grassy eucalypt forests around them – maintained by mild burning ... Now Mark McGowan has saved the forests  of the Southwest ...

“There is a terrible lack of rental accommodation in town at the moment and this is something we have identified to see if we can do something about it,” says Cook Shire mayor, Peter Scott. “We’ve been talking to super funds and investment companies about the prospect of investing money into the blocks and building them for rent.”

Cairns and the Whitsundays are closer than ever to Rockhampton with the first SkyTrans flight touching down in Rockhampton for the first time yesterday afternoon ... “Watching that first Dash 8-100 touch down yesterday was actually quite the moment because I know how much this new route will mean to our community and visitors,” Mayor Williams said.

Mark Knowles. Cape York residents now have unprecedented access to specialist medical care and diagnostics via a new mobile health clinic operated by Heart of Australia. Its new truck, “HEART 4” will see specialists from all over the country unite to give residents in Cooktown and the southern Cape access to cardiology, sonography, cardiac monitoring, sleep diagnostics and respiratory services.

Weipa Town Authority chairman Michael Rowland says he was blown away by the response to the town’s new sports facility at Saturday’s official opening. Hundreds flocked to the Weipa Aquatic Sports Precinct for the festivities, which saw tennis legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley cut the ribbon with Rio Tinto Weipa boss Michelle Elvy.

Six meerkats are getting set to make their public debut at Rockhampton Zoo this week, just in time for the September school holidays. The new meerkat mob now call the Rockhampton Region home – after arriving all the way from Taronga Zoo.

Under the State Purchasing Contract, all Victorian government entities such as local councils, schools, kindergartens and health facilities will be forced to bank with either the NAB, Westpac or the Commonwealth Bank. It is a move that is being strongly rejected by towns that rely on community banks ... “The big banks abandoned country Victoria in recent years – the last thing we should be doing is rewarding them with guaranteed business": Bev McArthur, Member for Western Victoria Region.

Back for its highly anticipated second year,  Strings Attached: The West  Australian Guitar Festival  is bringing together players, makers and enthusiasts of the stringed-persuasion for a weekend of guitar-fuelled entertainment in Margaret River, WA.

Yesterday  Yanchep News Online  reported Opposition Transport spokesman Shane Love had called for the McGowan Government to answer legitimate questions about whether the Yanchep rail extension was on budget and on time. Today in his first Budget as Treasurer the Premier Mark McGowan said as well as the Yanchep rail extension being deferred one year the Joondalup Light Auto Workshop had also been deferred one year with completion now expected in mid‑2024.

Gabrielle Duykers. Wool processing factory MiniJumbuk is planning a $500,000 expansion for its Naracoorte retail shop in an effort to attract more tourists ... Marketing manager Darren Turner said the business wanted to create an “engaging” experience for visitors. “You’ll be able to walk out into a safe environment and see manufacturing happening. We want to be able to show how things are still made here in Australia.”

Port Hedland Council has endorsed a proposal from Aviair to provide financial support to continue operating four return weekly inter-regional flights from Port Hedland, connecting the port city with Karratha, Newman and Broome over the next five years.

Macquarie has sold its 105,000 hectare Lawson Grains portfolio for more than half a billion dollars to Sydney-based New Forests and Canada’s Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo). The portfolio comprises more than 70 assets – or 10 aggregations – across Western Australia and New South Wales that Macquarie Agriculture had collected since the fund’s launch in 2012.

Blaming bushfires on forestry is just another attempt from those ideologically opposed to forestry to shut down an industry they fundamentally disagree with. There is a constant pattern of behaviour from the those who disagree with the forestry industry of using misinformation and cherry picking from report and science to support their claim. As we currently stand there is no unequivocal or generally accepted evidence that forestry operations increase fire risk.

“The IFA/AFG is concerned that professional forest scientists, researchers and managers do not appear to have been consulted to inform this decision, and also questions whether the views and aspirations of Traditional Owners have been considered,” IFA/ AFG VP Dr Freeman said. “This thought-bubble policy is out of step with the rest of the world, which views well-regulated, sustainable native forest management and biodiverse plantings as the preferred source of timber, because of their positive contribution to climate change mitigation, biodiversity and forest resilience."