Business

Brown and Hurley are putting Kyogle on the map. The team at Kyogle have won the PACCAR Customer Excellence award ... Kevin Hogan acknowledged the Brown and Hurley group in Federal Parliament. “This once small country garage now employs over 460 staff across 13 locations.

Pollies visited timber operations in Kyogle and surrounds to see how environmental factors could work with the industry’s economics to strengthen sustainability. The focus for the visit was state parliament’s inquiry into the sustainability of the timber and forest industry.

Geoff Helisma. Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) Catherine Cusack will table the Clarence Catchment Alliance’s (CCA) anti-mining petition in the NSW Upper House ... Ms Cusack said she was “actually feeling like I’m participating, today, in the community consultation process that the Clarence Valley has been denied”.

The Hon Keith Pitt MP, Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia and Mr Phillip Thompson OAM, MP, Member for Herbert, Joint Media Relase. The Coalition Government is investing $20 million in a Global Resources Strategy which will help diversify exports and find new markets for Australia’s resources and technology. Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia Keith Pitt launched the new global strategy in Townsville with Member for Herbert, Phillip Thompson. Minister Pitt said it will help to strengthen Australian resources exports and promote Australia as a reliable and responsible supplier to the world.

Janene Carey. A record-breaking number of people poured through the gates of the Bellingen Agricultural Show on the weekend of May 8-9. Show Society President Gillian Anderson said this year’s COVID-safe requirements were also an opportunity to make the administrative side of the show more efficient by moving ticket sales and entries online.

Mark Berg has fished all over the world and been to most parts of Australia – including Cape York – but he’d somehow skipped Weipa. His life changed last week when he returned from a fishing trip with Far North Fishing as part of his television series, Mark Berg’s Fishing Addiction ... “It’s got to be the best place in Australia for fishing offshore with light tackle ... if not the world.

Weipa residents will enjoy a public holiday on Friday, September 3 after the date was able to be changed to accommodate the Weipa Fishing Classic. The annual event will be held from September 3 to 5, with the expectation that the fishing days will be Friday and Saturday in a small change to the format.

Cape York’s tourism season has officially begun after the Peninsula Developmental Road was opened to travellers at 4pm on Friday. Businesses all over the Cape, from Laura to Weipa, Portland Roads to Bramwell Station and the Archer River to Punsand Bay are expecting 2021 to be the busiest season on record.

Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th May, 2021. Walgett Show is the main event on Walgett Show Society's calendar. It is held at Walgett Racecourse and Showground, typically on Mother's Day weekend each year. The Show brings together Walgett Shire residents and visitors are welcome.

The Nyngan Show will be held this Sunday 9th & Monday 10th May. We have a great line up of events and entertainment, including Walter Whip who'll be conducting a workshop during both days and performing at the rodeo Sunday night and before the fireworks show on Monday night.

We select a wine, in a restaurant, a bottleshop, or - so as to not show my age – online. In making this choice one considers variety, region, vintage, style as well as reputation of the brand, price, medal stickers on the bottle and personal preferences – just to name a few ... Winemakers like to pick grapes at what they consider to be optimum ripeness, a balance of sugars, acid and flavour development which best suits the wine they wish to make.

The 20th Ord Valley Muster, from 21 to 29 May 2021, features an outstanding line-up of over 30 events across nine exciting days including two nights of side splitting comedy, a real county rodeo, fringe shows, cultural experiences and performances, a traditional Corroboree, a secret suppers series, Art in the Park, music, early morning bliss with floating yoga boats and a family-friendly closing party that includes a diamond dig.

Kirstin Nicholson. Cohuna business, AWMA, opened its doors to the public last month providing an insight into what the business does ... Fish exclusion screens, penstocks, water control gates and trash screens are just some of AWMA’s products, each of which, is unique. Each is designed, engineered and manufactured specifically for the customer, the site, and for each application, in-house, in the industrial estate right here in Cohuna.

Narrandera, Lockhart and Temora shires are among the hot button areas in regional NSW for rural dryland property with prices reaching a staggering $12,000 per hectare. According to the Rural Bank’s overview of 2021 Australian farmland values released on Tuesday, cropping land in the Riverina is highly sought after.

Seven years ago the Josephs and other residents fought against coal seam gas mining in the Bentley valley. When the movement spread to Bentley from earlier activism at Glenugie and Doubtful Creek, the community far and wide was mobilised to take action and the decision to mine was eventually reversed ... Members of the renamed Bentley - Our Sustainable Future group know they can “do it again” and stop the expansion of the basalt quarry.

Agricultural commodity prices continue to perform well for Australian producers with cattle prices the most compelling after the benchmark Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) surpassed a record 900c/kg in April. The NAB Rural Commodities Wrap, released today, reports trends in global grain markets point to encouraging news for Australian grain growers, while wool prices continue their upward trend.

Australia can become a player in the billion-dollar global edible insect industry, producing nutritious, sustainable, and ethical products to support global food security, according to a new roadmap by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO ... CSIRO researcher and report co-author, Dr Rocio Ponce Reyes: “The worldwide edible insect market is expected to reach $1.4 billion AUD in value by 2023. Europe and the United States of America lead the western world market, with more than 400 edible-insect-related businesses in operation.”

As major work begins on the Wiigulga Sports Complex, 12 local sub-contractors and consultants who have been engaged to date to work with Lahey Constructions on the build were welcomed to the site today by Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan MP, State Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh MP and Coffs Harbour Mayor Councillor Denise Knight. More local sub-contractors will join the ranks as the project progresses.

A major fuel rupture on a Sea Swift vessel will cause freight chaos in Cape York and the Torres Strait over the coming weeks. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has suspended MV Trinity Bay, the main barge for Weipa, pending a full investigation into the cause of the diesel spill, which leaked into the living quarters on the vessel.

A derelict building filled with pigeons, broken windows and damp, rotting timber isn’t usually the definition of Art Deco beauty. When that building is scored for an astonishing $1 though and revived, its transformation is just one of many putting Leeton on the map as the Art Deco capital of regional Australia.