Interview

“Well, it’s very interesting because before Le Sel I’d never been in hospitality at all. Le Sel has been a totally different direction. I spent about 45 years of my life mainly doing interior restoration work, spending a lot of time in Melbourne, doing historical restoration, working for the National Trust and so forth. Then we came to Maldon": Serge, Le Sel.

What has your experience been of returning to Wilcannia in 2023? It was a delight to see many of my dear friends. One of my white friends wrote about my visit on social media and 90 people responded to it. It was a shock!

Why is our general practitioner system broken, and how do we fix it? Rural communities in the South East continue to face GP shortages, and the closure of many small-town medical clinics because of our failure to attract and retain specialist doctors is putting rural patients at risk.

Scott Duxbury from YF.TV discusses the challenges and opportunities in achieving sustainable food production and reducing greenhouse gas emissions with Matthew Harrison, lead author of the research report 'Clarifying confusions over carbon conclusions' from the University of Tasmania. The discussion explores strategies such as soil carbon sequestration, regenerative agriculture, and reducing food waste that can help us move towards a more sustainable and equitable food system.

Proving age is no barrier regarding charitable acts, Lachlan Baker, in Year 6 at Trinity Anglican School (TAS) Kewarra Beach campus hosted a dinner and trivia event, raising $1255 for local charity COUCH. Lachlan tells ARR.News about his first, and very successful, fundraising experience.

Melina Morrison, BCCM CEO, responds to the Westfund Regional Health Gap Report and answers a few questions from Australian Rural & Regional News ... "The co-operative business model, with its emphasis on grass roots democratic management, and sustainability, is ideally suited to providing care services in small and under-supplied markets."

#7 of a series: Peter Christen, owner of Maldon’s Panacea Estate winery and cellar door ... "Maybe in 20 years the kids will thank me?” So, how’s business?

The ‘Westfund Regional Health Gap Report’ shows that access to healthcare remains an ongoing issue for Australians in regional areas, with half (49 per cent) of respondents considering the wait time to see their GP unreasonable, some having to wait up to six weeks to get an appointment, and many having to travel more than two hours for an in-person consultation with specialists ... Mark Genovese, Westfund CEO, answers some questions from ARR.News about general trends, specific initiatives for specific areas, digital health care and more.

From the origins of BeeHero to success stories and future innovations, in this interview with Scott Duxbury from YF.TV, BeeHero's COO and co-founder Itai Kanot will shed light on the transformative impact of their solutions. Don't miss out on this fascinating conversation that explores the intersection of technology and sustainable agriculture.

Karin Donaldson asked well-known artist and teacher Uncle Eddy Harris how his life as an artist developed ... " In 1988, I started painting lizards and turtles on sandshoes. People who were interested in Aboriginal people and our practices were interested in what I was doing and they started buying them."

The year is 1979. How’s business? ... “It was like a corner store, a general store. Sold everything food wise, from ice cream to groceries, veggies ... And I bought the shop on condition I got the recipe for the ice blocks" ... Final question, Roger - where is the recipe for these ice blocks?

It's been a few seasons since Australian Rural & Regional News found out all about the innovative farm to plate online marketplace, Farmer to Fridge (formerly Half A Cow) from founder James Gilbert. Especially with prices the way they are, it's timely to find out how this young business is travelling, and what it has to offer meat producers and meat eaters too.

Optus has improved their coverage and increased network capacity in Brooms Head in Northern New South Wales, by switching on a new tower in the region to help residents, businesses, and tourists stay connected and give them a choice of network provider ... ARR.News asked a few further questions of Optus about the Brooms Head tower.

Australian Rural & Regional News finds out first hand from Sarah Watson what it was like to compete at international level in the triathlon championships in Hamburg and learns how she made it to this standard, and with a smile too.

Holly Throsby was a musician, singer, songwriter way before she was an author. She’d released five solo albums, toured extensively and been nominated for several ARIA awards before she shifted from writing song lyrics to writing story sentences ... Australian Rural and Regional News contributor, Serena Kirby spoke to Holly recently about her latest novel, Clarke, the writing process and asked about advice for would-be novelists.

“When our children come to us, and we’re available, we are there, and we’re listening, and it could just be just 30 seconds, it could be something very important they want to tell us, then stop and listen, send that message that we are available.” These thoughts come to a town that spends a great deal of time talking about a cohort of children, different ones from year to year but always around 50 to 120 of them, out in the streets at night, breaking into homes and businesses, trashing, stealing cars, torching some.

Barry Robinson. Maldon Inc members openly share their thoughts and experiences. #2 of a series: Barb and Graeme Ford, Maldon Newsagency ... they’ve seen lots of businesses come and go, and so we thought it would be good to hear any tips, traps, and tricks to running a successful business in Maldon.

Renee Pettitt-Schipp is the author of the award winning collection of poetry The Sky Runs Right Through Us and her latest offering, The Archipelago Of Us, is her first work of prose ... Renee recently chatted with Australian Rural and Regional News contributor Serena Kirby about her early interest in writing, her love of poetry and what she has in the pipeline as future works.

Ukraine could become the first country in the world where the evolution of agriculture will be replaced by devolution. The war makes farms and large agricultural holdings inefficient. These enterprises use large capital, hired labor, complex machinery, large plots of land and work for export. But war cannot destroy the private farms of the rural people.

Wiradjuri man Buddy Oldman is about to be immortalised in the history books. Under the guidance of the Guinness World Records, the World Champion Masters Boxer is proud to confirm that he will be punching a boxing bag for 72 hours to set a new world record to raise awareness for mental health ... Buddy answers a few questions from ARR.News.

The Voice will respect the tradition prohibiting people speaking for other people’s country, according to Thomas Mayo, one of the leading figures in the Yes campaign for the referendum this year. He and fellow campaigner Kerry O’Brien, a former prominent ABC journalist, appeared on the weekend in two well attended sessions at the NT Writers Festival in Alice Springs where they launched their Voice to Parliament Handbook ... Mr Mayo spoke with Alice Springs News editor, Erwin Chlanda.

Everybody loves a bit of romance and Australian author Karly Lane has made a living out of writing about it. With nearly 30 books to her name (and several more in the pipeline) Karly has become one of Australia’s best selling authors of rural and women’s fiction ... Serena Kirby recently caught up with Karly  to chat about her journey to becoming an author and why she chose romance as her genre of choice.