Law & order

The NSW Government will not proceed with the Environmental Protection and Assessment Amendment (Private Native Forestry) Bill. While this Bill upholds all existing protections for the environment, we will continue to have further conversations with local councils to progress legislation that unites communities and industry.

The NSW Government is hanging regional councils and koalas out to dry with their latest plan to remove the right of local government to be involved with approvals for private native forestry. The koala wars that have defined the last 4 years of this coalition government are being refuelled under the noses of Liberal ministers and democratically elected councils by The Nationals: Sue Higginson, Greens NSW MP.

NSW Farmers CEO Pete Arkle has criticised environmental politics holding up rebuilding efforts across the state, saying we need less talk, more action ... Mr Arkle said the independent Natural Resources Commission described the new Private Native Forestry Codes as a significant improvement over the previous codes, with a number of additional environmental protections relating to koalas, unmapped streams and harvesting intensity limits.

Clarence Nationals MP Chris Gulaptis has welcomed the certainty the Bill provides to the timber industry and the significant koala protections included. “Farm forestry is a vital component of the NSW timber industry, generating about $482 million and employing 835 people on the North Coast alone,” Mr Gulaptis said.

A North Queensland football coach and first aid officer who has spent his life working with troubled youth has put his hand up to assist in rehabilitation of criminal offenders through a trial of Katter’s Australian Party’s Relocation Sentencing policy. Relocation Sentencing, which has long been touted by the North Queensland-based party as “circuit-breaker solution” to the unrelenting youth crime crisis, would involve repeat offenders being sent to remote properties to work the land while completing compulsory therapeutic programs over a 6-12 month period.

The Woodenbong Pool and the new playground next to the pool were damaged by vandals on the weekend ... “This latest incident follows a series of incidents in Kyogle and other villages, and in particular the Kyogle pool and surrounding precinct. This increase in vandalism and destructive behaviour is of particular concern to council, and alarmingly the majority of those involved are children”: Kyogle Council general manger Graham Kennett.

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Victoria has found state-owned logger VicForests has logged illegally, and ruled for the first time that VicForests must protect threatened Gliders. Environment East Gippsland and Kinglake Friends of the Forest brought the case in 2021, to protect endangered Gliders in East Gippsland and the Central Highlands ... The groups are calling for the state Labor Government to end logging now, not in 8 years’ time.

The first shipment of magnetite from the revitalised Peko Rehabilitation Project was heralded by media across the Territory but the news didn’t go down well with Tennant Creek locals. The announcement angered local businesses after the good news coverage of Elmore Limited’s maiden shipment because they are waiting to get paid for services provided to the company.

A total of 19 species of flora and fauna have been recommended for interim protection relating to forestry operations, according to the Threatened Species and Communities Risk Assessment report. The next step will be to prepare action statements for each species based on the management needed to conserve them all.

Tough new measures to allow authorities to better monitor the movements of convicted bushfire offenders during the fire danger season will be introduced to State Parliament this week. The Bill delivers on an election commitment to help keep the community safe from firebugs.

Australia's banking regulator has been significantly over-stating regional branch numbers for decades due to false reporting by banking institutions. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) became aware of the errors in May 2021 and has been quietly correcting the hundreds of instances where banks have claimed they are providing full branch services – including the face-to-face provision of cash – but have not been.

Australia's banking regulator is picking and choosing which banks it is allowing to get away with breaking the law by misreporting whether their sites offer cash service provided by a teller. Errors in hundreds of minor and foreign bank sites included in the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s points of presence data for years, even decades, have been corrected over the past 17 months after being exposed by The Regional in May 2021.

On the night of October 2nd, 66 citizen scientists surveyed for endangered Greater Gliders in native forest across Victoria. The state government has either released these areas of forest for logging in the current Timber Release Plan or plans to release them under the proposed Timber Release Plan (TRP). Surveys were carried out in six locations across the state: Toolangi, Black Range (near Taggerty), Warburton, Wombat, Alberton West, and Colquhuon forest, East Gippsland ... ARR.News ask KFF a few questions.

Ahead of National Barramundi Day, Queensland fishers, restaurateurs and pro-Aussie politicians are imploring the Palaszczuk Labor Government to lead the way on Country-of-Original-Labelling (CoOL) labelling laws. A bill currently before the Queensland Parliament, known as the Food (Labelling of Seafood) Amendment Bill 2021, will go to a vote next Tuesday 25 October.

If you see an advertisement for livestock that sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn’t. True, that is. The Rural Crime Prevention Team has warned farmers to be cautious of scammers pretending to sell livestock online through social media and other marketplace platforms.  

The release of the Australian banking regulator’s annual points of presence data this week will be an integrity test for both its chairman Wayne Byres and Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and Treasury are both in possession of a list of 149 bank sites that do not meet the legal definition of a branch under federal legislation. Most of them have been falsely listed in government data by their Australian and foreign owners for years.

The sentencing judge of the former Tennant Creek Post Office Manager described her money laundering crimes as "sophisticated". It was revealed Rebecca Liebelt (36) made 72 fake deposits totalling over $400,000, with $138,000 deposited in her own bank account and $266,749 into her joint account with husband Greg.

Murrumbidgee Shire Council has adopted a revised Shipping Container Policy. The Shipping Container Policy was adopted by Council in 2019 to establish development standards for the use and siting of shipping containers within the Murrumbidgee Shire.

And she’s off! Jeanette ‘Netty” Foy-Wilson left Kyogle on Monday morning, October 10 on her ride to the Gold Coast ... The Stop it where it starts tour aims to raise money to buy education courses for local schools to teach children about safe relationships.

Rodney Stevens. Eight years of frustration by local community group Valley Watch over Clarence Valley Council not releasing important Yamba floor level survey results will now be subjected to a review by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Valley Watch spokes-person Helen Tyas Tunggal said 14 years after Yamba’s existing flooding problem was identified in council’s 2008 flood study, and eight years since professional floor level surveys were done in 2014, affected residents are still unable to access the results.