Council

For 90 years paramedics have operated from the pale brick building on Centre St in Casino. Richmond Valley mayor Robert Mustow said he’d been to the station “a few times as a young boy to get stitched up.” All that is about to change after an announcement on Friday about a modern ambulance station to replace it ... Paramedic Hayley Hemmings said they had outgrown the station: “The new station will have a lot more infrastructure, new equipment and training spaces”.

Geoff Helisma. Damming the Clarence River has long been a controversial subject – and the draft regional water strategy for the north coast rules it out (for now) – but one Clarence Valley man hasn’t given up on the idea, although he’s not talking about diverting the river westwards. Lawrence resident John Ibbotson has spent considerable time and money developing his idea for a dam located downstream from where the Clarence and Mann rivers converge, despite the North Coast Regional Water Strategy discussing dam proposals under the heading “options not progressed”.

The Mildura Arts Centre (MAC) will host the premiere screening of a new documentary film inspired by the internationally recognised MAC Collection this month. An Improbable Collection is the work of renowned film director Bruce Beresford and photographer Cordelia Beresford and will been screened in the MAC Theatre at 7:30pm on Saturday 17 April. The film focuses on the colourful careers of artists Sir William Orpen and Sir Frank Brangwyn, whose works Bruce saw for the first time in London in the 1970s.

A new campaign is set to make a big difference in helping to reduce waste and provide more food security for our region. NE Waste in collaboration with Councils, Northern Rivers Food, Northern Rivers Area Health Service, NSW Environment Protection Authority and the Love Food Hate Waste Program, have been working to address issues around food waste, nutrition, food security and sustainability.

Rous Water has released its revised Draft Plan outlining its future water strategies and community members have eight weeks to respond – amid calls for the Dunoon Dam option to be put back on the table. Rous Water has outlined the challenges it faces in securing water supply in our region, including: population growth forecasts indicate a 37 per cent increase in drinking water demand by 2060; climate forecasts predict a reduction in available surface water of 22 per cent by 2060; and, on current growth, water demand will exceed reliable supply by 2024.

A tourism strategy revolving around events in Cape York will be rolled out this year as part of a joint initiative from councils in the region. The Cape York and Torres Strait Regional Events Strategy is an initiative of the Torres and Cape Indigenous Councils Alliance (TCICA). The strategy aims to increase tourism on the Cape and in the Torres Strait by developing frameworks for regional event coordination and event growth.

Western Downs Regional Council is supporting the region’s local artists to take part in a new three-day regional arts forum by offering a brand-new bursary program and presenting opportunities.

Sports Expos are organised by local councils and at Mt. Isa we had over 1,000 people attending the excellent indoor facility with 66 sports, hobby and community groups displaying what they had on offer.

“Many of our tourism industry work hard to ensure they have their product listed across online travel agency platforms like Wotif, showcasing the region and all of the wonderful experiences we have in our backyard, like our easy access to the Southern Great Barrier Reef, our food and drink heroes, our parks and gardens. This increases visibility for the Bundaberg Region and supports all of the other businesses in the region that benefit indirectly from the visitor dollar," says Bundaberg Tourism CEO Katherine Reid.

Bendigo and region is Australia’s first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, so this is the perfect way to highlight all we have to offer and help people design the perfect day trip or weekend away.

The meeting started with a community conversation with attendees forming groups afterwards to brainstorm ideas which were collected and collated to be presented at another meeting to be held in the coming weeks. Speakers included Barkly MLA Steve Edgington, The Mob Aboriginal Corporation’s Josephine Bethel, local business owner Steve Baldwin and Julalikari Council Aboriginal Corporation’s Dr Geoff Evans. The meeting was a civilised affair with residents and interested stakeholders focused simply on solutions.

A bitter stoush has erupted over a proposed water tower mural at Yerong Creek with the community labelling the art work as garish and cartoonish. A deputation to Lockhart Shire Council’s March meeting pleaded for a replacement design, with their petition of 100 signatures and suggestions passed on to a selection committee and a decision was due to be made this week. Residents were “insulted and angry” over the short consultation time frame on a design already endorsed by Council.

Geoff Helisma. The NSW Government has granted $30.8 million in funding to Clarence Valley Council (CVC) to replace 31 timber bridges in the Clarence Valley. The council was successful with 31 of 32 applications to the Fixing Country Bridges (FCB) program. Staff wrote in the report to yesterday’s March 30 CVC meeting that it was “an unprecedented amount of funding for timber bridge replacements in the Clarence Valley over the next two years”.

The town is divided over the NT Government’s new measures to tackle youth crime which will see young people who breach bail locked up. The automatic revocation of bail will apply to young people who reoffend while on bail, breach curfew or fail to attend court, for example. Police will have extended powers to use electronic monitoring on young people and powers to breath test youth who are behind the wheel of a car.

The star-gazing project at Mallanganee Lookout is exciting and ambitious. With expansive views across the Richmond Range, Mallanganee National Park and Hogarth Range Nature Reserve, the under-used lookout has the potential to attract thousands of visitors of the star-gazing kind.

Rockhampton Regional Council aren’t taking any rubbish when it comes to polluting our waterways. Last year Council installed a device known as a ‘Baffle Box’ on the riverbank, opposite the Pilbeam Theatre. Baffle Boxes are underground structures made up of different chambers that trap gross pollutants such as debris, trash, and other pollutants from stormwater that flows off streets and into storm drains after heavy rain.

At the November 2020 Council meeting, following the presentation of the 2020-21 Plant Replacement Report, Cloncurry Councillors voted to purchase a new grader. In partnership with Hastings Deering, part of the machine was painted blue to help raise awareness for men’s mental health.

This turtle nesting season, Sunshine Coast TurtleCare volunteers have been gifted with three separate visits from a special tagged (K90712) loggerhead turtle known as Mystify, who has laid her eggs at Buddina beach. Volunteers suspect that she lives close to the Sunshine Coast as she returns frequently to lay eggs – the normal or expected interval is four years, but Mystify returns every one or two years.

The Shire of Broome is seeking community input and feedback on a new strategy that will shape the organisation’s economic development activity for the next five years ... Tying in with the Shire’s long-term visionary strategies such as the Strategic Community Plan and Corporate Business Plan, the new draft economic document provides an overview on successful recent projects and details future potential opportunities.

“The damage to residents is they don’t feel safe in their own homes and there’s nothing the police can do because the courts just let them go" ... "We have had many break-ins and a lot of public assets damaged and it just goes on and on. Just months ago there was about $80,000 of damage to the Bowls Club and now it’s not available for public use and we can’t afford to fix it. We have spent tens of thousands of dollars fortifying buildings to keep the vandals out. They are not just stealing but destroying everything – it’s ridiculous”: local resident and Barkly Regional Council CEO, Steve Moore.

After hosting their largest exhibition on record, the 2020 Archibald Prize Regional Tour, the team at Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre is jumping straight into the next big exhibition, Sidney Nolan's iconic Ned Kelly series.