Council stands up to Irwin family
Cook Shire Council has refused to be intimidated by lawyers for the Irwin family and Australia Zoo, voting unanimously to keep the track known as Bertiehaugh Road open. The track, accessed via Stones Crossing, north of Weipa, has been a hot issue in the Cape for more than a decade.
NLC rates up by 2%
Chris Oldfield. Rates will go up by 2pc in the Naracoorte Lucindale Council area, according to a 2022-2023 draft $19.694m annual business plan and budget... Council also aims to raise a further $1.97m from service charges and levies on some of its citizens, $292,000 from statutory charges, as well as $2.189m from user charges and “commercial income”.
$5.9m plan to resolve flooding
The Narrandera Shire Council has endorsed its urban stormwater upgrade design for Narrandera and will place it on public exhibition until July 1 for the community to review the design and funding options and make submissions to Council ... Deputy General Manager (Infrastructure) Shane Wilson said the ultimate solution was $1,900,000 over the original pre-design estimate, which was never thought to be able to achieve such a substantial mitigation of the urbanised flooding.
Subdivision modified to preserve koala habitat
A positive outcome for both the environment and a developer has been successfully negotiated by Clarence Valley Council with the approval of modifications to a proposed subdivision at Lawrence ... Community concerns were first raised in November 2021 when a Development Application for the first house in the subdivision was lodged with Council, which would have impacted on koala habitat and feed trees in the road reserve.
Listen to the call of the Albert’s Lyrebird this June
Citizen scientists are once again being called upon to help record the call of the rare Albert’s Lyrebird to map and protect this vulnerable bird ... Data from the 2019, 2020 and 2021 winter calling seasons has been collected from sites at Mount Nullum and Numinbah near the NSW/Qld border.
GreaseBoss innovation goes for gold in world cup series
GreaseBoss, an Australian start-up founded in 2020 on the Sunshine Coast, is going for gold in the global award program dubbed the Innovation World Cup Series ... Three mining industry engineers launched the company after developing a novel system to automate the lubrication of heavy equipment and avoid the costly hassle of breakdowns.
Newspaper digitisation project, a glimpse into Soldier Settlement era
People anywhere in the world can now take a step back in time to what was making the news during our region’s Soldier Settlement years thanks to Mildura Rural City Council Libraries’ newspaper digitisation project.
Cave trail unveiled
Gabrielle Duykers. Naracoorte leaders are hoping a newly completed trail linking the township to the Caves National Park will boost tourism in the district ... The 14.7-kilometre-long walking and biking trail begins at Naracoorte’s Memorial Parklands and winds its way to the UNESCO world heritage Naracoorte Caves site.
Skywalk to go ahead
A decision on a controversial subject which has split the community was finally resolved when Narrandera Shire Council voted to proceed with the skywalk project during its meeting on Tuesday ... Narrandera Mayor Neville Kschenka was pleased a decision had been reached to give the project the green light and implied that Narrandera could be the catalyst for other councils to build their own skywalk.
It’s back to the future for Yamba floodplain planning
Geoff Helisma. Environmental watchdog, Valley Watch, first began predicting flooding of Yamba, as a result of developing West Yamba, in about 1995; on Sunday May 21, the group will present a more than 1,000-signature petition to the mayor, Ian Tiley (or his proxy), calling for a moratorium on further filling and development approvals on the Yamba floodplain. “Basically, the petition is demanding a well-designed master plan for West Yamba,” Valley Watch spokesperson Helen Tyas Tunggal said.
Politics plagues housing funding
More than 50 new homes will be built in Cape York communities to address major overcrowding issues, but the state government has taken all the credit, despite using federal funding. Not for the first time, the health and wellbeing of Queensland’s most remote and vulnerable residents has been politicised.
Councils vote to keep road open
Cook Shire Council briefed leaders on a move by Australia Zoo and Terri Irwin to seek the closure of the gazetted Bertiehaugh Road which traverses through part of the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve ... The council representatives had a busy agenda in Cooktown. Mayor Peter Scott said the TCICA gatherings were a highlight on the calendar.
East Timor 20 years of independence celebration
The Australian Timor Leste Friendship Network was established in 2009, and in the same year, Mount Alexander Shire entered into a Friendship Relationship Agreement with the sub-district of Lolotoe, Timor Leste and Friends of Lolotoe Timor-Leste Incorporated. This friendship is based on mutual support and respect for each other’s culture. The Friendship group started work raising funds for school infrastructure, school resources, scholarships and gardening programs.
Smart and Vickery: No response re national expert
Chris Oldfield. For more than a month, CEO Trevor Smart and Mayor Erika Vickery have not responded to questions relating to Australian Roads Research Board (ARRB) Chief Technology Leader, Asset Performance Tyrone Toole's expertise. Mr Toole has spent a lifetime building and researching roads around the world.
Road seals need accurate calculations
Chris Oldfield. When crunching numbers about whether to seal a road, the cost should be spread over 60 years "or as long as possible". Australian Road Research Board Chief Technology Leader, Asset Performance Tyrone Toole said it would be pointless to only spread the cost over 10 years.
Bush poet keen to rekindle John O’Brien centre
A push is on to rekindle interest in establishing a centre to honour one of Narrandera's most prominent figures from the past - Monsignor Patrick Hartigan ...better known under the pen name of John O'Brien, the legendary, internationally recognised pioneer poet ... Australian champion bush poet Noel Stallard took on the role of John O'Brien for 22 years in the annual John O'Brien Festival.
Iconic cars roll into town
Narrandera has taken a step back in time this week as the town hosts about 80 vehicles featuring iconic names as Renault, De Dion Bouton, Maxwell, Triumph, Humber and more for the Veteran Car Club of NSW rally.
Home of my own: Eight people move in to new affordable housing units
There were 120 applicants for the eight new affordable housing units in Casino. Eight people now have a home to call their own. Momentum Collective with support from the State Government opened the $2 million affordable housing building in South Casino on May 6.
The devil is in the detail – still a lengthy wait for Lockhart River
Lockhart River won’t see a fix to their telecommunications for at least a year, although the wait could be even longer. Despite last week’s announcement that Telstra would be awarded $3.5 million to improve the mobile phone networks in Lockhart River, Seisia and Cooktown, there is no plan in place to make it happen.
Housing tops agenda at regional TCICA meeting
TCICA chair and Kowanyama mayor Robbie Sands said that at least $1 billion was needed over the next decade in the Cape and Torres Strait to address housing shortages. “Both major parties have been silent on new Indigenous housing in remote communities, ignoring the fact that our people are facing entirely preventable diseases like rheumatic heart disease because of severe overcrowding,” he said.
Councils warned: ‘Don’t lose access’
Chris Oldfield. Regardless of the number of cars using a road, if there is access “don’t lose it”, a leading Australian road expert, Tyrone Toole has warned councils. Even if a local government body thinks there is no other way than to delete a road, Mr Toole suggests the council “takes another look at it”. His comments followed questions by The News regarding the Shuard’s La debacle – a 600m stretch across a wet low-lying area enabling all-weather access to farms. Without community consultation, Naracoorte Lucindale Council deleted it and others from its road register.
Dream comes true for local sport
The new clubhouse and changerooms at the Narrandera Sportsground were officially opened on Saturday with the Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke joining the Member for Farrer Sussan Ley, Narrandera Shire Council Mayor Neville Kschenka and members of the local community for the big event.
