Politics

Community feedback confirmed grocery and fuel purchases are essential and today’s changes mean that from 1 January 2026, most retailers must accept cash for in-person transactions of $500 or less between 7am and 9pm. Small businesses with aggregate annual turnover under $10 million will be exempted from the mandate, however, the mandate will apply to small businesses that choose to share a trademark with a larger retailer.

Gemco Rail is proud to announce that wagon manufacturing is now established at our Karratha facility, marking a major step in bringing rollingstock capability into the Pilbara and closer to our customer operations.

With the first day of the 2025-26 abalone season underway on Saturday fishers, who are no doubt keen to get their hands on the delicacy, are being asked to keep safety front of mind ... Surf Life Saving WA (SLSWA) has reported an increase in incidents over the past few years, with their lifesaving services performing 118 rescues during the four hours of fishing last season and 101 rescues the previous year.

As news of the Bondi shootings travel the globe, I sit at in a beer garden in Munich where gigantic fake snowflakes hang from tall trees and the cold air bites into my cheeks. The news from Australia is even more chilling. Australia is a safe country I tell the two women who sit next to me. Things like the Bondi killings do not happen in my country.

Last week marked the International Day of People with Disability ... so it was fitting to consider how the design of a humble pedestrian crossing can make a difference to safety and accessibility.

Horsham Rural City Council is thrilled to welcome The Australian Ballet to Horsham for a magical evening of world class dance, transforming the City Oval into an outdoor theatre. Ballet Under the Stars will delight audiences with a varied program of ballets ...

When koalas were declared as Endangered north of Victoria, the expert guesstimate of numbers in NSW was 36,350, a very precise and very wrong number. Now, two and a half years after effective surveys commenced in NSW, the estimate is 274,000, eight times higher. This is a less precise and more accurate number, but probably an underestimate. In any case it shows that NSW koalas are not endangered.

Using new tools such as heat-detecting drones and acoustic recorders, scientists surveyed more than 1,000 locations across national parks, state forests and private land. The updated estimate of 274,000 koalas reflects improved technology and more extensive survey work.

The community is still reeling after a devastating bushfire destroyed 16 homes and damaged a further nine at Koolewong on Saturday, December 6 ... News of the fire first broke at around 1pm on Saturday at which time four homes had been lost, with reports of more homes destroyed surfacing during the afternoon and early evening...

AgForce General President Shane McCarthy, appearing with Mr Perrett and Mr Weir at Wyreema last week, said the implementation phase will determine how the reforms function in reality. "What happens in the implementation phase will decide whether these laws support environmental outcomes or unintentionally restrict the routine land management that keeps Queensland landscapes healthy, productive and safe."

Narrandera Shire Council is excited to announce that the community is one step closer to safer, more reliable water, with $908,000 in funding from the Albanese Government to develop a full business case for a new, state-of-the-art Narrandera Water Treatment Plant.

Mat Dalby. A Department of Water and Environmental Regulation report, Wilson Inlet (Nullaki) – Condition of the Estuary 2025, was tabled at the Wilson Inlet Community Science Forum ... Department officials presented the report which assesses the main drivers of estuary health that includes rainfall, river flows, catchment condition, nutrient inputs and sandbar dynamics, as well as the estuary's water quality and seagrass pastures.

Somerset Regional Art Gallery welcomed agricultural show enthusiasts and art lovers for the opening of two new exhibitions on Saturday, 6 December. Nine talented Somerset artists produced artworks for ‘The Show’ a new exhibition capturing the sights, sounds and atmosphere of the region’s agricultural shows.

Farm communities and landscapes cannot continue to be vandalised in the state government’s sledgehammer approach to powering the nation, NSW Farmers says. As renewable developers bulldozed rural landscapes, NSW Farmers' President Xavier Martin said it was clear the Minns Government was ignoring farm communities and the damage inflicted on them by their industrial scale developments.

Andrew George. On Tuesday 18th November, the NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA) facilitated the first of four meetings of the Community Reference Group (CRG) for Disaster Adaptation Planning (DAP) for the Northern Rivers (NR). This is a positive step for democratic, community participation in disaster preparedness and adaptation in collaboration with the RA. It is also a sliver of hope for deliberative democracy for the region.

Chris Elliot. Wilcannia residents in the space of less than 300 years have moved from the traditional wooden message stick that, while designed to carry a lot of data, had low transfer speed, as it depended on how fast the carrier walked. In 1866 it took 70 days for a letter to come from London to Wilcannia. Now, at current average speed of 80Mbps you can send a 2-million-word document per second from Wilcannia to London.

It has stood in place since the 1870s, but the significance of the Stone Pine that towers over the Apex Park in Church Street has now been immortalised. A research project, headed by Hay Landcare member Sally Ware, has unearthed the history and probable provenance of the tree.

Rosie for Hindmarsh. On Tuesday evening a number of community members and Hindmarsh Shire Councillors attended the premiere of Shared Table: Regional Heroes at Hoyts Melbourne Central. This powerful documentary, created by CALD Community Voices, shines a light on regional stories of refugee settlement — including those from Nhill.

The Minns Labor Government has today announced a range of measures and actions aimed at strengthening the governance, integrity and animal welfare standards of greyhound racing industry in NSW. These measures respond to the findings of the inquiry led by the Hon. Lea Drake, appointed by Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris, to address concerns regarding Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW).

The Gannawarra’s newest community meeting and digital connectivity space is officially open for business. More than 100 people gathered at Kerang’s Sir John Gorton Library this morning for the official opening of The Glasshouse.