THE Minns Labor Government has committed an additional $71.7 million in the 2026-27 NSW Budget to help regional, rural and remote patients access specialist healthcare through the Isolated Patients Travel and Accommodation Assistance Scheme (IPTAAS). The funding boost aims to ease cost-of-living pressures for patients and families who must travel long distances for medical treatment […]
Members of the working bee battle the invasive strangler vine, Claw Creeper. Photos: submitted Members of the working bee battle the invasive strangler vine, Claw Creeper. Photos: submitted RIVER sheoaks and weeping lilly pilly that are hundreds of years old are being strangled by the rapidly growing and highly invasive Claw Creeper growing along the […]
Professor Tim Roberts and volunteer Louise Watterson soil sampling to compare DNA and understand how healthy ecosystems function. Photo: Supplied.
The fungi project is expected to reveal hundreds of Hunter Region fungal species that are currently undocumented. Photo: Supplied. Professor Tim Roberts and volunteer Louise Watterson soil sampling to compare DNA and understand how healthy ecosystems function. Photo: Supplied. THE Hunter Region Botanic Gardens has secured a significant $148,984 grant from the NSW Government’s Environmental […]
RABBITS, guinea pigs, rats and mice who were formerly used in research are now up for adoption and looking for their forever homes as pets and competitions. The Liberty Adoption Centre, at Wyong, on the Central Coast, is now home to Australia’s first adoption centre for small animals transitioning out of research facilities into the […]
Local author Denis Bright presenting his book, ‘Something is Seriously Wrong’, at the Raymond Terrace Library on 19 June. Photo: Nico Lombardo.
“WHEN our grandson was taken, locked away in a room, we thought the Department of Community and Justice would intervene. They didn’t.” These are the words of local author Denis Bright, who saw his family torn apart by an abuser who, after the end of a toxic marriage to his daughter, attempted to get her […]
THE deadly H5 bird flu has been detected in Australia, the Australian Government confirmed on 20 June, 2026. A detection of H5 high-pathogenicity avian influenza (bird flu) was confirmed by the CSIRO Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) in a single brown skua (migratory seabird) in an isolated area in southern Western Australia. This is the […]
IT’S Men’s Health Week and this year Australian men are being reminded that there are ‘101 Reasons to See Your GP’ and urges men to just get on with it. The event’s website, https://www.menshealthweek.com.au/, looks crafted with straightforward, no-drama sensibilities; a brown background, beige writing, and no-nonsense text. “There are 101 reasons to see your […]
BY the end of next winter, ownership of and responsibility for the Rural Fire Service’s mobile assets, otherwise known as its ‘Red Fleet’, will lie with the NSW Government and not local councils. Mayor Darcy Byrne, President of Local Government NSW, said the move would come as a great relief to many local councils, particularly […]
NOTA reported (7 May) that member of Federal Parliament Alison Penfold had introduced a Private Members Bill into Parliament to amend the definitions of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in the Sex Discrimination Act, suggesting that it was necessary to provide legal protections for women and girls. Ms Penfold’s Bill provides that the definitions of ‘man’ and […]
A GRANTS program that last year helped plant 123,000 trees, shrubs and groundcovers will return in 2026. Grants of between $5,000 and $25,000 are available to support the native planting projects of Landcare groups, Bushcare, Coastcare and Dunecare groups, local governments, natural resource management organisations, not-for-profit organisations and First Nations organisations. It is the second […]
