TIME is running out for manufacturers across the Hunter, Central Coast and Mid North Coast to submit their nominations for the Hunter Manufacturing Awards 2025 (HMA 2025), with entries closing in just a few weeks. Now in its 21st year, the Hunter Manufacturing Awards shine a spotlight on the region’s manufacturing excellence, recognising businesses of […]

  By Pauline CAIN   Dave Owens with Minister for Emergency Management Kristy McBain, Minister for Recovery Janelle Saffin and Disaster Recovery Australia volunteers at Smithtown. Photo: supplied   Dave Owens speaking with farmers at Gloucester. Photo: supplied   THE Flood Recovery Coordinator for the Hunter and Mid North Coast is encouraging farmers and other […]

PLANS by mining company MACH Energy to substantially expand its Mount Pleasant coal mine in the Hunter Valley have stalled. The NSW Court of Appeal has found that the Independent Planning Commission’s approval of the mine’s expansion in 2022 was legally flawed. The approval would have allowed the mine to continue operating until 2048, and […]

SEVERAL middle-aged men have been arrested for trying to get child-like sex dolls shipped to their homes in rural towns. Australian Border Force officers raided and searched properties around the Newcastle and Hunter Valley area arresting four people over the span of about a year in their crackdown on the “disturbing rise in attempted importations.” […]

PRIME Minister Anthony Albanese has backed a greater role for the government in childcare as he prepares to push through legislation tightening up the sector following horrifying allegations of child abuse at Melbourne early learning centres. Universal affordable childcare was identified by the prime minister during the recent federal election as the one reform he’d […]

WITH droughts on one side of the country, floods on the other, and political volatility overseas, Australia’s agriculture industry has been right in the thick of it. But there is reason for “cautious optimism” in the $90.7 billion sector as uncertain conditions create both threats and opportunities for the nation’s producers, according to Bendigo Bank’s […]

ACCESS to the Barrington Tops National Park from Gloucester is presently unavailable because of severe damage to the Scone Road during May’s flooding rains. Access to the Polblue Campground and Thunderbolts Lookout is currently only possible from the Scone side via Tomalla, on the western side of Barrington Tops. Otherwise, the Park is open as […]

FEDERAL Member for Lyne Alison Penfold is calling on the Federal Government to urgently revoke the latest National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) pricing changes, warning of the “significant negative impacts on people with a disability living in regional and remote areas”. The changes, announced following the Government’s NDIS Annual Pricing Review, came into effect on […]

NSW LANDHOLDERS are being asked to report their livestock numbers and land use information as part of Local Land Services’ annual farm census. The Annual Land and Stock Return collects information that helps shape the delivery of animal health and biosecurity services and prepare for emergencies such as bushfires and biosecurity outbreaks. Landholders must lodge […]

A recently received scam email. A Commonwealth Bank infographic illustrates that Aussies are scam-aware, but a third of us still miss the clues. Image: CBA. THE clock is now ticking to get annual tax returns in before the 31 October deadline. Sadly, this window provides a veritable hunting ground for scammers, prompting warnings from the […]