DEAR News Of The Area, YOUR front-page article “Bellingen poised for affordable housing history” lacked one very important inconvenient fact: that the “parcel of public land” chosen as the site of this initial project is actually a much-loved little piece of original Urunga bushland, long used as a delightful de-facto park by nearby residents, and […]

DEAR News Of The Area, I HOPE that the total inability of the coalition to provide a coherent economic narrative during the election campaign finally dispels the complete myth that they are always better at managing the Australian economy than Labor. Despite constant repetition of the rhetoric, this claim lacks any substance. Surely being able […]

DEAR News Of The Area, NOW that the Federal Election is finally over (thank God) it seems a few are grieving the result, and as a consequence their current thinking, as well as their memories, lack clarity. Mr Williamson in his letter of 9 May 2025 laments the fact that we have elected a lying […]

DEAR News Of The Area, THE Cowper results show some interesting voting patterns. Across the board Caz Heise got a 3.5 percent increase in primary vote from 2022 while Pat Conaghan had a 0.8 percent decline in primaries. Unfortunately for the independent the gain was mainly won from Labor and the Greens losses. Some booths […]

DEAR News Of The Area, CONGRATULATIONS to Ally and her fantastic and dedicated team at the Chill ‘n’ Chat Cafe for serving a fabulous Mother’s Day lunch on Friday 9 May. It was a feast for the eyes and the tastebuds. Words can hardly describe how special this celebration was. The impeccable service, the beautiful […]

DEAR News Of The Area, WHILE we may congratulate Pat [Conaghan] and his Nationals team on their election win, and thank the other candidates – especially Independent Caz Heise and her hard working team, for putting their hands up and at least giving us a choice – it might be worth reflecting on how our […]

DEAR News Of The Area, MY wife and I went to a polling station on Saturday, and she told the election officer at the table her surname, which was Quick. She knew there could be a problem when he started looking around the letter W. Then despite explaining where the letter Q was in the […]

DEAR News Of The Area, THROUGH the recent election the Australian people have sent a very clear message that we reject the notion of ongoing culture wars and attempts to divide us. We are a tolerant, multicultural society and though not perfect, after all we are a bunch of human beings, we obviously create enough […]

DEAR News Of The Area, A letter to NOTA dated 25 April requires a response. Perhaps Dave Williamson, in hindsight, a tax on a cow farting would have been better than a tax on innocent citizens by way of a thing called Robodebt. The remainder of Dave’s assertions appear to be groundless, ideological annotations as […]

DEAR News Of The Area, PAUL McKeon’s letter (18 April) raising concerns about a hung parliament in a dangerous international environment is unduly alarmist. He claims that it would be impossible for a minority government to act “firmly and quickly” because it would have to get the agreement of minor parties and independents. This is […]