DEAR News Of The Area, AUSTRALIA has just hit a historic milestone: renewables have overtaken fossil fuels for the first time. This isn’t a blip – it’s the acceleration of an energy transition that is now economically unstoppable. Solar, wind, and battery storage are dominating new investment globally, and Australia is finally reflecting that reality. […]
Letter to the Editor: Community swimming pools
DEAR News Of The Area, I AM frustrated. Today I used my precious fuel to drive from Sawtell to Coffs to do laps. Why did I drive to Coffs when there is a public pool in Sawtell you ask? Because the Department of Education has for the fourth week running booked four out of five […]
Letter to the Editor: Fuel fraud
DEAR News Of The Area, LAST week I was driving through Grafton and noticed unleaded petrol was $1.68 per litre and I was in Port Macquarie on Sunday, and petrol was the same price as Grafton. So how can anyone justify people in Coffs Harbour paying up to 15 cents more per litre. It seems […]
Letter to the Editor: Industrial sabotage?
DEAR News Of The Area, WHILE the Greens have long been accused of putting ideology before pragmatism in our federal political sphere, the recent behaviour of the Nationals and their Coalition partners in scuttling progress towards ‘Net zero’, illustrates just how far the conservatives are prepared to go to hold up Australia’s energy transition and […]
13th Day Christmas
Letter to the Editor: Architectural design win for Council chambers
DEAR News Of The Area, THE construction of the new Council chambers building was a divisive and contentious issue at the time in Coffs, especially pertaining to the cost when there are so many roads and footpaths etc in the area where the money could have been better spent. But we have it now and […]
Letter to the Editor: Council playing climate politics
THE City of Coffs Harbour’s decision to defer the adoption of the Climate Risk and Adaptation Policy at the last Council meeting until a report on the costs, measures, and resourcing required to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030 and 2050 is presented to Council, is risking dumping the policy for politics. While it is understandable […]
OPINION – Unregulated labour hire: A magnet for modern slavery
A RECENT Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) blitz in Queensland’s Gatton region should serve as a wake-up call for New South Wales. Operation Topaz uncovered systemic labour rights breaches among labour hire firms, with every single provider investigated demonstrating some non-compliance. Contraventions included failure to pay minimum and overtime rates, withholding pay slips, and poor record-keeping. […]
Kids Banned
Letter to the Editor: Who’s paying at the foreshore?
DEAR News Of The Area, A SUBMISSION was made to Council at the time of the State Government’s advertising of its foreshore rezoning proposal pointing out that the business plan for the proposed development had not been made public. Without this there is nothing to explain how the roads and services infrastructures for the project […]
