DEAR News Of The Area, THE October 2025 Council meeting officially concluded the first 12 months of the current term of office for Port Macquarie-Hastings Councillors. At the meeting a new Deputy Mayor was selected to take over from Lauren Edwards, who had completed her 12-month appointment to the role. I would like to pause […]
DEAR News Of The Area, THE Nationals have rejected ‘Net Zero’, the policy they signed up to when Barnaby Joyce was their leader. Net Zero has become a totemic symbol, a two-word slogan the Nationals hate. But Net Zero is much more than a slogan – it’s an ambitious investment, energy, jobs, industry and environment […]
DEAR News Of The Area, MOST local residents would be aware that the scenic beauty of the Pilot Beach car park is deteriorating rapidly. The horsetail casuarinas that have long provided shade for picnickers and habitat for an abundance of bird life are either dead or dying. The history of these beautiful trees is a […]
DEAR News Of The Area, I HAVE been disappointed to see workers like me who may well lose our jobs because of the Great Koala National Park be treated like an afterthought. No questions have been asked to check the government’s claim they have a fair package for workers. No research seems to have been […]
DEAR News Of The Area, I REFER to an article published in your edition of Friday, 5 September, titled ‘New era’ for Liberal Party Branch’. While the piece reads as a straightforward press release, it omits the context behind these changes. The first question that arises from the “significant changing of the guard at the […]
DEAR News Of The Area, WE have been reading this paper since its launch and enjoy the local news content. However a fortnight ago we were in disbelief that the paper chose to publish an article promoting greyhound racing at Taree as a sport article. Greyhound racing is not a sport, it is an industry. […]
DEAR News Of The Area, I WOULD like to draw your readers attention to the ongoing road works just south of Lake Cathie that hundreds of motorists must traverse each day at 40km/h. This project to install a roundabout on Ocean Drive was begun last year and is about 300 metres in length. For some […]
DEAR News Of The Area, THE social media ban set to begin in December is a welcome and much-needed step to reduce the growing impact of digital distractions on children’s wellbeing. But while it marks progress, it’s only part of the solution. We also need to look closely at school excursions, where mobile phone use […]
DEAR News Of The Area, HARRY Creamer’s dream of a foreign funded high-speed rail for Australia (25 July) sounds like another eye-wateringly, never-ending, expensive AUKUS scheme. Australia simply doesn’t have the population to support high-speed rail projects. Even if most city-to-city travel was taken by rail, there still won’t be enough usage to pay for […]
DEAR News Of The Area, ONE article among many caught my attention in the July 11 NOTA (No ‘hard and fast date’ for new trains, page 9). I have been following this since 2015 when then Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams issued a media release announcing a ‘brand new fleet of trains to replace the […]
