6+ day, 8+ hour ago   (538+ words) Federal Member for Parkes Jamie Chaffey says Australia’s illegal tobacco trade has become a national organised crime crisis affecting towns across the New England North West, backing a Coalition plan to cut the tobacco excise by 80 per cent. Mr Chaffey…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago   (1765+ words) Renewable-energy developments are often accused of consuming productive farmland. But farm groups and climate-policy analysts say another pressure on agricultural land has received far less attention and is a much bigger threat: forestry projects that generate carbon credits for industrial…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago   (439+ words) The Bush Fire Danger Period begins a month early across much of the New England North West today, Tuesday, 1 September, with the NSW Rural Fire Service urging residents to prepare now for warmer, drier conditions. Gunnedah, Gwydir, Liverpool Plains, Moree…...

2+ week, 17+ hour ago   (405+ words) Australia’s peak farming and bird conservation groups say a $145 million federal funding boost for the country’s bird flu response falls well short of what is needed, as the virus continues to spread through native wildlife. Invasive Species Council policy manager…...

2+ week, 20+ hour ago   (790+ words) An apparent breakdown in Census operations across the New England North West combined with insufficient advertising and general confusion is leading to concerns of a widespread failure to accurately count the region. Multiple mayors have reportedly been contacted by the…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago   (549+ words) Uralla producer Justin Hoad has already made the switch. His Merino sheep and cattle breeding operation in Northern NSW now runs on electric motorbikes for stock work, a change he says pays for itself in cost and convenience. “An electric…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago   (1627+ words) Two parliamentary inquiries have spent months hearing the same evidence. A decade of rising federal tobacco excise created a black market now worth billions. It is communities such as ours that are left counting the cost, in gutted retail strips,…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago   (317+ words) Telstra customers in the Tamworth CBD may experience temporary disruptions to mobile coverage while maintenance work is carried out this week. Telstra will undertake essential maintenance on a mobile site servicing the CBD on Friday, 21 August. The work is expected…...

4+ week, 15+ hour ago   (837+ words) New South Wales has signed a deal with the Commonwealth Government to become the first state to roll out a national gun buyback scheme born out of the Bondi terror attack. But the announcement comes amid separate moves to repeal…...