OFFICIAL fire season has ended for most of NSW, including Dungog Shire. Fire permits are no longer required for those in areas outside the Bush Fire Danger Period, however, there are some regions across the state where the danger period…
PETER Dutton has walked back a coalition plan to force federal government workers to give up working from home arrangements and shifted his stance on public sector jobs. The work-from-home policy, which has been in place since the pandemic, had…
WOMEN who feel lonely over an extended period are three times more likely to die early than those who don’t. Research by the University of Sydney has for the first time identified a causal link between loneliness and early death…
MAJORITY government could be within reach for Anthony Albanese as Labor opens up its lead over the coalition after week one of the federal election campaign. With just weeks until Australians take to the ballot boxes, Labor is leading the…
WITH deer breeding season fast approaching, the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions is reminding communities of the heightened risk of feral deer on the road as well as increased activity and damage across Australia’s landscapes, including in suburban streets. Dr…
ONE rural birthing unit “teeters on the brink” and goes from “one disaster to the next” due to severe staff shortages. Another maternity service in a farming town of 15,000 closed four years after opening its doors, forcing specialists and…
SETTING aside more gas for the domestic market or direct subsidies for power bills are being offered by major parties in a pitch for energy bill relief. Touring coal country areas in the Hunter on the campaign trail, Opposition Leader…
ABORIGINALand Torres Strait Islander children are being set up for a life of suffering, legal services say, as ‘tough on crime’ policy sweeps the country. More state and territory governments are locking up children at increasing rates, and not listening…
A POTENTIALLY lethal sexually-transmitted infection has been detected in the last disease-free koala population in one major city, heightening extinction fears for the endangered native marsupial. Two koalas, part of a population in southwest Sydney already under threat from development,…
COLES and Woolworths are two of the most powerful and profitable supermarkets in the world but should not be split up, the competition watchdog has found in a major review of the sector. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released…