DEAR News Of The Area, Two recent articles caught my attention. One was ‘Logging duo speaks out’, which was supposed to ‘reassure those concerned about the environment’ that ‘people like them are doing their best to preserve the forest every day’. The trouble is these people do not know the importance of

DEAR News Of The Area, REGARDING MidCoast Council’s “Have your say” on assets and services survey, readers and ratepayers should be cautious. Choosing to maintain everything to “Good” standard would seem to require a 46.6 percent increase to rates, while choosing a “Satisfactory” standard results in a rate increase of 15.7

DEAR Jasminda, WHEN I go out with my friends for dinner, it is always agreed that we will share meals and share costs. The problem is I'm a very slow eater, I'm vegetarian, and I don't drink. I end up paying top dollar for cocktails, bottles of wine, and multiple meat

LAST year, small-budget horror filmmaker Osgood Perkins (son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins) knocked the socks off most people who caught his occult-tinged film Longlegs. That’s given him a huge leg up in promoting his latest film, and an adaptation of a Stephen King short story, The Monkey. Spanning two eras, the

DEAR News Of The Area, LIZ Philpott's letter (NOTA 31/1/24) about the cost of op shop goods made interesting reading. I work in a local op shop where all the wonderful staff, including our beautiful managers, are voluntary. Most other op shops have paid management, hence the high prices on top

DEAR News Of The Area, I AM writing in response to the letter of opinion from Liz Philpott (31 January 2025) headed ‘What went wrong with op-shops?’. It is not my intention to speak on behalf of the multitude of op-shops on the Coffs Coast. I do not have the knowledge

DEAR News Of The Area, REGARDING the demise of NSW Labor politician and Minister for Transport Jo Haylen. Jo Haylen is a very capable politician. Her loss of ministerial responsibility is a loss for all people in NSW. Our democracy thrives on a continuing supply of people with the ability to

DEAR News Of The Area, THE Port Macquarie byelection has echoes of the southern NSW federal seat of Farrer, previously held by Nationals’ deputy prime minister Tim Fischer. Sussan Ley, now deputy Liberal leader, won it in 2001 from the National Party when Fischer retired. Labor obviously won’t run in this byelection,

DEAR News Of The Area, ALISON Penfold, National Party candidate for Lyne electorate, states the party will ‘ensure we get our Australia back on track’. Is she aware that under the Labor Albanese government one million jobs, an historic high, have been created? Or that at the time of the 2022 election

DEAR News Of The Area, ALISON Penfold, National Party candidate for Lyne, claims ‘my plan is to fight to restore our standard of living’. I find this unbelievable given that the Liberal and National parties have voted against most of the Labor Party’s measures to ease cost of living pressures and