DEAR News Of The Area, OPPOSITION leader Peter Dutton has been making a lot of noise recently about Rule 99 and Minister Andrew Giles “releasing murderers and rapists” into the community. Briefly, Rule 99 was introduced by Labor two years ago to help resolve a long standing point of contention with New

ONE issue in particular seems to be the route cause of Australia’s immediate economic failures and from my perspective, nothing is being done in order to eliminate or greatly reduce its effects. I wrote an opinion piece on this issue published in NOTA on 14 September last year titled ‘Size Matters’,

LIBRARIES are vibrant community spaces where we can gather to learn, explore, connect with each other and support local culture. We have four Libraries across Port Stephens offering a range of collections, programs, activities and events to support lifelong learning. This season we’re welcoming a new and exciting ‘Winter

DEAR News Of The Area, NUCLEAR power is a very thirsty power source, much more so than conventional fossil fuel plants. The Union of Concerned Scientists (July 2013) estimates that a nuclear reactor, using a once-through cooling system, requires 25,000 to 60,000 gallons of water per MWh to generate steam and

THE enormous sunspot that sparked the spectacular aurorae across the globe last month is back facing the earth, and it appears to be getting bigger. One of the largest sunspot groups seen in years, this monster is so big that fifteen earths could fit inside it! Now you can understand

DEAR News Of The Area, I HAVE always thought that there were three tiers of government in Australia: Federal, State and Local Government. Sadly the shenanigans going on with the proposed development of the Jetty Foreshores shows just how naive this belief is. Evidently it matters not what our local community or

DEAR News Of The Area, I APPLAUD former Councillor Pryce for his decision to resign from Council on principle, however it is disappointing that a Councillor should have to resign because he aligns himself with the ratepayers, families and community rather than the Mayor’s chosen agenda… the Jetty Foreshore matter. Having read

DEAR News Of The Area, I REJECT the Jetty Foreshores concept master plan. I have been a supporter of the need to keep this area as an open public space, free from residential (permanent or otherwise) since the issue arose in the late eighties. This open public space is not for me.

DEAR News Of The Area, I AM writing regarding the vocal complaints about the new bypass coming from Pacific Bay resort. I am a little confused why the management is demanding that the taxpayer-funded roadworks are responsible for a noise wall to be constructed? Why has all of a

DEAR News Of The Area, THERE’S been a couple of letters recently suggesting that national service would be a suitable panacea for the problems of delinquent youth, and another by Bellingen’s Warren Tindall on the “perils of national service”, reminding us that whinging about the younger generation is timeless and generational. The