DEAR News Of The Area, WE often drive past places and look but don’t ‘see’. Have you ever noticed the magnificent stand of flooded gums in the small reserve on the edge of Gogley’s Lagoon at the intersection of Camden Head Road and Scarborough Way? This precious reserve is also home to native palms, a […]
DEAR News Of The Area, DURING the debacle of Pauline Hanson’s speech at the Press Club (17/6/2026), one is left to ask: “What can we do to counter the possibility of this woman becoming Prime Minister?” While this possibility may be an anathema to many of us, we must learn from Trump’s victory in the […]
DEAR News Of The Area, I would like to respond to this letter: “Today’s young people want everything now” (NOTA, 22 May.) Yes, Dawn Lewis from Bellingen, both wages AND house prices were lower in our parents’ day, but that gap has been widening significantly. In 1984, the average home cost about 3.3 times the […]
DEAR News Of The Area, IT IS apparent that the most effective way for a politician to attract votes is to run a fear campaign. This is, in large part, due to the way our brains work. Change creates uncertainty and uncertainty creates resistance. Amplify this through traditional and online media and people can be […]
DEAR News Of The Area, TODAY’S young people forget that their parents’ home cost a lot less, but then so were their wages. You saved for the things you needed, let alone wanted, since credit cards didn’t exist. You ate less, ran around more and read books because that was your entertainment, and fat people […]
By Doug CONNOR, Group Editor AFTER just shy of six years manning the News Of The Area news desk, I have made the difficult decision to leave my role as Group Editor. Before I officially depart next Friday (29 May), I wanted to take the opportunity to offer my sincere thanks to everyone who has […]
DEAR News Of The Area, LAST week Health Minister Mark Butler announced cuts to the $50 billion NDIS budget with little detail other than the end of support which is coming for an estimated 160,000 current recipients; not to mention future hopefuls. While few would disagree that there are national budgetary constraints and the NDIS […]
DEAR News Of The Area, WHEN I fled a violent relationship with my two-year-old son, I didn’t have the luxury of waiting on a two-year childcare waitlist. I added my son to every waitlist in the area, only to wait four months for a single day of care per week. Even now, with my son […]
DEAR News Of The Area, AT Park Beach Plaza at the Woolworths checkout I found I had left my wallet in another bag at home. I was going to go back home to get it when a lovely lady from Nambucca offered to pay for my groceries. To that good samaritan: thank you. Kindness sits […]
DEAR News Of The Area, DO we need a migration debate or do we need a migration discussion? Debate implies conflict and discussion, a learning exercise. Given that more than a third of our population is either born overseas or from parents who were born overseas and in total more than 95 percent of Australians […]
