DEAR News Of The Area, THE proposed gifting of Lot 1 Ferry Street, Urunga to the Waterfall Way Community Land Trust, (“Community invited to have a say on Urunga’s affordable housing proposal,” 27/3), if approved, would enable one of the most ill-conceived and destructive housing developments ever undertaken in Bellingen Shire. No mention was made […]
Letter to the Editor: Bring the children home
DEAR News Of The Area, THEIR mothers were young and naive when they left Australia to marry ISIS fighters. They were barely children themselves. Allowing them to live in filth and squalor is a breeding ground for radicalisation, let alone shortening their lives due to malnourishment and disease. They are Australian citizens and above all […]
Letter to the Editor: How did we get here?
DEAR News Of The Area, AGAIN, in response to Ashley Love’s Letter of 11 March 2026, I feel it is necessary to highlight his hypocrisy regarding plantations within the proposed Great Koala National Park footprint. His last two paragraphs say it all. Koalas trump taxpayer investment in plantations, no matter what. The plantations within the […]
Legal Hypothetical: Banking on Mum – A gift or undue influence?
EVELYN died at the age of 89, leaving an estate valued at approximately $3 million. Her will divides the estate equally between her four adult children. In the final months of her life, however, Evelyn transferred $180,000 to one of her children, Amanda. At the time, Evelyn was frail and relied heavily on Amanda, who […]
Letter to the Editor: Iran war is illegal under UN Charter
DEAR News of the Area, All wars are tragic, inevitably causing unnecessary death, destruction, chaos and misery, at great financial and social cost. Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter prohibits war, calling for member states to: “refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political […]
‘On the couch’ with Jasminda
DEAR Jasminda, MY daughter’s class is holding a fundraiser to raise funds to paint the play equipment. I’ve let the relatives know and now they are getting competitive with their offers. Kylie G. Dear Kylie, Fundraisers used to be done in a clandestine way, much like nanna slipping little Jimmy a cool fifty bucks in […]
Petrol
Letter to the Editor: On being brave and hindsight
DEAR News Of The Area, SINCE my teens, following the 1973 Arab oil embargo, we have been acutely aware of the finite nature of fossil fuels. And although scientists have warned that burning fossil fuels contributes to climate change for over a century, these concerns have become urgent since the 1980s. So, in Australia we […]
Letter to the Editor: Clear breach of international law
DEAR News Of The Area, DESPITE what we might think of the oppressive regime in Iran, the US and Israel have been in breach of international law in the war they are conducting against that country. There was no imminent threat to the US and Israel as the Omani mediator of talks between the US […]
Legal Hypothetical: Migration law – Love without romance
ANITA, a foreign citizen, has been living in Australia on a temporary visa and has been unsuccessful in obtaining a long-term visa. Anita meets an elderly Australian widower while volunteering at a neighbourhood community centre. Patrick is 85 years old and has lived alone since his wife died six years earlier. Anita initially visits regularly […]
