Economy

Two old friends have joined a new national movement to spread a little Christmas cheer to rural women doing it tough around New South Wales. Helen Farley, of Braidwood and Theresa Matthews, of Mogo, are both collecting parcels for distribution by drought-relief organization Ladies of the Land, which delivers parcels of treats to women living and working on farms during...

The bushfire emergency across Northern New South Wales and Queensland is all too close for the communities of the Bega Valley. On one hellish afternoon in March 2018, 65 homes were destroyed in the Reedy Swamp, Vimy Ridge, and Tathra Bushfire. Like the current crisis, conditions at the time were described as "unprecedented". A handful of months later the communities...

Snowy Monaro Regional Council is supporting Planet Ark’s National Recycling Week with a series of pop-up information displays throughout the region. National Recycling Week runs from Monday, November 11 to Sunday, November 17. The focus of this year’s event is to tackle the most common recycling myths. Council’s Resource and Waste Education Officers will help you learn more about common...

Rising out of the dust of the 2001 collapse of beloved Australian airline Ansett, Rex has a key role in the growth of our local shires, allowing more people to live regionally and still commute regularly to business centres like Sydney and Melbourne. Adelqui Rizzotto, whose family know him as Junior, is an easy-going surfer and Brazilian native who married...

Following recent concern around Australia about the treatment of horses at the end of their career, a number of Batemans Bay residents have joined together to form an affiliate group of Animal Liberation NSW - Animal Liberation Batemans Bay. The new group aims to be pro-active in the community in various ways such as holding street stalls, talking to the...

Last week's meeting of Bega Valley Shire Council unanimously approved the location of a 2.6 km ocean outfall in Merimbula Bay. There was a sense of councillors not really having too much choice as plans for the Merimbula Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) upgrade advance. A number of times during the discussion and in previous communication around the project, Council has...

With the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability commencing public hearings this week, the general public will be forced to confront how we have often failed to create a safe, inclusive and supportive community for people with disabilities. It is vitally important to shine a light on where the system is failing people with disabilities and...

Meaningful employment and learning opportunities for all ages is the focus of a new partnership between Bega Valley Shire Council and well-known employment agency Campbell Page. Council’s Economic Development Officer, Alison Vandenbergh, says, ‘Jobs & Skills Bega Valley’  aims to provide insights into the local labour market - the challenges and opportunities. “Western Research Institute has been engaged to undertake the research...

Along with the water in our dams and rivers, Australia's milk pool is dwindling, leaving processors like Bega Cheese in the position of having to pay more in an increasingly competitive market. "The price for milk fluctuates throughout the year," explains fifth-generation Bega dairy farmer Rob Russell "so we usually get paid more over winter when it's considered harder to...

The highly anticipated and widely debated Bega Valley Shire Council draft Climate Change Resilience Strategy 2050 is available now and is open for public comment until December 15. The draft document is not exhaustive but is not supposed to be at this stage, council’s Director of Community, Environment and Planning, Dr Alice Howe, says. "The strategy is currently a high-level...

Another bus, another monument, another sightseeing destination crammed with gawkers looking to selfie their way to a social media frenzy... yawn. The good news is, you don’t have to succumb to another boring fact recited by an underwhelming wannabe actor masquerading as a tour guide. Instead, you can use a private guide to avoid travel apathy – here are 7...

If you believe that the ritual of hanging out your washing or washing your car will bring rain, then you probably need to do those chores now! Just to make sure the forecast rain this weekend really does arrive. A large band of rain is sweeping through much of the southern half of Australia, with the Canberra and South East NSW...

Native grasses are a key component in building a sustainable farming future according to one of the region's expert land managers. David Eddy, Senior Land Services Officer with South East Local Land Services has been mesmerised by big open spaces since his days bushwalking and camping as a boy with his nature-loving, country raised parents. "It seemed to me that native...