A legacy floodplain development on the tidal estuary of Cobaki Creek, known to have recent koala sightings, was approved for a 37-lot subdivision in 1996 that is 27 years ago. Ten days ago the new developer MAAS from Dubbo, who bought the Tweed Heads West property for $20m+ last year, commenced clearing at the site. Locals say that the access the developer has been using on Triga Street is not legal. 

It has been a devastating ten days for our community, the Cobaki ecosystems and this precious estuary, said Lindy Smith, president of the Tweed District Residents Association and Ratepayers. 

Flood prone site

The site is on the estuarine floodplain. There was disruption with roads etc in the 2022 floods and the site itself was considerably underwater during the 2022 floods. It was the longest period with vehicular access being cut to this area for residents for during the 2022 floods.

This is an ongoing issue for legacy developments on known floodplains, that have sat undeveloped for years but are now at risk of being developed due to the value of the sites, even though both state and federal governments have stated, after th...

There is probably not one adult who hasnt been grateful for the job that firefighters have done in this country, particularly in the aftermath of the The 201920 Australian bushfires.

On-call firefighters respond from home or work to fires and other emergencies. There are currently several vacancies for paid on-call firefighters at Murwillumbah Fire Station.

Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) is calling for community-minded men and women to consider joining the of the  ranks on-call firefighters.

Captain Greg Hayes has urged residents from all walks of life to consider becoming a paid on-call firefighter. Your local fire station relies on people in the community to put their hand up to become firefighters without that support, regional fire stations cannot survive.

Balancing work and family

On-call firefighters balance work and family commitments to respond to fires and other emergencies on an on call, part-time basis. 

Captain Hayes said training includes advanced first aid, heavy vehicle driving, and how to deal with emergencies such as fires, road accidents and hazardous material spills. Firefighters also educate the community on fire safety and prevention.

Being an on-call firefighter does not mean that you have to be available every minute of every day. Sharing availability with other on-call firefighters can reduce any potential impact on work and private life.

FRNSW Commissioner Paul Baxter said on-call firefighters played a critical role in the delivery of fire and emergency services across regional and rural NSW. 

People who are reliable and keen to help others

You dont need to be superman or superwoman to be a firefighter we want people who are reliable and keen to help others, especially local residents who are available to respond to emergencies during the day. If youre a local employer, think about encouraging your staff to become firefighters. Not only will you be helping the community, but your staff will be trained in a whole range of skills.

For more information on becoming an on-call firefighter, contact the FRNSW Zone Office on 02 56462100 or visit www.fire.nsw.gov.au.

The post Murwillumbah Fire Station needs more firefighters appeared first on The Echo.

The reason cats take up so much of the collective internet space is because they are just so incredibly cute we love them! But we dont always keep them inside when they should be.

To help raise awareness of the issue, Byron Shire Council is launching the Keeping Cats at Home drawing competition tomorrow and it is open to all children 12 years or younger living in the Byron Shire.

The competition is funded by RSPCA NSW with support from Byron Shire Council and aims to draw attention to the Keeping Cats Safe at Home campaign.

Manager Public and Environmental Services, Sarah Nagel, said all the kids need to do is draw a beautiful picture of themselves with their cat safe at home before the closing date of 30 June and they will go in the draw to win some great prizes.

Prizes to be won

Six prize packs that include a $200 cat enrichment pack, and a Cam the Cat Squishmallow toy or a Mudpuppy Cat-tastic! board game, will be given away in April, May, and June (there will be two winners announced each month).

In addition, one of the monthly winners will be selected as the overall winner. They will receive a visit to...

Its quite an achievement to own and operate a business for 30 years and more so with your life partner and thats exactly what David and Kim Smith have done.

The couple took over a 40 year old business from Howard and Val Timms in 1993 and the Pearl Denture Studio has been a successful Mullumbimby venture since then celebrating their 30th year.

That time has truly flown by so fast but when you consider that we have also raised three children during that time its no wonder we didnt notice, says Kim.

Significant achievements

David says these are milestones he hasnt ever really thought about. On reflection I feel these are significant achievements but at the same time nothing changes. Our commitment to our patients and community are the same every day. Our mission statement remains the same.

To provide the most advanced prosthetic treatments to our patients who have lost some or all of their natural teeth providing maximum restorative benefits whilst minimising negative impacts on the remaining delicate oral structures....

Living Lab Northern Rivers has opened their new exhibition Working with Nature this week in their Lismore shopfront space, giving visitors the chance to learn more about flood mitigation strategies.

The timing of this exhibition is no surprise.

Soon after the 2022 floods the Federal Government announced $11.2m in funding for the CSIRO to build detailed hydrodynamic models for the Northern Rivers catchments, and the Living Lab believes that it is critical for our community to understand this process and be invited to participate.

Director of Living Lab Northern Rivers, Dan Etheridge, said while we know that the 2022 floods took many things away, we recognise that they also bring new opportunities.

One such opportunity is the chance to rethink how we manage our landscape to mitigate the natural flooding events that have always been a part of the Northern Rivers.

Models will be a powerful tool

The CSIRO models will be a powerful tool that will help us better understand how to mitigate flood impacts in our region.

Visitors will have the opportunity to learn about the types of flood mitigation strategies available, and a range of local and international case studies. The exhibition combines local knowledge with technical expertise, and has been created through collaborations with UTS Sydney, Landcare Netwo...

The NSW Electoral Commission says that more than four million votes have been counted for the 2023 NSW State election as record postal votes continue to be returned.

Counting is proceeding as planned and in line with legislative requirements and the published count timeline.

Counting has occurred every day since election day apart from for Sunday 26 March. On that day, other critical election operations took place, such as the delivery of ballot papers and other materials to our central count centres in Sydney.

Days off at Easter

Counting will continue to take place every day except Easter Friday and Easter Sunday until all Legislative Assembly votes are counted.

No count can be concluded until all postal votes have been returned to the Electoral Commissioner. Postal votes are still being returned in high numbers and will continue to come in until 6pm Thursday, 6 April.

More than 540,000 postal vote packs were sent out for this election and around 400,000 have been returned so far.  More than 400,000 declaration votes were also issued. The number of early, declaration and postal votes is higher than at any previous State election.

The count in some Legislative Assembly seats is still close so counting in these seats is being prioritised.  The outcome in these seats may not become clear, however, until the end of the postal vote return period.  This is because official count information for postal votes and declaration votes (such as absent votes) can only be updated in the virtual tally room for each seat and the Legislative Council in tranches, due to limits within the NSW Electoral Commissions computer count systems.

There are only three separate tranches available for postal votes and five tranches for declaration votes. The remaining two tranches of data for postal votes are expected to be included in the virtual tally room on 1 April and 8 April.

The NSW Electoral Commission also experienced challenges recruiting temporary election workers in some areas, which impacted counting operations in a small number of districts.  More than 30,000 temporary workers were required to deliver this election. The overall progress of the count remains on track, however, for all districts to meet the timeline published on the NSW Electoral Commission website.

Counting progress is available live through the Virtual Tally Room.

Information about how votes are counted in state elections is available on the NSW Electoral Commission website.

Count timeline

Wednesday, 12 April
Estimated completion of check counts...

A chance encounter with a homeless man in Melbourne was the beginning of a project that has seen Melbourne entrepreneur, Simon Rowe, create a safe place for people to sleep when there is nowhere else to go.

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One of Byrons most colourful characters has spread her wings and taken flight for her next adventure Nina Milenko Marzi died on Thursday March 23, in Byron Bay.

Nina was born in Krasnodar, near the Black Sea on May 16, 1921, to a world of famine, poverty and sheer hopelessness. Russia was then in the throes of a catastrophic civil war.

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Police from Tweed Byron Police District have commenced an investigation after hundreds of tacks, nails and screws were found on the Northern Rivers Rail Trail at Murwillumbah.

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