The 2024 AEDC Results Show Us It Takes a Village – Not Just ECEC – to Raise a Child
Patricia O’Donovan, CEO, Playgroup Australia says the 2024 AEDC shows preschool matters—but it’s not enough. Children in both preschool and playgroup are 1.7x more likely to thrive. Families need support, not just services.
Endangered Greater Gliders Face Threats in Brother State Forest Logging
Siara Turner writes Logging in Brother State Forest is threatening habitat for endangered Greater Gliders, raising concerns among conservationists about protections and the future of this unique marsupial.
LATEST >
QW: Our councils are too small
The 2024 AEDC Results Show Us It Takes a Village – Not Just ECEC – to Raise a Child
Letter: Electrification of trains
What do you think: Will Labor fix higher education?
Endangered Greater Gliders Face Threats in Brother State Forest Logging
OPINION >
The 2024 AEDC Results Show Us It Takes a Village – Not Just ECEC – to Raise a Child
Patricia O’Donovan, CEO, Playgroup Australia says the 2024 AEDC shows preschool matters—but it’s not enough. Children in both preschool and playgroup are 1.7x more likely to thrive. Families need support, not just services.
What do you think: Will Labor fix higher education?
The recent federal election victory of the Albanese Labor government, which secured a larger majority in parliament, presents a unique opportunity to implement meaningful reforms in Australian higher education.
Endangered Greater Gliders Face Threats in Brother State Forest Logging
Siara Turner writes Logging in Brother State Forest is threatening habitat for endangered Greater Gliders, raising concerns among conservationists about protections and the future of this unique marsupial.
Social media takes over news sites as main source of news as trust falls
A major global survey reveals that social media has overtaken news sites as Australians’ main source of news amid falling trust in news, growing concern over misinformation, and rising news avoidance.
Dopamine can make it hard to put down our phone or abandon the online shopping cart. Here’s why
Ever find yourself unable to stop scrolling through your phone, chasing that next funny video or interesting post?
POLITICS >
An Open Letter to the Prime Minister – When the Bush Pays for the City’s Silence
Glen Innes Severn Mayor Margot Davis has written an open letter to the PM calling for urgent action to fix the shortage of funding for councils, and end the hateful online abuse that results from the SRV process.
Barnaby Joyce’s diminishing relevance in a changing Australia
Denise McHugh writes that New England needs a representative who is relevant, respected, and able to work with government—not someone who has become a symbol of everything voters have rejected.
Thought the Libs were out of touch? The Nats would like you to hold a bar full of beers.
RK Crosby says there’s nothing principled about the National Party’s split from the Liberals. It’s just stupid.
LOCAL >
Why regional communities need local news to be told
Need for Public Transport in northern New England
LIVE BLOG >
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Letter: Electrification of trains
Rick Banyard says the new Spanish-built R Sets replacing the Explorer to Armidale will run mainly on diesel, using up to 1,200 litres per trip. Battery…
Keep readingLetter: Joyce’s Campaign Against Clean Energy
Robert Walker says Barnaby Joyce rants against renewables, creates victims and saviours out of nothing, and clings to propaganda while the Nationals scramble to save the…
Keep readingLetter: The rail will never, and should never, come back.
Liz Wharton of Glen Innes writes there’s little to no true economic benefits, and the costs would be exorbitant.
Keep readingLetter: Make The Mall viable again! Council has no problem with ‘inner city housing’.
With towns as popular as Katoomba feeling the pinch due to online shopping, they too have to cope with vacant shops in their Main Street. We…
Keep readingLATEST COMMENTS >
Aren’t these trains diesel electric? That would mean that they could have used regenerative braking to charge the batteries on…
Well if the batteries don’t have the range to cover from Broadmeadow to Armidale it would have been a waste…
ENGAGE POLL >
EDITORIAL >
Engage Poll: Popcorn required for Parkes but Joyce easy retain in New England
The final Engage Poll is predicting a very similar result for New England as in 2022, but Parkes is hard to pick with significant regional variation and a huge anti-Dutton factor causing even loyal National supporters to rethink their vote.
On psychosocial risk and politics
EDITORIAL: We’ve had to change the way we cover councils because it has become too toxic, so we’re joining the call for more funding for councils.
SOCIAL ISSUES >
These are deeply disturbing patterns of censorship across Australian universities
To stifle growing pro-Palestinian activities on Australian campuses, university authorities are developing and applying disparate techniques of control.
ENVIRONMENT >
As Antarctic sea ice shrinks, iconic emperor penguins are in more peril than we thought
Satellite data from 2009–2024 shows a 22% decline in emperor penguin numbers across colonies south of South America, as climate change causes earlier sea ice breakup during their breeding season.
SOLUTIONS >
GPs asking men about their behaviour in relationships could help reduce domestic violence
Domestic violence is increasing in Australia. A new report shows one in three men have ever made a partner feel frightened or anxious. One in 11 have used physical violence when angry. And one in 50 have used sexual violence against their partner.
Extremely Dangerous Development Approval
Norman Dezius says the lack of footpaths and crossings on Moore Creek Road forces children to walk through knee-high grass near traffic and snakes, calling it a ticking time bomb and urging urgent council action.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT >
Are machines now appealing?
Students are turning to AI to optimise their grade appeals, matching every rubric point with precision. But as appeals become more technical, what happens to dialogue, trust, and real learning?
Half-truths and lies: an online day in Australia
Australians are swamped by misinformation every day but they’re smart enough to know they need help to better navigate an untrustworthy online world.
QW: Our councils are too small
I recently moved in to a place in Uralla Shire and I know this is an unpopular sentiment, but I think our Council is too small and we should merge. There’s a lack of professionalism and an acceptance of poor services, particularly in the villages and localities that aren’t in Uralla itself, and it’s something I think any commercial manager knows can be addressed with economies of scale. The idea that a village will lose its character or whatever just doesn’t wash with me, and there are plenty of structures like wards and local action committees that can be used…
QW: Accessibility, not affordability
The old saw. NSW stands for Newcastle, Sydney & Wollongong. Infrastructure: Telecommunications, Road & Rail. The disparity is holding regions back, impeding development & ultimately jeopardising our self sufficiency & security.
QW: Flooding and helping our neighbours
The New England and southern downs has yet again copped the flood of trucks and traffic as flood waters rise and engulf the coasts. It’s exposed serious and dangerous flaws in our national highway system and supply chains as we are yet again playing dodge the potholes on the highway. Listening to idle chatter on the CB radio one truck driver refers to his sea sickness as he travels up and down hills and ranges and winds left and right around sharp bends on the narrow new england highway, pushing it all up hill in a wire canoe along the…
QW: Universal living wage. Cost of living.
“Cost of living” COL is a crisis resulting from prices rising faster than income.
QW: Vittoria student living in Tenterfield
Vittoria from Turino, my family are from Piedmont although I was born in Australia and I visit regularly to Torre Pellice where it all started. Turino is a beautiful city on the river Po with the country side and the alps enhancing the district. Vittoria enjoy your time in our country as much as I enjoy my visits to your country. Ciao.