Got something you want to say about something on New England Times or happening in our community? Write a letter to the editor here.
Letter: Thanks to our effective local member
I just wanted to say a quick thank you to our effective local member – New England Times. Certainly you’re achieving more than the blokes actually elected!
I’d genuinely forgotten what it was like to have a story appear in the paper about something not right, and the government actually do something about it in response. Of course, we shall have to wait and see if they really do repave the New England Highway, Oxley Highway, and Waterfall Way – but to see a whole government announcement that was clearly directed straight at the Northern Tablelands, with like one road from down south thrown in, was just something.
Bravo!
Letter: Radiology frustration shared
In response to: Radiology deserts in regional NSW are a policy failure costing millions
I feel your frustration! Is there a government policy for health care in the bush? It seems unlikely. Recently, I needed a radiologist-guided steroid injection into areas of bursitis (in both hips). When I made an appointment with iMed, I was told I would need to wait a month. So, after waiting a couple of months, I was told that Armidale no longer had a radiologist. (I’ve just rung to check; when I asked if they had a FIFO radiologist, the operator was about to transfer me to someone else for the answer! They have a FIFO one now…but thank goodness I hung on for those 15 minutes – I might have missed out on learning how many bones there are in a baby.)
So, I rang Tamworth. Yes, I could have a steroid injection in a couple of weeks’ time. When I said I needed two, one for each hip, I was told that this procedure needed to be done on different days. “Why?” Frankly, I didn’t get a proper answer, even though I’d asked if there were side-effects (which there weren’t). I discovered that they too have a FIFO radiologist. My take on this woeful state of affairs would mean a long drive down to Tamworth, undergo the procedure, return. Then repeat in a couple of days later!!!
An alternative: an early morning train trip, then one of at least two taxis to the radiology business and then…what did one do for a whole day before waiting for a return train trip??? That’s an alternative?
You may notice I said ‘radiology business’…as that is what our medical system now is. The radiologist in question is gaming the system: two appointments instead of one. Double trouble for the patient/government.
This applies to prescriptions as well. Under the old system, the receptionist would take the patient’s details; the doctor would write the script out after her/his last patient – there may have been ten or so? Now?
To get a repeat prescription, one has to book a Telehealth appointment…often having to wait for a couple of days; often the call is over two hours later than the appointed timeslot. If the patient is aged, then they are not charged, but the government is. Similar for repeat yearly check-up with a Specialist. Make an appointment with the GP; get a referral; see said Specialist.
Much is made of IPTAAS for remote patients. This is a business, not a service. Our great doctors, Bookalill, Niven, et. al. are horrified! They worked their butts off when they were practicing. A wonderful locum told me recently: “If they can’t smell or see a beach, then the young doctors don’t want to go there.” Says it all, really.
Letter: Confetti Lane brings colour and smiles to Armidale
A new community art project appeared in Armidale last weekend.
In the tucked away laneway at the back of Armidale’s East Mall a “Confetti Lane” appeared.
Colourful! Makes one smile! Many locals helped paint the coloured circles that have liven up a dowdy spot. Take a look!
Got something on your mind? Go on then, engage. Submit your opinion piece, letter to the editor, or Quick Word now.
Letter: Desperately seeking relevance….
What an embarrassment Barnaby Joyce’s 7.30 appearance on 23 July was – all bluster and no substance.
He railed against the “insanity” of net zero and whipped up “regional fury,” yet his only concrete action—a private member’s bill to scrap net zero by 2050—offers no credible alternative, just reckless populism. It’s nothing more that a feeble attempt to make himself relevant.
Joyce seems to have forgotten that at the recent election it was a Labor landslide. 94-43 – with the Nationals a mere 15…..
Let than sink in!!! They are totally irrelevant… and he knows it – thus the theatrics.
Joyce loves to pose as the lone voice for the bush, but when pressed for detail, he dodges, deflects, and plays the victim. He rails against “salacious” media while ignoring his own unresolved controversies and a long history of destabilising his party.
This isn’t leadership—it’s self-serving brinkmanship. Regional Australians deserve investment, energy security and a real plan for the future, not empty fury and a destructive bill designed to drag Australia backwards.
It’s time voters and the media demanded more than noise from Barnaby Joyce.
Got something on your mind? Go on then, engage. Submit your opinion piece, letter to the editor, or Quick Word now.
Letter: Barnaby Joyce is Playing Politics with Your Future
Re: Joyce concedes Net Zero stance is just politics as new parliament begins
Barnaby Joyce’s recent remarks on Sunrise reveal a troubling admission: he has finally said the quiet part out loud. His stance on net zero emissions—and by extension, energy prices, jobs, and the future of our regions—isn’t about what’s best for Australia. It’s about finding a “point of division” to keep himself politically relevant.
Think about what that really means. Joyce admits he’s willing to abandon policies he agreed with just to pick a fight with Labor. He’s not offering solutions. He’s not even pretending to lead. He’s deliberately stoking conflict to distract from the fact that the Coalition has no serious plan for Australia’s energy future or the cost-of-living pressures hurting everyday families.
And who pays the price for this cynical game? We do.
New England voters should be furious. His purported private members bill is an attention seeking farce.
Our communities have lived through record droughts, catastrophic fires, and floods—all made worse by a changing climate. Farmers are struggling. Power prices in the bush remain high. Renewable energy could bring thousands of jobs and investment to regional Australia, yet Joyce wants to turn his back on these opportunities just to score a cheap headline.
He claims to care about pensions and power prices, yet opposing net zero will do the exact opposite—locking us into volatile fossil fuel markets and scaring off the very industries that could bring down bills and create new income streams for rural areas.
Joyce is treating the wellbeing of the people of New England as a political pawn.
This isn’t leadership. It’s cowardice wrapped in populism. It’s a betrayal of the trust New England voters placed in him. While Labor focuses on practical reforms—reducing student debt, improving childcare, protecting workers’ wages—Joyce is busy trying to manufacture a culture war.
The truth is simple: Barnaby Joyce would rather see New England fall behind than admit that a clean energy future is inevitable and beneficial all because Labor says it will.
If you live in New England, you should be asking yourself:
- Why is my MP fighting against policies that would make my life better?
- Why is he more interested in dividing Australians than helping them?
- And why should he keep his seat if he’s openly admitting he’s in this for the politics, not the people?
New England deserves better than a politician who puts his own survival above the future of his community.
What a joke!! The frightening thing is…. He doesn’t seem to think there is something wrong with this….. Seriously!
Got something on your mind? Go on then, engage. Submit your opinion piece, letter to the editor, or Quick Word now.
Letter: Climate change is a major factor driving up food costs
Australians are making the connection between climate change and rising food prices — and they’re right to. A recent Farmers for Climate Action poll of 1,000 Australians found that 65% believe climate change is a major factor driving up food costs. They’re seeing it firsthand at the checkout.
The Cost of Climate Change at the Checkout report outlines the impact: floods like those in Queensland, drought in western Victoria, destructive storms, and bushfires during the Black Summer in Gippsland and NSW. These events are damaging crops, disrupting supply chains, and leaving supermarket shelves emptier and prices higher.
The good news? We can act. By cutting emissions and investing in farm resilience, we’re not just supporting farmers — we’re protecting generations of agricultural tradition and securing Australia’s food future.
Letter: Electrification of trains
The Explorer train to Armidale is to be replaced with a new train (R Sets) built in Spain by CAF. The trains are currently being tested prior to entering service.
The trains are bi mode powered. That is, they can be operated from overhead electric power from Central to Newcastle, and have a diesel engine to power the train from Newcastle to Armidale.
An option for the train was to be supplied with a battery pack to allow travel by diesel, overhead power or by battery. However, the Government did not order the battery packs. Our new trains will burn 3 to 4 litres of diesel per kilometre or about 1200 litres per trip. Had the new R sets been battery equipped, of the 578km journey 165 kms could have been electric, power, about 300kms on battery and only about 113kms on diesel. That would be a saving of about 860 litres of diesel or over $1000 per trip.
Got something on your mind? Go on then, engage. Submit your opinion piece, letter to the editor, or Quick Word now.
Letter: Joyce’s Campaign Against Clean Energy
Dear Editor,
It seems lately that every time Barnaby Joyce gets a chance, he delivers a rhetorical rant against renewables. While there is no empirical evidence to support his ravings, there is, however, a valid reason for it.
That is the time-honored tactic of the Liberal National Party (LNP) of dividing the community, making one group appear the victim and the other the aggressor, with the LNP being the savior.
Joyce portrays urban dwellers as enjoying the benefits of renewable energy at the expense of their rural cousins. He claims that farmland is being ruined and roads destroyed, all to benefit city people. Joyce, of course, will save the rural community if they vote for him.
Classic propaganda. Create an aggressor, a victim, and a savior out of nothing.
He attempts to validate this approach by claiming that, while the Liberals received the drubbing of a lifetime in the recent Federal election, the Nationals came out unscathed. Not quite — the seat of Calare that the Nationals won in 2022 was lost to independent Andrew Gee, a former National. Their deputy leader in the Senate, Perin Davey, lost her New South Wales Senate spot. And, of course, Jacinta Price took her National spot in the Senate and gave it to the Liberals, leaving the Nationals one short of party status in the upper house.
Joyce is trying to save some of the furniture for the next election because the Nationals are worried. The community generally sees the LNP as one party, and the shellacking that the Liberals received was due to National Party policy as much as their own. The Liberal strategy of taking outer urban seats from Labor failed dismally, so at the next election, their best bet is to shed themselves of National Party policies or take National seats for their own. The conundrum being that the Liberals and Nationals need each other to govern, as there has only ever been one majority Liberal Federal government; every other time, it has been in minority with National support.
The Liberals are in a sinking boat with the Nationals and floundering in the doldrums without them.
The Nationals are worried, and they are worried about the Liberals.
Got something on your mind? Go on then, engage. Submit your opinion piece, letter to the editor, or Quick Word now.
Letter: The rail will never, and should never, come back.
There’s little to no true economic benefits, and the costs would be exorbitant.
The difference in gauges at the border (as others have said) would be an almost insurmountable problem – and certainly not one that QLD would help us solve. A 3rd line is a nice idea, but who pays for that? NSW and QLD are separate states with separate transport funding and harmonisation isn’t currently a QLD priority for the lines from Wallangarra. All freight would most likely have to (like passengers do) swap trains at the border, thus backing them freight up, and due to this trucks would ultimately be used anyway/instead. Livestock transport also isn’t practically viable for most businesses via train due to the lack of holding yards, ramps, etc.
Not to mention the biggest issue – the costs of re-assessing and rebuilding all the hand-done masonry of the culverts, fallen bridges, etc. under modern labour regulations which didn’t exist when the lines were originally constructed. The cement is crumbling between the bricks that are falling out and everything would need to be rebuilt from scratch under modern wage awards.
Let alone the tree lopping! The lines (and access tracks) are covered by regrowth particularly on Bolivia Hill.
And let’s not forget environmental impact studies, endangered animals and plants we’d have to work around, etc.
Again these legal requirements didn’t exist when the lines were originally constructed.
Then on top of all that there’s the cost of locomotive engines, carriages (plus maintenance) and what about the staff to drive them? TfNSW has so much trouble staffing Sydney trains as is and they actually have an economic benefit whereas our lines would not.
The whole idea is a pipe dream, dreamt up by those who have continually refused online to provide answers for these practical issues outside of “where there’s a will there’s a way” which is an asinine answer at best.
Nobody with any understanding of what the whole endeavour would fully entail supports the idea, because of all the reasons I’ve outlined above and more.
Even if the trains came back, they’d run at a loss and not solve the freight issues. We’re better off advocating for better bus services using the existing roads, as well as funding for more intense regular roadworks to shore up the New England Highway volume capacity.
Got something on your mind? Go on then, engage. Submit your opinion piece, letter to the editor, or Quick Word now.
Letter: 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 have a similar problem.
I have just received verification from Armidale Regional Council that they have no problem with shops in The Mall being converted to become ‘inner-city’ homes.
All we have to do now is encourage young prospective homeowners to buy up the vacant shops and renovate them to 2025 standards for a home:
Solar panels on the roof; induction stove, electric heating/cooling; upgrade bathroom, kitchen. If I wanted to move from the rat-race and had a couple of young kids, I’d jump at this chance of inner-city living…
- save on petrol (a charging station is soon to be available, behind the shops on the southern side in Cinders Lane),
- a block to a park.
- A block to a supermarket;
- dentist on your doorstep; a hairdresser might even come back…even a chemist…even a gift/newspaper shop (smaller than Carr’s).
- And at night – think of the quiet – no barking dogs,
- no verge to mow.
- No potholes; no noise from cars, motor bikes, trucks etc.
If I were a young parent faced with the choice of paying $400,000+ for an ordinary-looking house with enough room for a garage, a swing and veggie-garden, or $250,000 for a two storey ‘shop’…well, I’d take the shop, thank you. It wouldn’t even cost me $200,000 to upgrade. Plenty of parking at the rear.
To buy one of these shops isn’t that costly…add to that the cost of a reno. It wouldn’t be as expensive as buying a house, particularly if renovations were still needed.
Oh, and D.A.’s are only needed if the outside walls of the ‘house’ are changed. (Gosh, I don’t think Council would like that very much!!)
Council only needs to put in two wrought iron fences (with ‘gates’ in the middle) on either end of The Mall (or is it called Armidale Plaza?) and keypads high enough that can be opened only by an adult (wheelchair uses could ask a passer-by to press the keys … 2350 would be a good code) so that children are kept safe inside The Mall. Access to Cinders Lane and, on the other side, “Perrot’s Arcade” would need child-proof gates…but that wouldn’t cost much.
Here, in the centre of Armidale, the Mall would be the ‘backyard’ for kids…a readymade playground at their front door. Boobooks provides plenty of events to keep the mind active; Granny Fi’s Cupboard is always exciting. I’m sure more shops would open if the foot traffic increased.
Coffee? You want coffee? A couple to choose from…but not after 3pm in the afternoon. Perhaps one of the prospective owners could open up the downstairs part of their apartment as a late afternoon tea/coffee cuppa venue. Nice little income without having to pay extra in rates.
The raised beds which, at present, are home to shrubs, could become veggie gardens…children can help with the plantings.(Stockholm has a veggie garden in their main city roundabout! )
In summer, Evening concerts could take place in The Mall; Markets in the Mall would still happen. Even setting up a screen as Sam did for the tennis, would be an option. Play it again, Sam!
Keep an eye out for The Courthouse…soon to reinvent itself! It would be a good place to store the fold up chairs that can be brought out for a concert et al. It’s not beyond the Solicitor in the Mall to buy and rent out a flat…that should be cheaper and easier for the tenant.
This is mainly a call out to Estate agents to get busy; to showcase this opportunity to young parents about the joys of living in a town like Armidale.
Sure, the Estate Agents won’t get as much commission for one of these shops versus a house, but gee, I bet they’d feel good!
Got something on your mind? Go on then, engage. Submit your opinion piece, letter to the editor, or Quick Word now.
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.