WEEKEND LONG READ: More than 3,200 hectares of native vegetation will go for the New England REZ transmission line, including 147 hectares of critically endangered New England Peppermint grassy woodland. And they’re allowed to do it because the law gives them a “free kick” as a state significant project.
Investigation
Posted inBoggabri, Environment, Hunter, Legal, Long Read, Mining and Resources, NSW Votes 2027, Politics
The High Court coal win that may close the door it opened
WEEKEND LONG READ: Much has been said about a High Court judgement this week relating to what climate impacts should be included in planning decisions. The backlash and election timing could shut Scope 3 emissions out of planning permanently and give workers and communities the confidence they desperately seek.
Posted inArmidale, Crime, Indigenous, Long Read, Moree, NSW Politics, NSW Votes 2027
Tough on crime, weak on details: how emotion rather than evidence drives justice reform
WEEKEND LONG READ: The NSW election is less than six months away, and both sides are selling ‘tough on crime’. The evidence says their tough slogans don’t make us safer. So why do they keep doing it?
Posted inAged Care, Health, Inverell, Long Read, Uralla Shire
No bed, no way home: the aged care logjam reaching New England hospitals
WEEKEND LONG READ: Medically ready to leave, but nowhere to go. Older people are stranded in New England hospitals, while families are left footing the bill, and politicians squabble.
Posted inArmidale, Federal Politics, Immigration, Long Read
Demographic bulimia: why immigration is a stuck-in-the-muck issue
Labor, the Coalition and One Nation all say they want fewer migrants. Australia’s economy, its farms and its own refugee-resettlement towns all need more of them. It’s a clash between electoral populism and policy reality with no solution.
Posted inArmidale, Hillgrove, Long Read, Mental Health, Workers and Unions
A Hillgrove miracle: is this the happiest workplace in the region?
WEEKEND LONG READ: At the re-opened Hillgrove Mine, staff say the culture, not the antimony, is the real story. How did they avoid the Armidale curse?
Posted inAgribusiness, Agriculture, Environment, Long Read, Mining and Resources, Moree
The real climate policy threat to Australia’s agricultural land
WEEKEND LONG READ: Australia’s system of carbon credits is swallowing up millions of hectares of prime farming land and locking it up for a century, while polluters like Woodside and Chevron look clean on paper. Farmers, investors and economists all want it fixed.
Posted inLocal politics and councils, Long Read, Moree Plains Shire, Politics
Three strikes and still not out: the weak council rules unable to deal with populist politicians
They run the same playbook as Pauline Hanson and Donald Trump: turn every sanction into persecution. Inside the NSW rules that still can’t make badly behaved councillors stop.
Posted inBusiness, Crime, Glen Innes Severn Shire, Long Read, Politics
The tax that built a black market
WEEKEND LONG READ: A federal tax has turned main streets into a battleground for organised crime, insurance hikes and arson. Canberra is still dismissing calls to cut the tobacco excise as a thought bubble.
Posted inArmidale, Energy, Local politics and councils, Long Read, NSW Politics, Regional Development, Water
No water, no REZ: how Armidale is using the REZ as leverage to fix a decade-old problem
WEEKEND LONG READ: There’s an $800m price tag on getting water security for Armidale and Uralla, and ratepayers don’t have it Now the state wants a $24 billion energy zone built here, and Mayor Sam Coupland is using that need as leverage: no water, no REZ.