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.
Long Read
Posted inFeature, Local politics, 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, Feature, 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, 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.
Posted inHealth, Long Read
Armidale nurse takes rural retention message to national stage
An Armidale nurse has used a national platform to push for the governance changes needed to keep nurses working in rural and remote communities.
Posted inAgribusiness, Agriculture, Dorrigo, Investigation, Long Read, New England Surrounds
Duped by the ABC: Food fraud investigation may be rotten
The ABC’s food fraud special ‘Duped’ made Australians afraid of what’s in their fridge. A closer look at the evidence, the lab behind it, and the sources it relied on tells a very different story.
Posted inArmidale, Investigation, Local News, Long Read, Politics, Roads and Infrastructure, Transport and Freight
The causes of bad numbers: culture and politics
In this final part of our New England Times investigation by RK Crosby, we look at two known forces that corrupt the numbers: culture and politics.
Posted inInvestigation, Local News, Long Read, Narrabri, Politics, Roads and Infrastructure, Transport and Freight
Where do all the bad numbers come from?
In the next part of our New England Times investigation by RK Crosby, we delve more deeply to find out where the bad numbers come from.
Posted inArmidale, Barwon Electorate, Investigation, Long Read, Politics, Science and Research
Do the work: Local MP leads call for evidence in Government decisions
Part two of our Bad Numbers investigation: one local MP’s push to require evidence and consultation before any bill passes NSW Parliament, to fix a problem they’ve known about for decades.
Posted inArmidale, Investigation, Long Read, Politics, Roads and Infrastructure, Transport and Freight
Transport planning assumptions unravel across all levels of government
In this New England Times investigation by RK Crosby, we look at how bad numbers, assumptions and guesses, and misrepresentations of old documents, have led to plans at all levels of government being not worth the paper they are printed on.