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October 28, 2026
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Grim numbers from horse racing industry

The Echo - 0
The annual DeathWatch Report by the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) reveals that the home state of the upcoming Melbourne Cup, Victoria, was responsible for 30 percent of the at least 160 racehorses who were killed from racing across the country in the 2025/26 Australian racing season.
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National News

Historic win for koalas as Great Koala National Park legislation passes

The Echo - 0
After a long and bitter fight, conservationists have hailed the passing of legislation to create the Great Koala National Park as a historic win for koalas, forests and the communities that fought to protect them.
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National News

Barwon flood must not be pumped dry

The Echo - 0
Nature Conservation Council NSW (NCC), the state's leading environmental advocacy organisation, is calling on the Minns government to put in place an urgent moratorium on floodplain harvesting to ensure the current flood is used to prepare rivers and wetlands for the coming El Niño summer, not as a bonanza for big irrigators.
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National News

Reef-building corals face elevated risk of extinction

The Echo - 0
A new paper from Dr C. Isabel Núñez Lendo shows nearly half of reef-building corals face elevated relative risk of extinction.
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National News

‘Coal mines are writing the laws’

The Echo - 0
The Minns government has announced it will bypass the independent planning process and legislate an increase in coal production at MACH Energy's Mount Pleasant mine, following the landmark High Court decision that found the mine's expansion approval was invalid because the climate pollution from exported coal had not been properly considered.
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National News

Activists arrested on gas platform

David Lowe - 0
Greenpeace activists boarded Woodside's Scarborough gas platform off Western Australia on the weekend. After staying overnight, police removed the last two yesterday (Sunday 18 October).
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National News

Australia’s biggest culinary tourism economy

The Echo - 0
NSW is serving up a feast for visitors, with new data confirming the state is Australia’s number one destination for food tourism and attracting billions of dollars in visitor spending.
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National News

Police seize 22 e-bikes in Sydney

The Echo - 0
As part of a crackdown on e-bikes across the state, 22 illegal e-bikes have been seized following a NSW Police Force and Transport for NSW joint operation across southern Sydney and the Illawarra.
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National News

Motorcycle Awareness Month puts rider safety in the spotlight

The Echo - 0
Motorcyclists are being urged to continue to take every opportunity to protect themselves on the road this Motorcycle Awareness Month, while drivers are being reminded to stay alert and look out for riders to help prevent serious crashes.
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National News

New pilot backs youth through tough transition

The Echo - 0
The NSW government is partnering with Charlotte’s Wish, BREED Australia and The Step into Action Foundation to support a preventative mentoring and wellbeing pilot program for students in Years 6 to 8.
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National News

Three in four people in households reliant on JobSeeker live in poverty

The Echo - 0
Australia’s income support system is leaving large numbers of people below the poverty line, according to new research from the ACOSS and UNSW Sydney-led Poverty and Inequality Partnership released at the start of Anti-Poverty Week.
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Local News

Four lives lost, thousands of infringement notices issued by police

The Echo - 0
NSW Police say the Labour Day long weekend road safety operation has now concluded, with four lives lost on NW roads, a tragic reminder that the decisions behind the wheel can have devastating consequences.
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National News

World Cerebral Palsy Day

The Echo - 0
Cerebral Palsy Alliance (CPA) is calling on the Australian government to support formal United Nations recognition of 6 October as World Cerebral Palsy Day, creating a permanent global platform to raise awareness, strengthen support and drive action for the 50 million people living with cerebral palsy worldwide.
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National News

Investigation deferred as Greens call for expanded watchdog powers

The Echo - 0
The Minns government is facing calls to clarify the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission’s powers to obtain police documents, as the LECC announced the deferral of public hearings for Operation Makalu, the probe into police violence against peaceful protesters on 9 February at Sydney Town Hall.
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National News

Construction company fined $225,000 after cyclist fatality

The Echo - 0
NSW Kerbing Pty Ltd has been convicted and fined $225,000 in the Industrial Court of NSW as a result of a prosecution by SafeWork NSW.
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National News

Senator Larissa Waters steps down as Greens leader due to health issues

David Lowe - 0
In a shock announcement, Queensland Senator Larissa Waters has announced she is stepping down as Leader of the Australian Greens.
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National News

NSW flicks the switch to turn on massive battery

The Echo - 0
One of the world’s most powerful batteries, the Waratah Super Battery, is now fully operational and helping to deliver reliable energy to NSW homes and businesses.
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National News

360 charges laid, 102 weapons seized

The Echo - 0
Police have charged more 150 people with more than 360 alleged offences following a two-day blitz across the state last week.
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National News

Solar panel recycling in NSW

The Echo - 0
The NSW government is consulting on Australia's first mandatory solar panel recycling scheme to ensure valuable solar panel materials are recovered, reused and recycled rather than sent to landfill.
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National News

Criticism for premier’s direction on crime

The Echo - 0
Sweeping new criminal laws and police powers to deal with organised crime, proposed by the Minns government, including ‘adult crime, adult time’ laws and increased state surveillance powers, are facing serious criticism from Greens spokesperson for justice Sue Higginson MLC.
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National News

More than 9 in 10 people on JobSeeker struggling to afford food

The Echo - 0
New research from the Australian Council of Social Service shows people receiving income support payments are going without food, struggling to afford rent and cutting themselves off from friends and family amid rising unemployment.
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Local News

Regional to Global brings movers and shakers of the screen industry to Lennox Head

David Lowe - 0
When around 300 screen practitioners gathered at Lennox Head last week for ScreenWorks' two-day Regional to Global Screen Forum, the setting was half the story. Here was a serious industry conversation happening a long way from Sydney or Melbourne, and after many successful years, nobody was treating that as a novelty.
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National News

Record poker machine losses expose gambling reform failure

The Echo - 0
New figures showing NSW residents lost a record $4.75 billion on poker machines in just six months are more proof that the Minns Government has gone soft on tackling gambling harm, says Greens MP and gambling harm reduction spokesperson Cate Faehrmann.
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National News

Greens MP calls for colleagues to vote with forests

The Echo - 0
NSW Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment and climate change Sue Higginson has called on the Australian Greens and Greens senators to vote against a motion by the Nationals that would cause the NSW Labor government to continue logging native forests in the Great Koala National Park.
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National News

Australians rallying outside Israeli Embassy

The Echo - 0
Australians will gather this morning outside the Israeli Embassy in Canberra to demand an independent investigation into the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom, two years after she was killed by Israeli forces while delivering food to starving people in Gaza.
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National News

Greater gliders following thylacine into extinction?

The Echo - 0
An alarming report released by the Natural Resources Commission (NRC) in the leadup to National Threatened Species Day (today), identifies the extent of state forests occupied by endangered greater gliders has declined by two-thirds over 27 years, and within the remaining occupied habitat populations have collapsed by a similar amount.
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National News

Thousands of infringements during Operation RAID

The Echo - 0
More than 7,000 drivers will face enforcement action following a statewide traffic operation conducted by police over the weekend.
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Local News

Ballina conference puts water security in spotlight

The Echo - 0
Water security for rural, regional, and remote communities will take centre stage at the 2026 Water Management Conference being hosted by Local Government NSW in Ballina from 2-4 September.
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National News

Foster Care Week marked with landmark reform

The Echo - 0
A new strategy, which the government says will provide more practical support for foster carers, has been unveiled for Foster and Kinship Care Week.
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National News

Single-use paper cups release microplastic particles into your coffee

The Echo - 0
A team from The University of Queensland (UQ) has examined single-use cups lined with fossil-based polyethylene (PE) or the biodegradable alternative polylactic acid (PLA).
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National News

Greens urged to back pathway to end native forest logging

The Echo - 0
Some of NSW’s most respected and long-standing forest campaigners and scientists have today urged the Greens not to support the Nationals' attempt to disallow the Improved Native Forest Management (INFM) method.
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National News

Disastrous levels of sexism and misogyny in Australian schools

The Echo - 0
Monash University has conducted the largest Australian survey of teachers to examine their experiences of sexism, misogyny and sexual harassment in schools.
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National News

NSW gambling reforms announced

The Echo - 0
The Minns government says it is delivering on a key election commitment with its latest tranche of gaming reforms, giving people and families stronger protections against gambling harm and tightening the rules concerning gambling promotion and marketing.
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National News

It’s Scam Awareness Week

The Echo - 0
Quick thinking and strong scams awareness from a bank branch manager has prevented a woman from losing almost $10,000 to an impersonation scam.
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National News

Alarm sounded over proposed federal changes to asylum rights

The Echo - 0
Over 160 community, charity, multicultural and migrant organisations have written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warning that reported plans to remove work rights from people seeking asylum would force thousands of people into destitution and place enormous new pressure on already overstretched charities and community organisations.
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Local News

Kerry O’Brien says what he really thinks

David Lowe - 0
This year's Byron Writers Festival witnessed a remarkable lecture from the legendary and much-loved journalist Kerry O'Brien, now a Northern Rivers local, on 'Lessons From History'.
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National News

Widespread failure across Great Barrier Reef

The Echo - 0
The latest Australian and Queensland Government Reef Water Quality Report Card, reveals widespread failure across key metrics, sparking calls for urgent intervention to halt agricultural deforestation across Great Barrier Reef catchments.
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National News

Rain and fossil fuels melting Australian snow

The Echo - 0
Scientists and athletes are calling on federal parliament for an urgent alpine adaptation program, as climate change makes the difference between precipitation falling as rain or snow in Australia's alpine regions this season.
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National News

Police drop all charges against 125 Rising Tide protesters from the 2024 People’s Blockade

David Lowe - 0
NSW Police have formally withdrawn charges against 125 protesters from Rising Tide’s 2024 People’s Blockade of the World’s Largest Coal Port, which organisers say was one of the largest civil disobedience protests in Australian history.
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National News

Housing Industry Association attacks government on policy change

The Echo - 0
'From today it gets harder for Australia to build the 1.2 million homes governments have committed to,' according to HIA Chief Economist, Tim Reardon.
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Local News

Australia’s first large-scale hemp manufacturing facility announced

The Echo - 0
An Australian startup building homes from hemp has secured $2 million in NSW government funding to scale its manufacturing from a facility in Toormina, near Coffs Harbour. The investment aims to shift the construction industry away from carbon-heavy materials while supporting the state’s agriculture sector.
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National News

Investment to keep communities connected and improve disaster response

The Echo - 0
New portable connectivity kits, internet-enabled forward command vehicles and satellite vessel tracking are being rolled out by the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) to enhance community response during disasters.
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Cartoons

Cartoon of the week – 28 October, 2026

The Echo - 0
The Echo loves your letters and is proud to provide a community forum on the issues that matter most to our readers and the people...
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Entertainment News

Cinema : Meet the future of friendship

The Echo - 0
In a dystopian future some children are genetically engineered – ‘lifted’ – for enhanced academic ability
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Byron Echo

Locals heading to Jakarta for a padel

The Echo - 0
Three Northern Rivers junior tennis players, brothers Miles and Ollie and teammate Frankie, have been selected to represent Australia at the FIP Junior Asia...
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Entertainment News

Interview with Boy & Bear : acoustic reinvention

Eve Jeffery - 0
Known for their rich harmonies, heartfelt songwriting and uplifting live energy, Boy & Bear will bring a more intimate side of their music to Byron Wellness Festival with beautifully reimagined versions of favourite songs, soulful acoustic arrangements and the kind of shared musical moments that invite you to slow down, breathe and be present.
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