Fewer than half of Northern NSW emergency patients needing admission or transfer met a six-hour hospital access target in 2025–26, according to a health district review released yesterday.

As more horses risk life and limb at The Melbourne Cup today, animal lovers are gathering at Flemington Racecourse and across the country to stand up for the victims of what has been described as an outdated and exploitative horseracing spectacle.

The arts are an essential industry. We need artists as much as we need accountants. We need dancers as much as we need doctors. We need comedians as much as we need civil engineers. We need filmmakers as much as we need financial planners. We need musicians as much as we need ministers.

A sold-out gala in Lismore has raised more than $200,000 for Women Up North (WUN) and its Bugalma Bihyn Aboriginal Women’s Refuge, which can accommodate up to five families.