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.

The artificial opening of the Belongil Creek, an Intermittently Closed and Open Lake and Lagoon (ICOLL), on Monday, 12 October led to yet another significant fish kill with locals and vistors advised to avoid the area and not swim nearby.

The NSW Environment Awards, hosted by the state’s leading environmental advocacy organisation, Nature Conservation Council NSW, was recently held at Customs House in Sydney.