Mayor of Ballina Sharon Cadwallader has called for a fairer airport funding partnership for the Northern Rivers, contrasting the Commonwealth’s reported $5.6 billion investment in Western Sydney Airport with Ballina Shire Council funding almost three-quarters of its airport’s recent runway upgrade.

A service station employee has died in hospital after allegedly being hit by a ute in Coffs Harbour last week.

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.

Senator David Pocock was already booked for the National Press Club when Helen Haines was attacked outside her office, but this shocking event put a sombre spotlight on his speech, which focused on the role and responsibility of independents in the Australian parliament.