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.

In a stunning repudiation of Donald Trump and the Republican Party he remade in his image, US voters have chosen alternative candidates across the country in midterm elections.

The NSW Government will spend $3 million on a sewer link for the Saddle Road housing precinct near Brunswick Heads, a connection it says could service up to 600 residential lots.

The biggest gun buyback in 30 years began in NSW yesterday, with the first firearms set to be surrendered as part of the government’s commitment to reduce the number of guns in the community and help make NSW safer.

The Blacks Drain crossing on Tweed Valley Way at South Murwillumbah has fully reopened after a $2.56 million rebuild designed to reduce the risk of another washout.

The planned village centre at Kinvara, west of Lennox Head, would move to flatter land and allow taller shop-top housing under planning changes now open for public comment.