Before there were airport coffee queues and direct flights to Melbourne, there was a crowd of 2,000 people waiting to see a plane land in Ballina.

Having a dead father made me different to other kids. I was six when he died, and in a small town even I knew that for the week of his death, our family was all anyone was talking about. The 30-year-old, wild and misunderstood Robert, who drove his powder blue Valiant, drunk, head on into an oncoming vehicle, killing the grandfather of someone who I was to later meet in high school. It was a collision that changed my life forever.

Northern Rivers preschool staff and families are being urged to rally outside Lismore MP Janelle Saffin’s office amid concerns that new state funding rules could threaten community preschool services.

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.