Following last week's announcement by the NSW government of a new Richmond River Coordinator, a gathering at Swan Bay heard from Julie McLellan, CEO of Healthy Land & Water, southeast Queensland's natural resource management organisation, about the practicalities of restoring rivers.

The big kicker in the CSIRO flood report for Ballina is the trade-off. A new outlet to the sea at Broadwater would reduce flooding. There is no doubt about that and we know that the river did just that in 1890.

In July 2022 Engineers Australia held a risk seminar at Southern Cross University. It wasn’t long after the floods so naturally the floods came up in panel discussions. An audience member suggested we needed large basins to capture the water to reduce flooding in Lismore. Not one of the engineers on the panel wanted to discuss this because they thought the idea wasn’t worth discussing.

A new paddle club was recently formed at Evans Head with a focus on enjoying the local waterways while gaining fitness and water skills. There are already 18 members, and the club is keen to attract more.

Since taking their beautifully decorated tinnie up the Richmond, from Ballina almost to Kyogle, Steve Posselt and Graeme Gibson have appeared at a series of forums to share what they've learned and to continue the community conversation about what needs to happen next.

On Sunday afternoon, Steve Posselt and Graeme Gibson will set out in a small tinnie from Ballina to travel as far upstream as they can go, beyond Kyogle. The idea is to highlight the shocking state of the Richmond and Wilson Rivers, and spark community conversations to demand change.

Our property lies on the floodplain at Swan Bay. Over 30 hectares (75 acres) of trees were planted in July last year. This was a WWF and Carbon Friendly project with some of the planted species being for koala habitat.

Climate campaigner Steve Posselt has been commended by the NSW Legislative Assembly for his 1,330 kilometre kayak journey from Ballina to Canberra.

Guardian Angel Anne Thompson waved off kayaker and environmental activist Steve Posselt from Ballina on New Years Day on the final leg of his Connecting Climate Chaos trip around the world.

Activist group the Ballina Knitting Nannas held a send-off for Kayak 4 Earth’s Steve Posselt outside the Nationals election office in Ballina on Monday. The group has also disputed Ballina MP Don Page’s claim that gas miner Dart Energy has relinquished its title over all land in the electorate.