Melbourne writer-director Jake James Whitford has been named the 2026 Young Australian Filmmaker of the Year at the Byron Bay International Film Festival (BBFF), for his short film 'The Squatters and the Fairy Princess'.

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.

The NSW State Emergency Service has advised Northern Rivers residents to monitor conditions for possible flash flooding after more than 117mm of rain fell at Cape Byron and Ballina Airport over four days, with further falls overnight.

Wanderlust invites the community to a magical evening celebrating connection and conscious living at the Wanderlust Night Market.

NSW is serving up a feast for visitors, with new data confirming the state is Australia’s number one destination for food tourism and attracting billions of dollars in visitor spending.