News

Pollution incident by AGL Energy in the Hunter Valley - Whitewash by the Government - Community Protest

Date: Thu 09-Sep-10
Author: Hunter Valley Protection Alliance
AGL ENERGY has deliberately and intentionally pumped hundreds of thousands of litres of highly saline water onto pasture adjacent to the Wollombi Brook in the Hunter Valley to avoid trucking it away to a treatment plant, according to a report made to the Department of the Environment and the Department of Industry & Investment.

AGL accused of dumping tainted water in Hunter

Date: Thu 09-Sep-10
Author: Ben Cubby (SMH)
VINEYARD owners accuse the energy company AGL of dumping contaminated water in the Hunter Valley, where it is planning to extract coal seam gas.

The state government said it was concerned and had asked AGL to remediate a site near the town of Broke, after 120,000 litres from a groundwater monitoring program was expelled into a paddock the company owns.

CWA Awareness Day

Date: Wed 08-Sep-10
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
Wednesday 8th September 2010 is the inaugural NSW/ACT Country Women's Association (CWA) Awareness Day. There is wide misconception that the CWA is solely about tea and scones. The CWA has never been an organisation to spend time talking about its achievements - its history has been one of 'just getting on with the job'. Awareness Day is designed to attempt to enlighten the community as to the real CWA.

Power of two

Date: Wed 08-Sep-10
Author: Briony Snedden (Maitland Mercury)
In the end, it came down to two. Independent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor delivered Hunter and Newcastle MPs Joel Fitzgibbon and Sharon Grierson back into government and condemned Paterson MP Bob Baldwin to a further three years in opposition with their decisions to support Labor yesterday.

"And under a Labor government, the community gets a better share of the mining industry profits" Mr Fitzgibbon said.

Air quality - Singleton

Date: Tue 07-Sep-10
Author: Singleton Argus
THREE of the 13 members of the new air quality monitoring network advisory committee are from Singleton.
Cr Lyn MacBain will represent Singleton Council, Carol Russell will represent the Singleton Healthy Environment Group and Kenneth McDonald is the independent community member named on the new committee announced by Climate Change and Environment minister Frank Sartor last week.

The Cockfighter - September 2010

Date: Sun 05-Sep-10
Author: The Cockfighter
Vol 8 Issue 5 - Gateway to the Hunter given World Heritage Listing - Singleton Visitor Information and Enterprise Centre - Broke Bulga Garden Ramble - Spirit of the Vine Festival - GASLAND Screening - Devil Ark in the Hunter...

Wollombi Valley Update - 3 September 2010

Date: Fri 03-Sep-10
Author: Peter Firminger
New Council GM, Wollombi Valley Events List, Cessnock Council update and New State Movement news.

Bridge money needed

Date: Fri 03-Sep-10
Author: Toni Ward (Singleton Argus)
THE $1.7million needed to replace the Herbert Bridge at Broke needs to be found now. The tourism industry of Broke is booming and needs to be supported.

Folk in Broke Newsletter - September 2010

Date: Wed 01-Sep-10
Author: Maureen O'Brien
Attached is our Spring newsletter... it's rather meaty and includes the saturday/sunday festival program... we've got a huge weekend planned for you with so much to hear, see, taste, and do - you won't want to miss it!

Quorrobolong girl finalist in Optus Sound Scribe competition

Date: Wed 01-Sep-10
Author: The Advertiser
Budding music writer Jessica Willard could secure Cessnock a major gig through a national online blog competition. Jessica, of Quorrobolong, has made the top 40 of the inaugural Optus Sound Scribe competition.

36 Months of Wollombi Valley Online

Date: Wed 01-Sep-10
Author: Peter Firminger
Wollombi Valley Online continues to grow steadily into the third year of production. Still unfunded and totally independent.

Protection of the Environment Operations (Clean Air) Regulation 2010

Date: Tue 31-Aug-10
Author: NSW Legislation
The Regulation revises the local government areas in which the control of burning provisions apply, provides for an automatic exemption from the requirement to fit certain anti-pollution devices to certain table-top trucks used on farms (an application for exemption is currently required), revises the percentage ethanol content for petrol to be considered prescribed blended petrol and makes other minor amendments.

Greens MP resigns from NSW Parliament

Date: Tue 31-Aug-10
Author: ABC News
There is more movement on the Upper House benches of New South Wales parliament, with yet another resignation. Greens MLC Sylvia Hale was not planning to contest next March's state election but she has decided to leave early and will formally hand in her resignation on Friday. Her party has already selected her replacement - Sydney lawyer David Shoebridge.

A new state for New England

Date: Mon 30-Aug-10
Author: Jim Belshaw
Now that the combination of the independents with a resurgence of North Queensland new state interest has put new states back on the agenda, I have watched with a degree of bemusement as the same old arguments against are re-cycled.

It is now 150 years since the first attempt to create a new state in Northern New South Wales. From 1915, there were waves of sustained agitation for New England self-government. The name New England itself was adopted at a convention in Maitland in 1932. This agitation forced, among other things, two Royal Commissions in NSW, a Commonwealth Royal Commission into the constitution and the formation of an all-party Commonwealth Parliamentary inquiry into the constitution.

Joel Fitzgibbon re-elected

Date: Sun 29-Aug-10
Author: Jamie Fakes (Hunter Valley News)
The Australian Labor Party has maintained its power in the Hunter region with Joel Fitzgibbon being re-elected to the seat on Saturday.
While other Labor candidates may have struggled to maintain the same amount of support they received in the 2007 election Mr Fitzgibbon was again well ahead of his competition.

At the time of publication yesterday the returning Member for Hunter had just under 40,000 votes and 54.91 per cent.

Wollombi Update - 27 August 2010 (late edition)

Date: Fri 27-Aug-10
Author: Peter Firminger
What an interesting week this has been! Mr Rabbit must have stopped the boats as he hasn't mentioned that massive invasion of diseased terrorists since last Saturday! Whew... Lucky we had an election to sort that threat out. It's amazing what can get fixed over a weekend every few of years (or weeks maybe).

Is Fracking Even Worse Than Drilling?

Date: Fri 27-Aug-10
Author: William Fisher (Common Dreams)
Although the natural gas industry rejects it, critics say fracking can poison water supplies. They also say it uses large amounts of fresh water and generates large amounts of wastewater with limited disposal options.

Pollution package ignores calls for health study

Date: Fri 27-Aug-10
Author: Di Sneddon (Singleton Argus)
The state government says they are listening to community concerns, but they aren't listening closely enough.

Ungooroo Aboriginal Corporation & Newcastle Yarteen College partnership

Date: Fri 27-Aug-10
Author: Singleton Argus
A NEW partnership between Ungooroo Aboriginal Corporation and Newcastle based Yarteen College will create better pathways to employment for Singleton's Aboriginal people.

Performance - September 2010

Date: Thu 26-Aug-10
Author: Peter McCloy
Did you think that the characters from Crystal Inlet in Money and Friends were somewhat dysfunctional? Well - just wait for our next production!