#midnorthcoast — Public Fediverse posts

The Bulahdelah Visitors Centre #bulahdelah #midnorthcoast #nsw #au #bentsabout #latergram

The Bulahdelah Visitors Centre #bulahdelah #midnorthcoast #nsw #au #bentsabout #latergram

Outside buildings at the Courthouse housed the goal and police station #bulahdelah #midnorthcoast #nsw #au #bentsabout #latergram

Outside buildings at the Courthouse housed the goal and police station #bulahdelah #midnorthcoast #nsw #au #bentsabout #latergram

The former court house is now the Courthouse Museum operated by local volunteers and open on Saturday #bulahdelah #midnorthcoast #nsw #au #bentsabout #latergram

The former court house is now the Courthouse Museum operated by local volunteers and open on Saturday #bulahdelah #midnorthcoast #nsw #au #bentsabout #latergram

Idyllic rural NSW is a hotspot for motor neurone disease

"Our recent mortality paper shows that if you live in rural and regional Australia, you are 40 per cent more likely to die from motor neurone disease. This cannot be genetic."
"Much attention will be focused on MND hotspots which include regional centres such as Griffith, Leeton, Wagga Wagga and Narrandera in the Riverina where rates of the degenerative illness are estimated to be five to seven times the national average. Other areas of concern include Tamworth, Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-01/mnd-notifiable-disease-starts/107097432
#environment #diseases #MDN #NSW #CoffsHarbour #PortMacquarie #RuralNSW #MidNorthCoast #water #pollution #ExtremeHeat #runoff #HABs #pesticides #epidemiology

40 safety breaches in SafeWork NSW blitz on Coffs Coast, Riverina farm businesses

"Labour-hire firms and agribusinesses across the Coffs Coast and Riverina have been issued with more than 40 safety notices in a SafeWork NSW blitz after allegations of slavery in the fruit-picking industry."

"The workplace safety watchdog has identified dozens of safety issues across labour-hire firms and agribusinesses operating on New South Wales fruit farms in the wake of serious modern slavery allegations in the fruit-picking industry." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-31/safework-blitz-on-modern-slavery-coffs-coast-riverina-farms/107096906
#IR #CoffsHarbour #Food #work #slavery #blueberries #MidNorthCoast

Focus on Coffs Harbour and Nambucca Valley

"NSW modern slavery report calls for urgent reform to protect migrant workers."

"A NSW parliamentary report into modern slavery has detailed "harrowing stories of mistreatment and harm..The report asked the government to investigate allegations of systemic labour exploitation in Coffs Harbour and the Nambucca Valley."

"NSW Anti-slavery commissioner Dr James Cockayne said in a statement the report was "informed by evidence from almost 100 witnesses across NSW, including victim survivors of modern slavery, and 60 submissions"." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-06/nsw-anti-slavery-report-urgent-reform-to-protect-migrant-workers/107003130
#exploitation #PALM #MidNorthCoast #HorticulturalIndustry #blueberries #CoffsHarbour #NambuccaValley #food #harm #slavery #plantations #regulation

Court fines Bucca blueberry farmers $100,000 for building an illegal dam

"The unauthorised dam construction disrupted a creek and removed native vegetation on a property in Bucca, north of Coffs Harbour."

"Two farmers have been fined $100,000 for building an unapproved dam on their property at Bucca, north of Coffs Harbour.The pair has now received regulatory approval for the dam and no orders for its removal or demolition were made." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-06/bucca-blueberry-farmers-fined-for-illegal-dam/107003136
#water #extractivism #rivers #artificialisation #harm #NSW #MidNorthCoast #blueberries #HorticulturalIndustry #regulation #CoffsHarbour #Bucca #LandClearing

Vulnerable workers bearing the cost of providing Australia with cheap food

"Across Australia's fruit and vegetable industry, Fair Work Ombudsman investigations have repeatedly uncovered widespread non-compliance...: systemic worker exploitation, forced labour, debt bondage and, in some cases, human trafficking and servitude."

"In Coffs Harbour, 61 per cent of growers and labour hire companies inspected were found to be breaching workplace laws, including underpaying workers. The figure rose to 72 per cent in the Riverina and 83 per cent in Victoria's Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley....Oz Group, a co-operative representing more than 140 berry growers across NSW's Mid North Coast, said in its 2020 statement it "does not accept any form of slavery-like practices within the co-operative or throughout its supply chain".However, in its 2025 statement, the co-operative said, "addressing modern slavery requires ongoing effort and collaboration" and it remained "committed to continuous improvement"." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-04/australias-hidden-modern-slave-labour-workforce-exposed/106968610
#exploitation #work #ForcedLabour #food #slavery #CoffsHarbour #HorticulturalIndustry #governance #regulation #ModernSlaveryAct #TokenisticLaw #NSW #MidNorthCoast #blueberries

Malnourished and sick kangaroos, isolated by urban sprawl on New South Wales's Mid North Coast

"...The kangaroos were chronically malnourished because they could not find enough to eat in an area bordered by ocean, the nearby Emerald Beach settlement, and the Pacific Highway. Our theory is that ongoing development … the M1 being upgraded and an increase in suburban dwellings, that this population is isolated." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-24/sick-kangaroos-coffs-coast-look-at-me-now-headland/106597450

First the thylacine, the others a bit later...

#biodiversity #wildlife #EasternGreyKangaroos #habitat #kangaroos #marsupials #CoffsCoast #CoffsHarbour #LookAtMeNowHeadland #EmeraldBeach #sprawl #tourism #PacificHighway #roads #harm #MidnorthCoast #StarvingWildlife

Image: Coastal sprawl - No place for endemic wildlife on the Mid North Coast of NSW

The 'world's watching' koalas getting under Aussie wheels

They are begging motorists to slow down when driving through known koala habitats, but...

"Since European colonisation, koala habitat in Australia has been devastated, with approximately 29 million hectares (54 per cent) of forests and woodlands destroyed in NSW alone. Even in recent years, deforestation has continued at an alarming pace...Koalas are facing extinction in NSW by 2050."
>>
https://au.news.yahoo.com/drivers-warned-after-heartbreaking-find-next-to-road-at-aussie-tourist-town-230610115.html
#biodiversity #extinction #koalas #marsupials #roads #cars #Roadkill #RoadTrauma #NSW #MidNorthCoast #LoggingImpacts #NSWLogging #wildlife #deforestation

Kids want to be mobile
but
don't own a private car and mostly live in public transport deserts.
Poor bike, footpaths, or road infrastructure increase risks of potentially life-threatening injuries when using mobility devices such as e-scooters.

" One in 10 children hurt while riding e-scooters suffered life-threatening injuries. Children were “massively overrepresented” in cases of e-scooter injuries and deaths, despite e-scooters being mostly ridden by adults."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/04/e-scooter-injury-toll-revealed-in-study-just-tip-of-the-iceberg-in-australia-doctors-warn
#children #MobilityDesign #parenting #TransitDesert #FossilFuel #mobility #RoadTrauma #NSW #MidNorthCoast

New research shows: "Alarmingly, climate change is making bushfires more frequent."
Logging and 'thinning' Bellingen does too.

"We excluded deliberate burns such as hazard reduction (or prescribed) burns lit by fire authorities. We also excluded places that had been logged, because they’re known to be at a high risk of severe fire – and so including them would have skewed the results."

"Clearly, we must seek to limit the number of wildfires. An obvious response is to take more strident steps to tackle climate change. But even if humanity meets this huge global challenge, it will be a long time before we see demonstrable changes in climate conditions."

"More immediate options include managing vegetation to reduce flammability. For example, activities such as logging and thinning can make forests more flammable, so such practices should be halted in these vulnerable ecosystems."

"Greater efforts are needed to conserve biodiversity that is sensitive to fire, and to conserve ecosystems at risk of collapse. We must also embrace new technologies to detect wildfires as soon as they ignite, and suppress them as quickly as possible."

https://theconversation.com/yes-climate-change-is-bringing-bushfires-more-often-but-some-ecosystems-in-australia-are-suffering-the-most-211683

Logging elevated the probability of high-severity fire in the 2019–20 Australian forest fires
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01717-y

What environmental and climatic factors influence multidecadal fire frequency?
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.4610

#biodiversity #climate #FossilFuels #fire #risks #water #Bellingen #Gleniffer #Gumbaynggirr #MidNorthCoast #logging #BellingenLogging #TuckersNobSF #GKNP #ClearFelling #koala #SaveTuckersNob #bushfires #biodiversity #conservation

Bellingen - Tuckers Nob proposed logging/ clear felling Information Meeting

To the community of Tuckers Nob State Forest and any residents concerned by proposed Industrial Logging of Compartments 26/27 you are invited to a meeting by Friends of Tuckers Nob at

Gleniffer Hall
Thursday 17 of August at 6 pm

#biodiversity #climate #FossilFuels #fire #risks #water #Bellingen #catchment #RosesRd #GlenifferRd #trucks #traffic #noise #dust #Gleniffer #meeting #Gumbaynggirr #MidNorthCoast #logging #BellingenLogging #TuckersNobSF #woodchips #GKNP #ClearFelling #koala