By Chris Oldfield and Nasik Swami: NARACOORTE Lucindale Council CEO Trevor Smart has resigned after six years in the top job and is looking forward to spending more time with his family. Mr Smart has spent 41 years in local government and six years with Naracoorte Lucindale Council. In a bid to help the council transition to a new CEO, he will stay on until the end of February, unless a new executive is found beforehand. Mayor Patrick Ross said he advised elected members of Mr Smart’s decision last Friday and staff were also informed on the same day. “His resignation letter, which I forwarded to all elected members with a covering note from myself of when I received it, is a letter of resignation and retirement,” Mr Ross said. “Trevor Smart is very good at his job. For a first-time council member/mayor, to have a chief executive officer of […]

Issue One: Food Prices. Respondents: Premier Peter Malinauskas and Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia. By Nasik Swami: The News is introducing a new series called Hard Talk, focusing on in-depth interviews with hard-hitting questions on issues relating to communities like ours. Through this series, we aim to ask our leaders, bureaucrats, and decision makers to respond to the various issues affecting our community—our businesses, our farmers, our workers, our children, along with our health, education, and industry networks; What is working well and what is not? Hard Talk is simple. It’s about holding your elected representatives accountable and demanding the change that’s needed. If no change is needed, we can promote that too. In our first issue, we focus on the rising food prices. We questioned Premier Peter Malinauskas and newly appointed Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia. An affordable daily diet has edged too far away for many. Food prices have risen […]

Last week, the Naracoorte Cub Scouts had an exciting visit to the Naracoorte Council office. They were joined by Mayor Patrick Ross and Deputy Mayor Monique Crossling to learn how council operates, how a council meeting is run, and toured the council office. The Scouts explored the building, viewed historical maps of Naracoorte, admired the honour boards, and checked out some old surveying equipment. Picture: NLC.

Students, teachers and staff members of Naracoorte Primary School marked the Book Week parade last week by dressing up in their favourite characters from a book. Picture: Naracoorte Primary School Facebook Page.

By Chris Oldfield: SOME public servants could soon enter homes without a warrant to “seize documents” including computers, phones, diaries, and bank statements under calls for tough new laws for SA Landscape Boards. Harsher than laws for Federal Police against terrorists if enacted, “authorised officers” could also make “an information discovery order”, compelling businesses and individuals to provide evidence without a court warrant. If enacted, public servants employed by councils on behalf of landscape boards could also “seize and retain” declared species of animals passing though farms and private properties. Landscape Boards are meant to manage soil, water, weeds and pests. But under the heading Compliance and enforcement, five recommendations sit on page 40 of the Independent Review of the Landscape SA Act 2019. All up there are 65 recommendations. More power for public servants than police “When I read it after it was released a couple of months ago, […]

By Nasik Swami: The emergency department at Naracoorte Hospital is being fixed to make it “fit for purpose”. Health Minister Chris Picton says the community deserves to have a hospital they are proud of and can provide a high quality of care. Mr Picton was part of a delegation from the Health Ministry that visited the hospital on August 7 to see the progress of $8million upgrade work supported by the government. “The current upgrades will deliver a better standard of care, closer to home, while the review of regional service delivery will evaluate how best to meet the community’s health needs into the future.” According to the minister, the upgrade would deliver much-needed new clinical and patient spaces for the community, including significant improvements in accident and emergency. The tender for works to the emergency department closed earlier this month, while some projects as part of the upgrade to […]

By Nasik Swami: Already fed up with mobile connectivity issues? Wait, there’s more coming your way, as all of Australia’s 3G networks go off in the coming months. Once the 3G mobile network is switched off, people will be left without means of communication in some regional areas, and the devices they rely on will be rendered useless. Many stakeholders in regional South Australia are calling the switch off unfair, putting unnecessary stress and pressure on those who use 3G-compatible handsets, and a government supporting mobile operators over its people. The big question being asked by the stakeholders is: how will network users on 3G devices be able to make Triple Zero emergency calls, and why are people being forced to upgrade their devices to a 4G- compatible one over a commercial decision? What happens to network users in Naracoorte and surrounding towns, where 4G connectivity is not so good […]

By Chris Oldfield: LOCAL police are seeking further information regarding several incidents throughout Naracoorte Lucindale and Tatiara districts. Naracoorte Sergeant Simon Haebich said he was particularly concerned about a break-in at Keith last month. During the night or early morning of July 14-15, while occupants slept an offender entered through an unlocked door and stole car keys. The offender then used them to steal the car parked outside in the driveway.   “A short time later that vehicle was captured on CCTV at a business premises on Bordertown’s Western Services Road where it rammed a cyclone gate, and then drove off,” Sgt Haebich said. “It is also suspected of being involved in some other `unlawfully on premises’ matters in the Bordertown light industrial area that morning. “Entry was gained in some business premises but there were no actual thefts.  “Nobody has been apprehended yet. The big thing for us is security […]

By Nasik Swami: The emergency department at Naracoorte Hospital is being fixed to make it “fit for purpose”. Health Minister Chris Picton says the community deserves to have a hospital they are proud of and can provide a high quality of care. Mr Picton was part of a...

By Nasik Swami: Already fed up with mobile connectivity issues? Wait, there’s more coming your way, as all of Australia’s 3G networks go off in the coming months. Once the 3G mobile network is switched off, people will be left without means of communication in some...

By Nasik Swami: The establishment of a radiation therapy service in Mount Gambier for the South East has been scrapped. An independent feasibility study has found that the establishment of a radiation therapy service in Mount Gambier for the South East to deliver cancer care is not “currently a safe, sustainable, or financially viable option”. The design and planning of the new Mount Gambier Cancer Care Centre have been on hold while the feasibility study into radiation therapy services was undertaken. The feasibility study has recommended changes to how cancer care is delivered in the region. The Limestone Coast Local Health Network Governing Board announced that it would pursue changes to the cancer treatment regimen, reduced requirements for travel, and the establishment of dedicated local cancer leadership, as well as advocate for adequate compensation for travel. LCLHN governing board chair, Dr Andrew Saies, welcomed the report’s findings and thanked everyone […]

By Chris Oldfield: NARACOORTE based radiotherapy working group chairman Lachlan Haynes has vowed “we won’t give up” following a $110,000 feasibility study rejecting South East radiation services. Meanwhile, the $243million Limestone Coast Local Health Network (LCLHN) is aiming to spend $4.3 million of federal funding for radiation services on a Cancer Consult Suite at the Mount Gambier Hospital. According to the LCLHN’s meeting minutes, it decided to do that in February 2022, before it hired Health Q to do a feasibility study. “This is a decision that treats us in regional South Australia as second-class citizens, especially those with cancer,” Mr Haynes said. “The former Coalition Federal Government put $4.3 million into a radiation therapy service for the South East. “The Malinauskas Government can’t even put $1.3 million towards running it. “But it can spend $42 million on a football oval at Lyndoch. Where is the sense in that? “Other […]