9AM: And that wraps it up from us folks - join us from 7am tomorrow for the latest news and updates!
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8.50am: TWENTY-SIX serving police officers and staff were awarded with National and NSW Police Medals and bravery commendations and Pastor Randall Gauger of Inverell’s Danthonia community was invested as a NSW Police Chaplain at a special New England Local Area Command awards presentation ceremony in Armidale on Wednesday, September 17.
8.40am
How much does it cost to kill a rabbit? More than $7100, if you are the NSW government, whose controversial hunting in national parks program has garnered ridicule from across the political spectrum.
8.30am:
Belief in quality early childhood education and care for families for 29 years has seen Gunnedah Family Day Care named the best in NSW.
The Gunnedah service was recognised statewide in the 2014 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards and is now in the running for the national title.
8.20am
THE son of an accused murderer has been ordered by a court to stop land clearing on his property near Moree amid claims of unlawful damage to native vegetation.
The temporary injunction against Croppa Creek farmer Grant Turnbull was granted by Justice Rachel Pepper in the Land and Environment on Friday, restraining him from clearing on his property, Colorado, for five days.
8.10am:
8AM:
A LOCAL green army will march on the Tamworth office of New England MP Barnaby Joyce this week to demand more action on climate change from the federal government.
The protest, to be held on Friday, comes after about 100 passionate locals held a rally at Bicentennial Park last weekend to coincide with World Climate Action Day.
7.55am:Two people have been taken to hospital following a car accident 27km south of Tamworth on the New England Highway this morning.
It's understood a car rolled and the two people inside were taken to hospital. One is in a serious condition.
Traffic control is in place.
7.40am: Gunnedah’s mayor and a number of councillors are likely to visit China in early 2015 to look at the possibility of making the Linhe District a sister city to Gunnedah.
Gunnedah Shire Council voted to approve further investigation of the idea with a tour of the area at the councillors’ own expense.
In a mayoral minute, Mayor Owen Hasler told the council the establishment of a sister-city relationship with the Linhe District in Inner Mongolia, China, could have social, tourism and even argricultural benefits.
7.30am:
RESIDENTS on the rural fringe of Armidale have accused council of “double-dipping” by forcing them to pay an annual levy to use the tip and then slugging them again at the tip gate.
The Armidale Dumaresq Ratepayers Association (ADRA) has launched a campaign to have the charges quashed, urging members to inundate the council with protest letters.
7.20am:
WHITEHAVEN Coal’s Vickery Coal Project has been approved.
Whitehaven announced yesterday it had received notification of approval from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment.
The Vickery open cut mine project will be located on about 3450 hectares of land 25km north of Gunnedah off Bluevale Road.
7.20am: ONE of Tamworth’s most beloved performers has spoken of the terrifying moment she was struck down and robbed on Sunday night.
Wanita, Australia’s queen of honky tonk, was taken to hospital after being struck on the back of the head as she walked down Bligh St at 9.30pm. Read more here.
7.10am:
The Newell Highway is closed in both directions 30km north of Moree due to a truck fire.
Motorists can use the Canarvon Highway and the Mungindi-Goondiwindi Road via Boomi as an alternative route. This route is suitable for all vehicles but will add more than one hour to the journey time.
Emergency services are on site working to put the truck fire out.
Motorists are advised to avoid the Newell Highway and allow extra travel time.
7AM: YOUR WEATHER
NORTH WEST SLOPES AND PLAINS: Partly cloudy. Patchy fog early this morning. The chance of a little rain later this afternoon or evening. Winds northeasterly 20 to 30 km/h turning northerly in the morning. Daytime maximum temperatures in the low to high 20s.
NORTHERN TABLELANDS: Partly cloudy. Patchy fog early this morning. Light winds becoming northerly 15 to 20 km/h in the evening. Daytime maximum temperatures between 19 and 24.
Good morning. Need a national news snapshot first thing - well, we have you covered.
More movement in Australia on the counter-terrorism front over night - this time fatal. An 18-year-old man has been shot dead by counter-terrorism police and two policemen have been stabbed in Melbourne's outer south-east. Former PM Julia Gillard took the first steps on her way back to the media spotlight and on a more sombre note the Hunt family was laid to rest in NSW.
► To check out the front pages of Fairfax publications for today, click here
6.57am: A student at La Trobe University's Bendigo campus says she has suffered "institutional discrimination" because of inadequate support for her needs as a deaf person. Read more
6.52am: One of Tamworth’s most beloved performers has spoken of the terrifying moment she was struck down and robbed. Read more
6.47am: A father-of-four who allowed his kids to live with large mounds of rubbish and dirty clothing in every room, cockroaches throughout the house and human excrement on the bathroom floor has been fined for neglect. Read more
6.43am: THE elderly and the disabled are being disadvantaged at the busiest taxi ranks in on NSW coastal town. Read more
6.40am: If you're a sausage roll connoisseur then you understand the weight the Great Aussie Sausage Roll prize carries. In that case, you need to get down to Sovereign Hill. Read more
6.30am: Non-metropolitan centres enjoy a visit from a Prime Minister - even a former one. Which one made his way to Margaret River? Find out
6.25am: An illegal immigrant who grew commercial quantities of cannabis inside an Victorian home with the help of a prostitute he was paying to service him, has been jailed for nine months. Read more
6.20am: A blind Vietnamese orphan who was five when she came to Australia, 11 when she was sexually abused by a Catholic nun, and 35 when she received $15,000 compensation for her ‘‘personal trauma’’, has spoken out. Read more
6.15am: Alyce Jay Bell seemed like any other wife, partner or girlfriend paying their incarcerated loved one a visit at Goulburn jail one Sunday afternoon last month. But by the end of the day, Bell herself would be facing charges and a stint behind bars. Read more
6.12am: Parks and Wildlife Commission NT can't rule out that a large saltwater crocodile was responsible for killing for missing dog in Katherine. Read more
6.10am: Twenty established koala habitat trees could be mown down after Redland City Council voted unanimously to approve a development application in Ormiston. The site would be revegetated with young trees. Read more
6.06am: A draft masterplan for the 28-kilometre coastline between Princetown and Nirranda South proposes investment of about $174 million over 20 years to boost tourism and protect the environment. Read more
6.04am: In a community memorial service that saw thousands half-fill Lockhart Recreation Ground, emotional eulogies were delivered as family and friends remembered Boree Creek's Hunt family. Read more
6am: Former Prime MInister Julia GIllard is back in the media spotlight. Putting aside any book promotion tours, here's a blast frpom the past. What do you get when you take a former Australian prime minister's epic "Misogyny Speech" and set it to music? This:
WODONGA, VIC: Australian singer-cum-author Nick Cave has said the 'horrible', 'misery' of Wangaratta inspired his artistic vision. Read more
MELBOURNE, VIC: "I was not going to stand before the nation and cry for myself. ... I was not going to give any bastard the satisfaction. I was going to be resilient one more time." So wrote Julia Gillard about the afternoon of the long knives in Canberra. Read more
NEWCASTLE, NSW: Independent regional airline Rex will significantly reduce capacity on flights between Newcastle and Sydney as part of a wide-ranging network review triggered by a plummet in profits over the past two years. Read more
EDEN, NSW: Wyndham is a tiny village on the Far South Coast with a population of less than 400. Today every one of those residents is likely to be mourning the loss of an innocent child on Monday. Read more
WAGGA WAGGA, NSW: It was a tragedy that rocked the Riverina - the lives of an entire Boree Creek family of five taken in the most heart-breaking circumstances. A private service was held for the Hunt family, before a public memorial. Read more
CANBERRA, ACT: A government MP has told outspoken Palmer United senator Jacqui Lambie that her mangled messages are damaging the anti-burqa movement in Australia, bluntly saying she should "shut up". Read more
SYDNEY, NSW: Iron ore, Australia's largest mineral export, has hit the price skids as Chinese demand slackens. Read more
► Longtime pillar of the Australian acting industry Jacki Weaver is to star in a new television series fromFamily Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. Read more
► The contrast could not be more stark. Even as he goes about building a coalition for war at this week's United Nations General Assembly, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry has thrown his weight behind Tuesday's Climate Summit. Read more
► Hackers have attempted to undermine Emma Watson's "game-changing" UN speech on feminism. Read more
Watch Emma Watson's moving speech about gender equality and the "HeForShe" campaign:
► In a dramatic expansion of the US-led war on Islamist jihadis, manned and unmanned American and Arab fighter aircraft launched their first air strikes on Syria early on Tuesday, dumping cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs on Raqqa, the so-called Islamic State's headquarters, and on the Syria-Iraq border which cuts through the jihadis' turf. Read more
Meningie couple Mick and Ros O'Hara have been inducted into the Australian Trucking Hall of Fame after clocking up more than 30 years of service and making a huge impact on the transport industry. Read more
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