Keep Yungaburra a Village

14/05/2026

Shane Knuth MP along with Bob Katter invite you to come along and voice your concerns at a Tablelands public meeting addressing:

• COMMUNITY CONCERNS
• HILL REDISTRIBUTION

The meeting has been called in response to a high volume of issues and concerns being raised regarding the Hill Electorate redistribution, along with other Tablelands issues.

DATE: 6pm, Wednesday, May 20th at the Atherton International Club (60 Kennedy Hwy, Atherton).

Katter's Australian Party

11/05/2026

This Wednesday 13 May, we open the hall for the ECHO Outreach day. We have games to play and free cuppa with pancakes. Everyone is welcome. A great space to reach out with your questions about supports.

08/05/2026

MALANDA SENIOR PIONEER/EELS RUGBY LEAGUE...Est 1919
The LJ Ho**er Atherton Senior Roosters are honoured to be hosting a 2026 celebration of the former Malanda Senior Rugby League on the weekend of July 31 and August 1. This will include a book publication highlighting the Malanda Senior’s history back to 1919 and the Senior Roosters playing a premiership competition match in the colours and jersey design of the former Malanda club.
Weekend program
Friday night July 31 - Meet and Greet book launch at the Big Pub Malanda.
Saturday August 1 - Match Day at Atherton with the Senior Roosters playing Innisfail in the old Malanda jersey colours - these limited edition
jerseys are to auctioned directly after the main game.
Prior to the main game there will be a parade and ceremony for all from the former Malanda club.
Book advertising is now available.
Advert size - 125mm high x 80mm wide.
Advert cost - $400 inc GST
Booking deadline - Friday May 22
Please contact 0427735367 to secure your advert or for more info.

06/05/2026

06/05/2026

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A well-known North Queensland rugby league player and coach has been charged with ra**ng a girl at a Far North rodeo, with police asking a court to keep him behind bars for his own protection. 📌 DETAILS 👉 https://bit.ly/4d25l4q

06/05/2026

Queensland’s Local Government Minister has responded to chaotic scenes at a Tablelands Regional Council meeting where residents angrily confronted councillors over a controversial $800 million asset divestment program. ➡️ https://bit.ly/4n8kCFu

04/05/2026

New peer-reviewed study shows 100% of bird nests tested contained residues of flea and tick chemicals from pets. These chemicals were found not just in nest lining made from treated pet fur, but also in eggs and dead chicks. Researchers also observed that higher contamination levels in nests were associated with more unhatched eggs and chick mortality signals, suggesting a clear exposure pathway from pets to wild birds through nest building materials.

In simple terms, wild birds may be unintentionally exposing their embryos and chicks to pet parasite treatments.

This adds a concerning layer during a period of ongoing bird declines, but it is important to note it is not considered a primary driver. Major causes of bird population declines in Europe and North America are still habitat loss and fragmentation, insect decline and food shortages, climate change, and intensive agricultural practices.

03/05/2026

“16m bridge rebuild unviable, community told - so local farmer got his own quote”. This crazy headline was in the Hawke's Bay Today yesterday. It got so much ‘robust’ feedback that the newspaper had to limit the comment section on the article.

The story is that the Burnside Bridge near Takapau got washed away in Cyclone Gabriel. The Central Hawkes Bay District Council has looked at replacing it with a two-lane bridge that would cost, on estimates, $16 million. A one-lane bridge would cost $9 million. Understandably this is too expensive for Council. So they went to the community and said replacing the bridge would be unviable.

This didn't sit right with a local farmer, who went and got his own quote. A kiwi company quoted $2.5 million for a one-lane bridge. They also say it conforms to normal highway standards.

You can see why there was a lot of 'robust' feedback on the news article.

At the core of local government is a really fundamental bargain: You pay your rates and your local council uses the money wisely to provide things like roads and bridges for the community. You or I are not bridge builders. We don't know the costs for infrastructure and so we need to be able to rely on council to ensure we're getting a good deal. Therefore, this bargain breaks down when ratepayers can no longer trust council to be delivering best value for money on infrastructure.

A story like this undermines that trust and not just in Central Hawke's Bay. It begs a question of all council projects everywhere. Are councils getting appropriate estimates and paying a fair price for what they get?

I will look into this particular story in more depth in the future, but there are a few questions that it raises straight away. The first is whether or not the low quote is actually at the standard that the council or NZTA requires. The second question is about the standards themselves. Are standards that force such high prices appropriate if it means the difference between a community having a bridge or not?

One thing this story does make very clear is the importance for an open tendering process and transparency around pricing. I really cannot see why I should care what ‘tier’ a contractor is. I think the most important thing is whether they can deliver to a standard and at a fair price.