Narrabri Website Servicing the Community Since 2008

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Visit Narrabri NSW - it is set in the heart of the rich Namoi Valley, in North West NSW, Australia. Narrabri NSW is home to 7,300 residents who enjoy good shopping, good sporting facilities and a very good way of life. Narrabri is situated 100 kms from Moree in the north and 110kms from Coonabarabran in the south on the Newell Highway. Gunnedah is 95kms to the east and Wee Waa is 45kms west on the Kamilaroi Highway. It is the home of the Narrabri Shire Council, The Crossing Theatre, and the untamed beauty of Mt Kaputar National Park, Pilliga National Park and the Australia Telescope. Narrabri services the surrounding towns of Boggabri, Bellata, Wee Waa, Pilliga and Gwabegar.

Narrabri has daily Country Link Rail, air services and interstate coaches. The district has an average summer minimum temperature of 17° and a maximum of around 37°. Recorded average winter minimum and maximum temperatures are 3° and 17° respectively. The district can also expect a rainfall level of approximately 635 millimetres in one calendar year. It is 190 m above sea level.

Narrabri tourism includes an amazing amount of interesting places to visit, a wide selection of eating experiences. Some menus include fine local produce such as olives, wine and superlative pasta which is made from the high quality durum wheat grown in the Bellata area. Accommodation is plentiful and of excellent standard. It includes motels, caravan parks, B & Bs and farm stays, either self catering or fully pampered!

Photos in this website are supplied by Margo Palmer, John Burgess, Rohan Boehm and the Narrabri Information Centre

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ABOUT NARRABRI NSW

Narrabri NSW is the headquarters for two major agricultural research stations, the Australian Cotton Research Institute and the IA Watson Grains Research Centre. Narrabri's growth and development is strongly tied to the success of its agricultural and commercial industries, and is moving ahead towards a prosperous future with the current population being approximately 7,500.  

Area
Devlopment

On a regional scale Narrabri NSW is encompassed by Regional Development Australia - Northern Inland NSW. This entity undertakes the promotion of the region

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Agriculture

The Narrabri NSW District is a major producer of a variety of agricultural commodities including cotton, wheat, beef cattle and sheep and pulse crops.

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Real
Estate

Narrabri NSW always has houses for sale and houses for rent on a wide range and commercial blocks and shops also come up for sale.   The variety is amazing.

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Business
Directory

The Business directory encompasses the towns of the Narrabri Shire, if you own a business the cost to have a landing page and or a listing is very minimal.

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Local News

How does the government’s long-awaited anti-corruption bill rate? An integrity expert breaks it down

Published by the Conversation 28 September 2022

Author: Kate Schwager/Sunday, October 2, 2022/Categories: State and National News, Politics

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How does the government’s long-awaited anti-corruption bill rate? An integrity expert breaks it down

A J Brown, Griffith University

The prospects of Australia securing a strong federal anti-corruption agency have taken a huge leap forward, with introduction of the Albanese government’s much awaited National Anti-Corruption Commission bill into federal parliament.

It’s 17 years since Transparency International Australia first recommended this reform, and five years since a Senate Select Committee agreed unanimously it was time to give it serious consideration.

While the Greens had taken the lead and introduced bills for an integrity commission for over a decade, it wasn’t until Labor promised one in January 2018, and Independent Cathy McGowan introduced one into a hung parliament in November that year, that the then Coalition government was forced to act. However it was November 2020 before the Coalition revealed a much-criticised draft bill, which was never introduced.

Ultimately, the Morrison government’s failure to deliver a credible proposal was instrumental in its defeat in May 2022. But it also paved the way for a commission that can be not just strong and effective, but enduring, with the Coalition Opposition now signalling strongly it wants to regain credibility by supporting Labor’s vastly superior model.

In coming weeks, a joint select committee of the parliament will take submissions and review the bill, and recommend any improvements by November 10.

It will be a crucial process. The government is close to delivering on its promise to create a state-of-the-art anti-corruption body – but isn’t quite there yet.

Scope of corruption

The first strength of the proposed commission lies in the scope of corruption that it can investigate.

The Labor plan goes broader than the Morrison model, which for politicians and most of the public sector was limited to criminal offences – not “grey area” corruption where most of the scandals and problems actually lie.

Instead, it covers any conduct that could adversely affect, directly or indirectly, the honest and impartial exercise of a public official’s powers or performance of their functions. It’s a definition that’s simpler, more flexible, and less legalistic or complicated than most State definitions.

In a win for democracy, there’s almost no difference in treatment between politicians and anyone else. And to drive a stronger integrity system, the Commission has to be notified of all serious or systemic corruption issues arising across federal government, and can receive and assess information from any source about any corruption issue – even if only minor – to ensure it’s dealt with.

The strong investigative powers of the Commission itself will be saved for those corruption issues it independently assesses to be serious or systemic. But given any significant corruption issue is, by definition, serious in nature, this should present no bar to the Commission investigating what it needs to.

As flagged by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on Monday, not only public officials but “any person”, including private individuals or businesses that seek to corrupt public decision-making, can be in the frame.

Prevention, resources and independence

Other strengths of the bill include a clear function to drive corruption prevention and education initiatives across the Commonwealth, including holding public inquiries into corruption risks and general integrity issues. This is one of the few features preserved and extended on from the Coalition’s model.

After some early, inadequate estimates, Labor has now backed the Commission with more serious resources. It’s lifting the Coalition’s proposed annual budget of $42 million to a promised $65.5 million annually.

Together with other measures, flagged or underway, these features make the proposed National Anti-Corruption Commission by far the biggest integrity reform in Australian federal government for at least 40 years.

So, where are the wrinkles?

Against all these strengths, questions still surround whether:

  • the budget of the Commission will be sufficiently independent and guaranteed
  • the parliamentary committee overseeing the appointment and performance of the commission is constituted in a genuinely durable, multi-partisan fashion
  • and whether the proposed inspector of the Commission’s powers has wide enough functions to properly fulfil that job.

But the two biggest problems relate to public hearings, and the major gap in the federal integrity system which remains unfilled: effective whistleblower protections.

The new bill fulfils a promise to empower the commission to hold public hearings where necessary and in the public interest, like a royal commission.

However, the Albanese government’s model has unexpectedly fallen short in proposing public hearings be available only in “exceptional circumstances”.

This limit wasn’t part of the “design principles” Labor took to the election. Nor is it an accurate description of when such powers should be, and are used successfully by royal commissions and standing state anti-corruption bodies. It has proved a cumbersome barrier in the only state where it applies (Victoria).

There are ways to further ensure public hearings are only used where appropriate, to address any fears of a “kangaroo court” or “show trials”.

But our joint research between Griffith University and Transparency International Australia makes it plain: “exceptional circumstances” is unhelpful and potentially dangerous as a test for that purpose.

 

Finally, the government gave an election pledge that its package would be “extremely similar” to the integrity commission models previously introduced by the Greens, McGowan and her successor, Dr Helen Haines.

However the bill differs substantially from Haines’ model by not including a whistleblowing commissioner, identified by past parliamentary inquiries as also central to a strengthened integrity system.

Despite recently telling parliament the government was taking the idea of a whistleblower protection authority “very seriously indeed”, it got no mention in the Attorney-General’s speech introducing the new commission.

The government has committed to fix overdue, minor problems with federal public sector whistleblowing laws. But it’s yet to outline plans to address more serious reforms to plug this gap, including an agency to actually enforce protections and make them real.

It remains to be seen whether all these historic integrity reforms, when complete, will be enough to reverse Australia’s decade-long slide on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.

However, there can be no doubt Australia is set to take at least one huge step forward.The Conversation

A J Brown, Professor of Public Policy & Law, Centre for Governance & Public Policy, Griffith University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Real Estate

39 Cormie Avenue, Wee Waa, NSW, 2388

39 Cormie Avenue, Wee Waa, NSW, 2388

Home For Sale Wee Waa New South Wales

$380,000
39 Cormie Avenue, Wee Waa, New South Wales

4 bedroom home for Sale!! 
Fully ducted split system, double garage with loft.
Large entertainment room, 2 bathrooms, main bedroom with ensuite, 3 bedrooms have built ins. 
Pool, Solar panels.

For more information contact 
Luke Humphries 0428957049 or Erin Humphries 0408715321

Wednesday, August 9, 2017/Author: Sam/Number of views (169267)/Comments (0)/ Article rating: 4.0
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85 - 87 Rose Street, Wee Waa, NSW, 2388

85 - 87 Rose Street, Wee Waa, NSW, 2388

Commercial Investment Opportunity

Long Term Lease in Main Street

• Lot 162 DP 1035634 Shop - one commercial shop 
• Zoned B2 Local Centre 

Tuesday, July 11, 2017/Author: Sam/Number of views (194853)/Comments (0)/ Article rating: 5.0
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Unit 4/ 71 Rose Street, Wee Waa NSW 2388 Office Space For Sale

Unit 4/ 71 Rose Street, Wee Waa NSW 2388 Office Space For Sale

Commercial Investment Office Space available in Wee Waa for Sale

1,019 ㎡ leased/Rented just off Main Street. Front Shop 2 sold

Genuine inquiries Call Sue Smith 0428 436 720

Monday, June 5, 2017/Author: Kate Schwager/Number of views (63124)/Comments (0)/ Article rating: No rating
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