Charities are warning Tweed Heads is a food insecurity hotspot and they are running out of supplies to meet rapidly growing demand.

ABC News,  June 2020:

Charities are warning Tweed Heads is a food insecurity hotspot and they are running out of supplies to meet rapidly growing demand. 

Agape Outreach founder Theresa Mitchell said the number of people asking for food assistance has almost doubled since the advent of coronavirus. 

"Before COVID we were feeding up to 400 people a week, now we're feeding up to 700," she said. 

"We are getting 1,600-1,700 kilograms of food donated a week, but we can go through 700kg a day. 

"A run we did last week we had 150 hot meals. We didn't get halfway through the places we were going to. We bought $100 of pizza on top and we still had to turn people away." 

Tweed region facing unique challenges 

Agape services the stretch between the northern Gold Coast and Byron Bay, where Ms Mitchell said all communities were experiencing increased hardship as a result of coronavirus job losses. 

Food recovery charity OzHarvest is making hot meals

Tweed, however, has few big businesses to provide major chunks of funding and faces unique accessibility issues with pockets of population dotted in remote areas. 

"There are a lot of people who can't get here [to access food] because of lack of funds to do that," Ms Mitchell said. 

"Every person walking in the door would ask us for a petrol voucher but we're not funded, we don't get money from everywhere, so we can't give them." 

Demand becoming unsustainable 

The Gold Coast manager of food rescue organisation OzHarvest, Sally Anderson, said servicing Tweed's growing demand is unsustainable. OzHarvest figures show that in May 9,299kg of food was delivered to the nine charities it supports in Tweed Heads, but less than a third of it was contributed by donors from that area. 

"That identifies to us that Tweed donors would never be able to fill the demand of the food relief that is required by the charities down there," Ms Anderson said. 

"We make up the rest by donating Gold Coast food that we have collected to meet that food demand down at the Tweed end. 

"We are all a community, regardless of whether there is a border there or not, but in the next 12 months we will be facing some tough times. 

"Tweed really needs some attention so we would love it if we could get some support down there and we are trying to connect with local businesses."

COVID-19 cases quickly climbing in the NSW Northern Rivers region

COVID-19 infection rose from 7 to 17 cases within a 24 hour period in the NSW Northern Rivers region. Total number of cases now stands at 22 individuals.

Northern NSW Local Health District (NNLHD), media release, 24 March 2020:

10 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed within the Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSWLHD) since our last update, bringing the District’s total to 17 cases.

The Public Health Unit is in the process of contacting close contacts, and investigations are underway to determine the sources of these cases.

The confirmed cases to date are spread across the length of the Local Health District, from Clarence right up to the Tweed Valley.

We’d like to thank those who have been cooperating with our Public Health Officers to date, working with our staff and self-isolating correctly at home.

We can’t emphasise enough how important it is for all our community to heed the advice of authorities in efforts to slow the transmission of the virus.

It’s critical to adhere to self-isolation guidelines if you’ve been instructed by health authorities or mandated to quarantine as a result of overseas travel.

For general members of the public, the most important things you can do at the moment are:

• practising good hygiene – hand washing or sanitising, and coughing/sneezing into a tissue which you then discard
• staying at home if you’re sick
• minimising close contact with others by following the social distancing measures.

It’s also important to remember that locations where cases live, work or have visited don’t pose an ongoing risk to members of the public. If you are considered a close contact of a confirmed case, a Health officer will contact you directly.

COVID-19/flu clinics
COVID-19/flu clinics are established at The Tweed Hospital, Lismore Base Hospital and Grafton Base Hospital, open from 10am to 6pm daily.

These clinics are for those most at risk with respiratory symptoms or fever, those returning from overseas or in contact with a COVID-19 case, or people like our health workers. It is vital that these respiratory clinics are not overwhelmed with people who are not in the high risk groups, which could result in delays identifying those most vulnerable. People without symptoms do not need to be tested.

The symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, headache, runny nose, or shortness of breath. Anyone with symptoms should isolate themselves from others.

Identification and isolation of contacts is a critical measure that limits the spread of COVID-19. Compliance with self-isolation by all contacts and returned travellers is essential.

When social distancing actions are combined with good personal hygiene measures the spread of an epidemic through the community can be slowed.

This helps protect the most vulnerable members of the community. It also reduces the impact of the epidemic on essential, life-saving health services by reducing the size of the peak of the epidemic so health services can continue to provide high quality care to all patients.

Everybody must play their part.

For advice and information about COVID-19 visit www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/diseases/Pages/coronavirus.aspx

Northern NSW Local Health District (NNLHD), media release, excerpt, 26 March 2020:

As at 8pm Wednesday 25 March there were five new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in residents of the Northern NSW Local Health District. This brings the District’s total to 22.

The new cases are:

• Case 18 – currently not residing in Northern NSW LHD, in home isolation
• Case 19 – in home isolation after returning from overseas
• Case 20 – in home isolation after returning from overseas
• Case 21 – in home isolation, source currently being investigated
• Case 22 – in home isolation, source currently being investigated

The Public Health Unit is following up close contacts of cases who are located within NNSWLHD, who are being asked to self-isolate for 14 days from last contact with the confirmed case.

They will be contacted daily to check that they are well and anyone who develops COVID-19 symptoms will be tested for the virus.

If you are considered a close contact of a confirmed case, a Health officer will contact you directly.

 The cases for NNSWLHD include:

• 15 overseas acquired cases
• 2 contacts of a confirmed case/ or in a known cluster
• 2 contact not identified
• 3 under investigation – source unknown

Of these previous 17 cases, 14 are currently in self-isolation at home and two are in hospital. One person is considered to have recovered.

Tit for tat in face off by Tweed Shire mayor and wealthy developer

Local government can be an interesting space on the NSW North Coast……

Echo NetDaily, 9 May 2017:

Tweed shire mayor Katie Milne has been awarded $45,000 in damages plus costs after winning a defamation case against billionaire developer Bob Ell.

Mr Ell is involved in two massive developments in the Tweed Shire and his relationship with the council, and Cr Milne in particular, has not been smooth.

Ironically, Cr Milne brought her case as a result of comments Mr Ell made to a Murdoch newspaper, the Gold Coast Bulletin, after he won a defamation case against her.

In that case, Mr Ell was awarded $15,000 damages against Cr Milne but Justice Rothman ruled in the Supreme Court yesterday that was not a reason to minimise the damages awarded to her.

After Mr Ell’s case was ruled by Justice McCallum on March 7, 2014, Mr Ell was contacted by a reporter from the Gold Coast Bulletin on March 12, and ‘made comments to the effect that Ms Milne is not a “fit a proper person to be a councillor” and the Gold Coast Bulletin reported that comment together with reporting that Mr Ell has stated that he hoped speculation that the payments would bankrupt her were true, so that she would not be able to retain her place as a councillor,’ the facts of the case revealed.

The newspaper ran the headline ‘KATIE LOSES BILLIONAIRE BOB BATTLE “I HOPE THIS SENDS HER BROKE” P8’ on its front page.

On page 8 the story ran under the headline titled ‘Developer hopes fine bankrupts councillor’.

For all those avid court watchers out there the finer details of the outcomes of these legal clashes can be found in Ell v Milne (No 9) [2014] NSWSC 489 (11 April 2014) and Milne v  Ell  [2017] NSWSC 555 (8 May 2017).

January 2012 is luverly weather for ducks on the NSW North Coast - rain, river heights & roads info

Mann River at Cangai from The Daily Examiner

Latest River Heights for the NSW Mid North Coast

Issued at 6.15am on Wednesday, 25th January 2012

Latest River Heights for the NSW Northern Rivers

Issued at 6.15am on Wednesday, 25th January 2012

North Coast LGAs Regional Road information
Regularly updated

At 10:47 am EDT on Tuesday 24^th January 2012 the Bureau Of Meteorology said:

Flood Warnings are current the Bellinger Nambucca and Orara Rivers

At this stage there is a greater than 70% chance of Minor to Moderate flooding as well as local flash flooding along the following river valleys from Monday onwards:

1.Tweed River

2.Richmond & Wilson Rivers

3.Clarence River

4.Macleay River

5.Hastings River

This Flood Watch means that people living or working along rivers and streams must monitor the latest weather forecasts and warnings and be ready to move to higher ground should flooding develop. Flood Warnings will be issued if Minor Flood Level is expected to be exceeded at key sites along the main rivers for which the Bureau of Meteorology provides a flood warning service. Across NSW, about 75% of Flood Watches are followed by flooding.

Bellinger River from ABC News

UPDATE:

Latest Image Received at: 00:12 UTC/GMT Wed 25 Jan 2012

WST	CST	CDT	EST	EDT
08:12am	09:42am	10:42am	10:12am	11:12am
Wednesday	Wednesday	Wednesday	Wednesday	Wednesday

Issued at 10:55 am EDT on Wednesday 25 January 2012.

Weather Situation:

"Heavy rain and possible thunderstorms which may lead to flash flooding are forecast for the Northern Rivers forecast district, as well as eastern parts of the Northern Tablelands and northern parts of the Mid North Coast forecast districts.

In the six hours to 11am today the heaviest falls occurred in the Tweed Valley area, with 116 mm of rain recorded at Kingscliff, 105 mm at Murwillumba, and 101 mm at Chillingham. Slightly lower falls were recorded further south.

A Flood Watch is current for the Tweed, Richmond, Wilsons, Nambucca, Macleay and Hastings river valleys.

Flood warnings are current for the Bellinger, Orara, Tweed, Richmond, Wilsons, Nambucca and Clarence Rivers.

For latest flood warning information, refer to www.bom.gov.au/nsw/warnings/"