The trawler started its life well away from the waters of the Pacific.

When Mr Miller first learnt about the boat, it was virtually a skeleton under construction in the cotton fields of Wee Waa in western NSW, where water is better known for irrigating cotton fields.

"I brought it in from Wee Waa and have been working on it ever since for the past 14 months. Nothing has been really changed in specifications," he said.

With the commercial fisher no longer on the tools, getting hold of others to carry out the physical side of the work does present problems.

"It is very, very hard indeed. There are a few people around [but] despite [their] experience with larger ships, they have not had the experience of working on a smaller vessel like this," Mr Miller said.

That experience, or lack of, has him working with 75-year-old John Wait, who has been a commercial fisher and these days also helps train potential fishers on behalf of the NSW Fishing Industry Training Council.

"I told Ross that he was crazy to do this. And I was silly enough to be with him and help him," Mr Wait said.

"I love building boats. It is one of those things that gets into your blood and you can't get rid of it. As Toad from Wind in the Willows said, there is nothing like mucking around with boats."

It is not surprising from Mr Wait's view that a person his age is providing the labour.

AWU national secretary Daniel Walton late last week rounded on the government for granting the status of "critical state significant infrastructure" to a proposed $589 million LNG import project in Newcastlewhich will now enjoy a streamlined approvals process.

The Berejiklian government has already given the green light for a separate, $250 million LNG import terminal at Port Kembla, backed by mining billionaire Andrew Forrest.

The plans for the two import terminals are racing ahead as Santos's $3 billion Narrabri coal seam gas project, which could supply up to half NSW's gas requirements, remains locked in the state government's approvals process.

But Mr Stokes said the Narrabri project has "big potential impacts" on the environment, and that in any case the state is "best served by a competitive market with multiple sources".

 

 

“This business case should never have been kept from the public,” says Barwon MP Roy Butler. 

Today after a three-year battle, repeated calls from the community and Members of Parliament the Government has passed on a copy of the business case for the Broken Hill pipeline project.  

“For years the community called for transparency around the pipeline project and the Government didn’t deliver.

“Restricting information on the expenditure of public money, or projects affecting local communities does nothing to build trust in government,” said Mr Butler. 

The feds have put some money towards exploring avocado pollination.

Victorian Merino breeder Ricky Luhrs says the consistent money for sheep producers is in protein, rather than exclusive wool production.

Don't have all your telecommunications eggs in one basket, is the comment Better Internet for Rural Regional and Remote Australia has as a spate of mobile broadband outage issues emerge in Queensland and elsewhere.

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This weatherboard and Hardiplank home is situated on the outskirts of town inside the levee bank. Zoned General Industrial on 2.3 acres.

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• Lot 162 DP 1035634 Shop - one commercial shop 
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Commercial Investment Office Space available in Wee Waa for Sale

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