“The Australian Government has provided ongoing assistance to local councils for more than 30 years. The grant is broken up into two components, which are General Purpose and Local Roads. However, there are no conditions attached to the expenditure of these funds,” Mr Page said.

“The funding allows local councils to spend money on local priorities, whether they be infrastructure, community services or recreational facilities.”

The Financial Assistance Grants for 2007-08 include:

Ballina Shire Council: General $2,090,707; roads: $922,414; total $3,002,697.

Byron Shire Council: General $1,404,408; roads $865,157; total $2,262,855.

“Nationally, the Australian Government has allocated $1.763 billion in Financial Assistance Grants to local government in 2007-08, with New South Wales councils receiving 31.7 per cent of the national total,” Mr Page said.

“The Australian Government has increased Financial Assistance Grant funding to local government by $76.7 million from 2006-07.”

“Recreational fishing has been part of Australia’s lifestyle for generations and is an activity that can be enjoyed as an individual or by the whole family,” Mr Causley said.

“This funding program is designed to provide practical assistance to projects that promote sustainable fishing with applications for infrastructure like fishing platforms, jetties and boat ramps also considered.”

The successful applicants are:

Fishability: $14,020 to conduct ten 4.5 hour recreational fishing workshops for children and people with disabilities teaching sustainable fishing practices. The workshops with up to 20 participants will be held in Ballina and Yamba.

Ballina High School P & C Association: $79,150 to develop an interactive recreational fishing teaching model that will be a central feature of the new Ballina Marine Discovery Centre building. The model will include a full-scale replica of a wooden fishing wharf and will allow students to catch, measure, identify and release plastic estuarine fish species found in the Northern Rivers.

Mr Causley said further information on this grant program could be obtained from his office.

According to Bruce at Dave’s Bait Shop, bream have been pretty good through the lower reaches with the best catches at night on mullet gut and chicken gut. Blackfish good in the usual haunts around Prospect Bridge, the Porpoise Wall and the ferry with bag limit catches regular.

A few flathead, mostly from Wardell to Broadwater with the odd small soapie jewfish around Wardell.

Tailor still going great guns along South Beach and South Wall with even some fish biting through the day but quality catches at night on bonito fillets.

Outside conditions have been good, with snapper and pearl perch on the wider grounds and plenty of leatherjackets in closer.

Similar story at Evans Head, with the tailor slashing around in the surf from the headlands and up to Boundary Creek. Some bream persisting around the coffee rock and pipi beds with the odd dart and whiting.
Bream, blackfish and some whiting in the river but it’s very clear on the high tide.

Offshore catches have mainly focused on the leatherjacket hordes but there have been some snapper right in close very early and reds and pearlies out quite wide.
Tony Zann t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

Mr Page said local seniors who were travelling to Sydney and would like to attend either the 10.30am or 2.30pm concert could obtain free tickets from his Electorate office.

“The concerts have proved to be very entertaining in past years and I have received great feedback from local people who have attended,” Mr Page said.

“I encourage those interested in tickets to contact my office as soon as possible, as tickets are highly sought after.”

Mr Page’s office is located at Suite 1, 7 Moon Street, Ballina and can be contacted on 6686 7522.

North Coast Realty is a newly established independent real estate agency located in River Street, Ballina.  North Coast Realty was founded by Christine Hensley who has been in the real estate industry since 1987, and she will be working closely with the licensee Mark Gallagher.

The team at North Coast Realty provide a full range of services when buying or selling real estate, and also offer landlords their expertise in rental management.  If you’re looking for any real estate related services we suggest that you consider checking them out.