Exceptional people from across the Northern Tablelands were included on the Australia Day honours list for 2026.

Armidale District Cricket Association president Mike Porter and Walcha artist Stephen King received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).

In Uralla,  RFS volunteer Mardi Cook was honoured with an Australian Fire Service Medal (AFSM).

I ventured to Inverell and Uralla for their Australia Day ceremonies as towns across the region recognised outstanding citizens, events, volunteers, sportspeople, seniors, musicians, environmentalists and more through their annual awards.

New Australian citizens were also welcomed and it was great to see so many people proud to live in this great country.

Waterfall Way

Waterfall Way remains closed after a series of significant landslips.

The State Government has listened to myself and Member for Oxley Michael Kemp and has now committed to investigate short-term fixes and look at long-term alternative routes.

They will be conducting corridor assessments and a comprehensive geotechnical engineering review. Adverse weather continues to impact our essential inland to coast routes and there needs to be serious work conducted to minimise the impact closures have on agriculture, timber and tourism.

At this stage it is hoped that a short-term solution will allow the road to be re-opened in mid to late February.

Vitonga Farms

This week I had the opportunity to visit Vitonga Farms along the Carnarvon Highway north of Moree. Spread across the three farms, they produce cotton, cereal and citrus.

Their citrus then gets transported to a bottling facility in Leeton which recently received a $2.5 million boost from the NSW Regional Development Trust. New bottling technology will be installed which will increase output of up to 100,000 containers per hour.

It is fantastic to see Australian-based businesses supported.

New school year

The new school year has begun and I would like to wish all students, parents and teachers a successful and safe return to the classroom.

School zones are back in force so please drive carefully around our schools to keep our kids safe.

Rail travel

Buses will replace trains between Muswellbrook and Central from due to scheduled maintenance trackwork 3am Saturday, January 31 to 1am Monday, February 2.

Water restrictions

Uralla Shire Council has brought in level one water restrictions for properties within the township connected to the town water supply.

This means hand-held hoses, drip irrigation systems, sprinklers and fixed hose system must not be used during the heat of the day – 10am until 5pm.

Vehicle washing with buckets or hand-held hoses fitted with trigger nozzles is permitted. Hard surfaces can only be cleaned using a high-pressure cleaner.

Private swimming pools may be topped up with Council approval where water use exceeds 5 kilolitres.

Filling of private swimming pools is not permitted. Motel pools may only be topped up with Council approval for volumes exceeding 5 kilolitres.

Council swimming pools may be topped up as required. For more information on restrictions, visit Water and Sewer Services.

Mungindi is on level three water restrictions which means hand-held hoses can only be used between 5am until 9am and 7pm until 10pm.

Hard surfaces cannot be washed down, new pools can only be filled with permission from council and covers are mandatory. Vehicle washing is done with buckets and a hose to rinse off.

If you have any questions about water restrictions in your local area, please contact your council.

Telstra outages

The Telstra network will experience outages at The Tops (Terry Hie Hie) due to scheduled upgrades. The outages will be from Tuesday, February 3 to Monday, February 9. (I’m surprised there was any service there in the first place but there you go!).

Local Land Services strategic plan

Local Land Services is seeking feedback on its draft Statement of Strategic Intent 2026-2036 and the Implementation Roadmap 2026-2031.

This plan is designed to guide partnerships between the LLS and landholders, land managers, industry and government.

These plans support the delivery of the legislated functions of the LLS in agriculture, natural resource management, Aboriginal outcomes and engagement, animal biosecurity and welfare, travelling stock reserves, land management, private native forestry, invasive species (pests and weeds), emergency management, plant biosecurity, and customer service.

The drafts are located here: www.nsw.gov.au/have-your-say/local-land-services-strategic-plan

The community, landholders and other interested stakeholders are invited to view the drafts and provide feedback by 11:59pm, Friday, February 27, 2026 via email [email protected] or post to State Strategic Plan Public Consultation, 105 Prince Street, Orange NSW 2800.

Service NSW mobile centres

Service NSW is bringing their mobile service centre to Toomelah, Mungindi and Boggabilla.

The mobile service centre can help with driver knowledge tests, drivers licence applications and renewals, working with children check, birth, death, and marriage certificates, and more.

The mobile service centre will be at Outreach Health Clinic, Toomelah on Tuesday, February 3 from 9am until 11am.

The mobile service centre will be at Community Health Centre, 74 Merriwa Street, Boggabilla on Tuesday, February 3 from 12pm until 3pm.

The mobile service centre will be at Barwon River Park, 155 George St Mungindi on Wednesday, February 4 from 10am until 3pm.

What’s On

Bundarra Show: January 30 – February 1.

NRL Hogs Footy Clinic: Monday, February 9 with Brad Fittler, Greg Inglis, Yasmin Clydsdale and Olivia Higgins at Boughton Oval, Moree from 4.30pm until 5.30pm.

Moree Markets: Sunday, February 1 at Jellicoe Park

Commentary by Member for Northern Tablelands, Brendan Moylan