The Nation

JEN OVERELL | Local News | Contact Three people were arrested last night at the O'Malley Brothers Feedlot on the Betoota City Limits after police and landowners caught them attempting to free livestock from the facility. Dale Pegmen (21), Sarah Porce-Jones (23) and Kevin Cockbrow (32) fronted Betoota Local Court this morning where they were each charged with a string...

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact "We didn't know we were killing the planet," they said. "So it's not our fault. Believe us, we feel really bad about what we've done to Earth but in reality, it's not really our problem, is it?" Graham and Butter Reece, an ageing Betoota Grove couple, have recently return home to our cosmopolitan desert community after...

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact The Christmas Island Detention Centre that was reopened in February in an effort to retain conservative voters is now set to be closed in an effort to win over fiscally-conservative but socially-liberal voters. The detention facility was Frankenstiened back to life at cost of around $180 million to the taxpayer amid fears the passing of...

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact A disabled local man in urgent need of a new wheelchair has sided with the Coalition government this morning saying he too would rather kill ants than received a new wheelchair. The National Disability Scheme (NDIS) is $1.6 billion worse of under this budget and some of that money could've gone to provided Glenn Washbrook...

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact Treasurer Josh Frydenberg delivered his first budget in Canberra this evening and every Australian will be better off under it. That fact heralds a departure from traditional Federal Budgets which need at least one group of people in the community to be worse off in order for some to be better off. Also, for the first...

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact Last April, Mark Sock was breaking shit up and throwing it into a skip bin. He was studying part time, drinking full time and generally treading water in this disgusting, vile pond that we all call life. This April, the 31-year-old is far from that. He's now on a salary that puts him well into the...

INGRID DOULTON | Being Divorced | Contact A Betoota Grove quinquagenarian who's recently found herself single again has heralded her return to the local dating scene with the purchase of a pair of white jeans from her local Rockman's shop. After twenty-two-years of marriage and two children, Jennifer Stocktrot woke up one morning and decided she'd had enough of her husband,...

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact The Betoota Heights Big W store has been earmarked for closure this week as the fat-cats at Woolworths look to cut losses at the expense of local jobs. While sad, the discourse on the many online community discussion groups in town have now turned to what might replace the discount department store - and not...

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact The drought that's currently gripping most of the country has forced another primary producer to begin hand-feeding his flock and this time, Canberra might listen. Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce told journalists this afternoon that he's started feeding his alpacas and Shetland ponies this week as the promised March rains failed to materialise. "Took the...

INGRID DOULTON | Local News | Contact Despite having two arms and hands of her own, a self-described low-maintenance friend was forced to seek help applying some fake tan over the weekend ahead of a local function. The Betoota Grove Rotary Club Fundraising Brunch attracts some of our town's biggest names - from Mayor Keith Carton, to The Advocate's editor, Dr...