State of the Nation | Thursday, March 23, 2017

►TAMWORTH: Police swooped on homes in Tamworth, Moonbi and Gunnedah, netting a cache of drugs and suspected stolen property as police targeted outlaw motorcycle gangs on Wednesday. Read more

►PORT STEPHENS: A mother says her son is being charged $320 a day to have two “epipen” insulin injections under the NDIS, and her son’s NDIS account is going down so quickly that she fears it will be spent eight months into the year. Read more

►BALLARAT: Under fire Melton MP Don Nardella’s total taxpayer funded living claims could tip almost $200,000 after it was revealed the disgraced member was based in Ballarat for four years. Read more

► COOTAMUNDRA: “The grief we are all experiencing is obviously very deep. The pain is so hard to bear.” A “treasured boy”, three-year-old Wyatt Searle died on Tuesday after he was hit by a car outside his Sutton Street home. It was less than two weeks after his birthday. Read more

►NORTHERN TERRITORY: Territory women now have a legal right to an abortion. The NT Government last night passed new legislation allowing the lawful termination of pregnancy services. Read more

►BENDIGO: A Supreme Court jury has heard a “constellation” of injuries suffered by a baby allegedly shaken to death by her father was caused by “mechanical head trauma”. Read more

►WOLLONGONG: The dark clouds rolled in over the Illawarra escarpment and across Wollongong about 4.30pm, bringing thunder, lightning and bursts of heavy rain. Ten minutes later it was gone, but not before these amazing storm photos were taken. 

►MT ISA: State Member for Mount Isa Robbie Katter has slammed the LNP for supporting Labor to vote against a real solution to address rural debt after parliament refused to vote on KAP’s bill.  Read more

► ILLAWARRA: Corrimal diggers have cancelled their annual Anzac Sunday service, citing an inability to cover the estimated $20,000 cost of addressing heightened anti-terror concerns. Read more

► ARMIDALE: Public servants at the pesticides authority are hoping they can leave their makeshift office at McDonald's Armidale behind, launching a search for a real office in the northern NSW town where they are being forced to move. Read more

►NEWCASTLE: Police have located a body off Newcastle believed to be missing University of Newcastle student Mohsin Awan.  Read more

►Human Services Minister Alan Tudge has announced the final stage of Centrelink's digital transformation will be led by Accenture, the same company that delayed 1 million tax returns, sparked 17,000 public complaints, required more than 500 bug fixes and sent unintelligible data to Centrelink in a botched $800 million overhaul of the Australian Tax Office in 2010. Read more

►Barnaby Joyce has broken with cabinet solidarity to blast the Liberal Party for catering to its fringe "extremities" and proposing to water down Australia's race hate laws. Read more

►Four Sydney men have pleaded guilty to their roles in one of Australia's biggest drug importation rings, with police alleging the haul weighed two tonnes and had a street value of $1.5 billion. Read more

► The Turnbull government is on the verge of breaking a two-year deadlock on childcare reform after it jettisoned $8 billion in welfare savings it had controversially tied to childcare fee relief. Read more

What’s coming your way ...

►DILI:  East Timorese leader Jose Ramos Horta has lashed out at what he calls "outrageous" claims before an Australian parliamentary committee that his country could be heading towards becoming a failed state. Read more

►CAIRO:  A Lebanese asylum seeker, who spent four years in offshore detention on Manus Island, was involuntarily deported late last week to Beirut. Bahaa Trad, 33, was offered $30,000 by Australian immigration officials to voluntarily leave but refused and was deported. Read more

►LONDON: Four people are dead and the British Parliament remains in lockdown after a terrorist attack in central London, in which a car mowed down a number of pedestrians and a police officer was stabbed outside the parliament. Read more

1769: The developer of the geologic map, William Smith, is born.

1903:  The earliest version of the board game 'Monopoly' is developed. 

1950:  Today is World Meteorological Day.

Gill Street, not far from the Kempsey East Public School, and an easy stroll to the banks of the Macleay River, was named after a passionate preacher.

There is also a creek that bears the Gill name.

His death notice described him as the ‘apostle of Methodism in the Macleay’ and he was engaged in his religious work right up until his death. Read more