2017 Premier's ANZAC Ambassadors Program

BY LAURISE DICKSON and JESSICA ROUSE

Hunter students are being given the opportunity to travel to historic Anzac battlefields as part of the 2017 Premier's ANZAC Ambassadors Program.

Six successful applicants across NSW will have the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to historical battlefields in Greece and Israel to retrace the steps of the ANZAC's over a two week tour.

Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Scot MacDonald is encouraging local high school students to take part in the essay competition in a bid to deepen their understanding of the events and contributions made by service men and women from the Hunter.

"It did have a big impact and it did shake the Hunter there's no question about it. A lot of people did serve and did go overseas and of course there were a lot of people supporting them back home,"

"I'd just urge any student who is interested to have a go, you know you could be one of the six on the tour and I just think it would be wonderful if someone from the Hunter made that cut," said Scot MacDonald.

The competition closes on 31st July with the tour taking place between 24th October and 5th November. For more information visit www.clubnsw.com.au/anzacambassadors 

'Spirit of Anzac' Arrives in Newcastle

BY SARAH JAMES

A piece of history has come to the Hunter today, with the opening of the Spirit of Anzac Centenary Experience at Newcastle Entertainment Centre.

The week-long exhibition will display more than 200 artefacts from the Australian War Memorial, showcasing Australia's extensive involvement in World War I and how the war impacted the nation on the home front.

Newcastle marks the 22nd stop on the Exhibition's national tour. There has been a huge public response, with more than 24 000 people already registered to attend.

Major General (Retired) Brian Dawson said attending the event is a way to commemorate those who fought for Australia and lost their lives.

"Over sixty thousand Australians were killed in the First World War...and there wasn't a family who wasn't affected in some way," he said.

"This is a story which is part of the Australia story, and somehow affects us all even 100 years later."

Port Stephens Commit $200 000 to Fight Merger

Port Stephens Council has committed up to $200 000 to help fight against the State Government's decision to merge it with neighboring Newcastle Council.

Council had originally agreed to $150 000 however, the amount was increased to allow for additional rallies to help drum up support against the merger.

Funding will also be spent on establishing a submission to present to the State Government in February.

Deputy Mayor, Chris Doohan says the merger will be devastating for Port Stephens.

"This is nothing personally [sic] against Newcastle, it's just a crap deal for the people of Port Stephens that are going to have to fund the major amounts of dept incurred by poor Governments in the Newcastle City Council."

Fighters: Bruce MacKenzie and Chris Doohan

The outcry comes after the IPART deemed Port Stephens Council to be 'Fit for the Future'.  Both Lake Macquarie and Newcastle were at the time expected to merge before the final decision was made.

However, Doohan claims their is little reason to merge.

"They've given us a bunch of reasons why they [the Baird Government] want us to merge, but the only one's that got anything to do with local Government is the Newcastle Airport."

"The rest of them are all actually State Government type things, like hospitals and schooling, so the arguments flawed from the get go."

Council has also ruled out backing down should the submission be rejected, with Mayor Bruce MacKenzie evoking the ANZAC 'never give up' attitude, and quoting British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, saying "we will never surrender."

Deputy Mayor, Chris Doohan evoked the same attitude.

"We will fight until it's craved in stone that the merger has to happen."

"I won't even call it a merger, it's
a takeover as far as I'm concerned and it's a bum deal for the people of Port Stephens."

Image Courtesy of Stephen Wark, via Port Stephens Examiner (LINK).