Wiradjuri groups from across the area are concerned about the Energy From Waste Incinerator proposed for Parkes, and are inviting everyone to join the Parkes Solidarity Walk which will take place on Saturday, 6th December.

Traditional owner Aunty Frances Robinson, working within the Aboriginal Consulting Group, together with Parkes Clean Future Alliance, said after going to a meeting about the proposed incinerator and “not seeing any Koori people present. It was obvious that no-one had engaged with the Aboriginal community as to how this will affect our culture and heritage. We have too much that we are passionate about that we need to protect not only for our ancestors but for the continuation of our culture. Impact on our medicinal plants, bush tucker, song lines, our river systems, our air quality, our food and fibre industry, our general health and well being.”

Aunty Frances said the Parkes Solidarity Walk was organised for “Everyone and anyone who is concerned about the impacts that this incinerator will have on our environment and our health. United we stand. This is not just one community group, we are many community groups, all with our own concerns, all standing together to fight this.”

Get a group of friends, family, co-workers together, you can even get creative and make a sign and come along to the Parkes Solidarity Walk. Meet at 10.30 at Sir Henry Parkes Statue and the walk will conclude at Cooke Park

Parkes Elvis Festival Founders Bob and Anne Steel made an appearance on the Channel Nine morning talk show Today Ex­tra, Tuesday 25 November. On Today Ex­tra, hosted by David Campbell and Sylvia Jeffreys, Bob and Anne talked about the Parkes Elvis Festival and its long running success.

After their appearance on Today Extra, Bob and Anne, along with daughter Tiffany Steel and Parkes Elvis Festival Director Brendan Shipley had a scheduled one on one private sit down with Priscilla Presley, prior to her State Theatre show “Life After Elvis” at the State Theatre in Sydney.

We were curious how the meeting with Priscilla came about so we asked Festival Director Brendan who said it took a couple of months to organise with FANE Produc­tions, but once he got the go ahead, he de­livered the news to the Steel’s over lunch.

“Bob and Anne, myself and my fam­ily and their daughter Tiffany, got together for a BBQ, a couple of weeks ago, Anne cooked a lavish meal and welcomed us into her home, I stopped in the middle of lunch and said – Well, I have something to tell you, your going to Sydney to meet Priscilla,” said Brendan.

Bob and Anne were stunned to hear the news “We were in shock actually” said Anne.

And when asked if they were at all nerv­ous about meeting Priscilla or featuring on the Today Extra Program Anne replied calmly “Not at all, no good being nervous, that doesn’t do any good at all.”

The Forbes community is invited to once again come together on Tuesday 25 No­vember 2025 for the annual White Ribbon Day event, raising awareness and showing support for ending violence against women.

Chairperson of the Forbes Domestic & Family Violence Committee, Stevie Darcy said, “By joining together at this event, our community will stand united against vio­lence and show our commitment to support­ing one another.”

The day will begin with a community march through the CBD, assembling at 9.30am in Spring Street, followed by an offi­cial ceremony in Victoria Park commencing at 10.15am. Local services and community groups will host stalls and activities.

Forbes Shire Mayor Phyllis Miller OAM said White Ribbon Day is an opportunity to come together as a community, united in our stand to end domestic and family violence.

“As we march together, we will walk not just in solidarity, but with purpose. This is an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to building a safer, more respectful future for everyone”, the Mayor said.

“I encourage everyone to continue the conversation – in our homes, schools, work­places, and throughout our community. To­gether, we will build a future where respect is the norm, and where every person can live free from fear and violence.”

To ensure the safety of participants, Spring Street and surrounding streets along the march route will be temporarily closed from 9.30am to 11.00am. Motorists are ad­vised to plan alternate routes during this time.

Nedd Brockman, born in Forbes and raised in Bedgerabong, has been named NSW Young Australian Of The Year for his con­tinued efforts to raise money and aware­ness for homelessness in Australia.

In 2020, Nedd decided to run 50 mara­thons in 50 days to raise $50,000 for home­lessness. Then in 2022, Nedd set himself the challenge of running 4,000km across the country from Perth (Cottesloe Beach) to Bondi (Bondi Beach), raising money and awareness for the homeless along the way.

But he didn’t stop there, he kept showing up for the cause, and in 2024, Nedd started “Nedd’s Uncomfortable Challenge” and set off again, with a 1,000 mile running chal­lenge at a track at Sydney Olympic Park.

Nedd and his team have so far raised over $8 million for Australians experiencing homelessness.

Upon being named 2026 NSW Young Australian of the Year, Nedd said, “I feel honoured and very grateful for the award, but I equally feel a little bit disheartened because I wouldn’t be getting the award if there wasn’t homelessness in this country.”

“I don’t love running, running is just the tool I use in order to push my limits and show people that if you’re willing to com­mit to something wholeheartedly and throw yourself in the fire good things will come of it if you’re willing to go all the way. It is my tool that allows me to champion the desire to help end homelessness in this country,” concluded Nedd.

The state’s most innovative and forwardthinking businesses have come together and been celebrated at the NSW State Business Awards. Topsoil Organics from Forbes won the Excellence in Large Busi­ness Award.

The Excellence in Large Business Award recognises a business with more than 20 employees that has effectively driven growth and is able to demonstrate the spe­cific strategies implemented to achieve business success and/or resilience.

Business NSW, Regional Director – Western NSW, Vicki Seccombe said “This is Topsoil Organics’ third win at the State Business Awards, having won Excellence in Small Business in 2022 and Excellence in Sustainability in 2023.

“Topsoil Organics is such an exciting and dynamic business and they are paving the way for our future. They have gone above and beyond in respect to innovation, sus­tainability and leadership. The initiatives being pursued demonstrates great ingenu­ity and it’s so exciting that it’s happening right here in Western NSW,” said Vicki Sec­combe.

Topsoil Organics is a family-owned busi­ness that launched the Central West Nu­trient Return Centre in 2021, diverting 200,000+ tonnes of organic waste from landfills into premium compost for broada­cre farming. By transforming waste into energy and regenerative solutions, they are creating lasting environmental, agricultural, and community benefits for a cleaner future.

“All three winners should feel incredibly proud to be named amongst the State’s leading businesses and business leaders for 2025 and this win truly highlights the strength of the Western NSW business community,” said Ms Seccombe.

A motion for a Parliamentary Inquiry into energy from waste proposals in NSW was successful after mounting opposition in Regional NSW. The Select Committee was established on 6 August 2025 and is chaired by Nationals MP Nicole Overall.

“I encourage anyone who hasn’t yet made a submission to consider doing so – this is the opportunity to formally raise any questions or concerns as we work to com­prehensively address these proposals.” said Nicole.

Parkes Clean Future Alliance are urging those who have not yet made submissions, to do so today, as submissions close at 5pm. Ben Stead of PCFA said “The pro­posed Sydney landfills are projected to run out of space over the next 5 to 10 years.

After thermal energy from waste was re­jected in Sydney, the NSW Government developed a framework that prohibits facili­ties in NSW as a precautionary measure to protect human health, but excludes Lith­gow, Goulburn, Parkes and Tomago from those health protections.”

“Submissions under 250 words will still be counted but will be grouped together. Submissions over 250 words are more im­pactful.” said Ben.

The deadline for submissions is today, 5pm Friday, 31 October. Both individu­als and organisations can make submis­sions, and you do not have to be located in Parkes. Anyone can make a submission and every submission counts.

To lodge a submission go to the Inquiry webpage www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/listofcommittees/Pages/committee-details.aspx?pk=337 and select the ‘Submissions’ tab.

Local lads Sam Parish, Bill Ryan and Sam Johnston were so inspired by Nedd Brock­man’s thousand mile run in Oct 2024 that they set themselves the goal of doing 10% of his 161km a day (16.1km). After completing that goal, they started to think “what’s next?”.Sam Parish said, “Someone suggested, ‘how far is it from Condo to Forbes?’ It was pretty hard to back down from the crazy idea once it has been said out loud, so the preparations began.”

A lot of training was involved – 15 weeks of running three times a week, with various types of running including easy runs, long runs and tempo runs.

“On the day itself, the support we had from friends, family and partners was un­believable and quite frankly the only way we finished,” said Sam.

The three are raising money and aware­ness for homelessness, through a charity called We are Mobilise. Sam said, “The three of us, with our close friends group also ran the Nedd Brockmann Gala Ball last year to really support Nedd from his hometown and celebrate the amazing movement he has started.

“Through that we all got to meet Noah Yang, Founder/CEO of We are Mobilise, so we got to form a personal connection to We are Mobilise and the amazing team.”

The trio have raised $18,800. You can still make a donation or even start your own challenge at: www.neddsuncomforta­blechallenge.com/fundraisers/FRC.

If you haven’t already planned your day, now is the time to check out what is hap­pening at Cooke Park, with proceedings kicking off at 9am and wrapping up at 2pm.

Parkes Shire Concert Band will be wel­coming everyone to the Park at 9.10am.

Event organisers look forward to wel­coming Parkes Dance Co to Homegrown Parkes for the first time. They will be taking the stage at 10.30am, followed by Parkes M&D with a preview of their upcoming pro­duction Little Shop of Horrors at 11am.

Unfortunately the coffee roasting work­shop has to be cancelled. There will still be giveaways and goodies that will be drawn at the workshop with Phil and Nadia Do­nato, being held at 12.30pm. Join them to learn how to make Tiramisu! Registrations essential.

Our Fijian friends will be performing on the main stage at 1.30pm to send everyone off. What a fantastic way to finish the day at Homegrown Parkes!As part of the Keep Australia Beautiful Tidy Town’s weekend, Homegrown Parkes attendees will have the opportunity to join one of three bus trips leaving from Cooke Park at 2pm.

This event is made possible with fund­ing and in-kind support from Parkes Shire Council, Evolution Mining Northparkes op­erations and Central West Lachlan Land­care.

We look forward to seeing you between 9am and 2pm on Saturday at Cooke Park.

Motorists are being reminded that double demerit points will be in place over the Oc­tober long weekend with police targeting speed, seatbelts, illegal mobile phone use and motorcyclists not wearing helmets.

Double demerit points will be in force for four days commencing on Friday 3 Octo­ber 2025 and ending on Monday 6 October 2025 (inclusive).Parkes Highway Patrol Sergeant Mitch­ell Gage said there will be more police on the road which means a greater chance of drivers being caught if they are doing the wrong thing.

“Double demerits were implemented 20 years ago, in a bid to encourage drivers to obey road rules during busy traffic peri­ods. They occur on select holiday periods and long weekends and have proven to be an effective deterrent. Statistics show that there’s a 30% reduction in casualty crash­es when double demerit points are opera­tional.

“No-one wants to get a fine, lose their li­cence or worse still be involved in a crash.

So, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to travel, don’t speed, drive to the con­ditions, wear your seatbelt, avoid distrac­tions, make sure you’re well rested and if you’ve been drinking or have taken drugs – don’t drive” Sergeant Gage said.

Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Coun­cils’ Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Melanie Suitor said “During dou­ble demerit point periods the penalties for breaking the road rules are Severe” and is encouraging all road users to stay safe this October long weekend.