Community News: November 2026 - Issue 660
Week One November 2026: Issue 660 (Published Sunday November 1)
Week One November 2026: Issue 660 (Sunday Nov. 1)
David Pescud OAM to Be Inducted into the NSW Hall of Champions
2026 National Architecture Awards Winners - Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design: Sydney Harbour Bridge Northern Access Cycleway, National Award for Commercial Architecture: New Sydney Fish Market
2027 Australian of the Year Awards: NSW Nominees Announced
Pictures Spring in Pittwater is Touchy Footy Time at Avalon Bulldogs JRLFC: Call out for Volunteers for 2027 - AGM will be held Tuesday November 24
Aquatics 2026 Finn NSW Championship: Nossiter recaptures NSW crown report by Di Pearson
Southern Leaf-tailed Gecko Grows Bigger Here: Our Careel Bay Laundry Resident
Blue-faced Honeyeaters Return: Spring in Pittwater
Park Bench Philosophers ‘The Lucky Country’ is now ‘The Hungry Country’ as Foodbank Hunger Report 2026 shows food insecurity now “systemic” in Australia: 3.6 million hungry households + Food insecurity is on the rise in Australia. We need more effective responses
Commonwealth Ombudsman finds use of automation in aged care system lacks safeguards + Independent expert review of aged care assessment tool announced
DIY Ideas Get in the Garden to Get you DIY Summer Salad Garden Happening: Garden Prep. and What to Plant in November in Sydney & Coastal NSW + TTHG’s best set their sights on national glory - Mitre 10 Store of the Year – Large Format; Johnson Bros Mitre 10 Mona Vale!
Food Capsicum: The Fruit we use as a vegetable - Some Seasonal Recipes for this Superfood
Reforms to reduce plastics and microplastics: Environmental Legislation Amendment (Plastic Reduction and Container Recycling) Bill 2026 passes Upper House + Pittwater Councillor's Attempt to Turn the Local Plastic Tide: October 2026 council meeting - Update Wednesday Oct. 28: Statement of regulatory intent on reusable cups
Environment Blue-faced Honeyeaters Return: Spring in Pittwater, Southern Leaf-tailed Gecko Grows Bigger Here: Our Careel Bay Laundry Resident, Watch out - Ground Nesting Birds are about everywhere in Spring!: Masked Lapwing Plovers, Endangered plant Pomaderris mediora: Researchers Call out for sightings, Call-Out for Iconic Trees, NSW Government introduces fire ant Biosecurity Control Order to enable long term monitoring & compliance, South Coast rail line to be electrified and duplicated in the largest investment in rail infrastructure in generations, Inquiry Into Proposed Energy from Waste Facilities: NSW - Report Tabled, Solar battery inspection results report, Government confirms NSW's commitment to mining and critical minerals on the global stage, Draft Koala Conservation Strategy: Have Your Say, Bottom trawlers do huge damage to life on undersea mountains. Could an end finally be in sight?, While some eucalypts are hard to kill climate change may test the ability of others to survive, Climate change is killing the plants of Uluṟu‑Kata Tjuṯa. Aṉangu traditional owners are concerned, The deep ocean’s protection against warming started to change in 2016. Nobody knows what happens now, Unlike anything I’ve seen: why this whale season has marine scientists puzzled, The power of poo: why conservationists love animal scat, Calling species ‘invasive’ – and culling them – isn’t done lightly. But it matters to Australia’s threatened species, What makes a winning environmental campaign? We studied six decades of activism to find out, Looking for bats after dark can help science – and change how we see them, Australia is cracking down on e‑bikes and e‑scooters. But is that what the public actually wants?, El Niño is threatening California’s fragile coast again – the 1982‑83 El Niño opened eyes to the serious erosion risks, Where humans build, mosquitoes follow – bringing dengue, West Nile and other diseases with them, The greenest initiatives are often the most invisible – experts explain why that’s a problem, Indonesia’s El Niño‑driven peat fires are choking the region – and releasing centuries of stored carbon, NSW Snapper Harvest Strategy: Have Your Say, NSW Yellowtail Kingfish Harvest Strategy: Have Your Say, NSW consulting on Australia's first mandatory solar panel recycling scheme: Have your say, Garigal + Ku-ring Gai National Park: 1080 Operation, Public comment opens on industrial port and dredging proposal threatening Exmouth Gulf-Ningaloo, PNHA Activities 2026, Coming up at Kimbriki, Mona Vale Dunes bushcare group: 2026, Bangalley Headland WPA 2026, Sydney Wildlife Needs People for the Rescue Line, 622kg of Rubbish Collected from Beaches: Adopt your local beach program, This Tick Season: Freeze it - don't squeeze it, Protect wildlife: dispose of fishing gear responsibly, Volunteers for Barrenjoey Lighthouse Tours needed, Johnson Brothers Mitre 10 Recycling Batteries: at Mona Vale + Avalon Beach, Reporting Dogs Offleash - Dog Attacks to Council, Plastic Bread Ties For Wheelchairs, Stay Safe From Mosquitoes, Mountain Bike Incidents On Public Land, Report fox sightings, marine wildlife rescue group on the Central Coast, Possums In Your Roof?: do the right thing, Aviaries + Possum Release Sites Needed, Bushcare in Pittwater: where + when, Friends Of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment Activities, Pittwater Gardens, Environment Groups and Organisations in Pittwater, Ringtail Posses, Pittwater Environment History insights + Walks, Birds ++
Inbox News Dementia causes more than 1 in 10 deaths: ABS, NSW Mental Health Hubs: easier to find - open longer + Statewide Intellectual Disability Mental Health Hubs, Supporting frontline domestic and family violence workers with fully subsidised TAFE, There are risks when children use AI chatbots. Does Australia’s new ‘digital duty of care’ address them?, NSW Government to expedite overdue endoscopies, You’re supposed to turn Bluetooth off when you don’t need it – how risky is it really?, Mortgage holders aren’t alone in paying for rate hikes. Here’s how the RBA spreads the pain, Migraine remedies are everywhere on social media but the evidence needs a closer look, How to build health care Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men would actually use, Australia has many older people but not enough young people to care for them. What can we do?, How are we feeling Australia? New data reveals confidence in the nation falls – but Australians united on the future, Speed camera alerts on navigation apps may be training drivers to speed, Lyndall Patterson inducted into Australian Sailing Hall of Fame + Female Sailor of the Year: Stacey Jackson, Ombudsman findings reinforce urgent need for human oversight of aged care assessments: COTA Australia, David Pescud OAM to Be Inducted into the NSW Hall of Champions, Complex factors behind affordability of specialist fees cannot be ignored: AMA, UNSW and Black Dog Institute agree to an expanded 10-year affiliation, Catching waves - building connections with Silver Surfers, Screen savvy webinars prove to be a hit with local families, 2025 Residents’ Experience Survey results are in, AvPals at Newport: Term 4 2026, Pittwater/Narrabeen Parkinson's Support Group 2026 Meetings, ‘What we leave behind is not as important as how we’ve lived’: remembering actor Patrick Stewart, Narrabeen Girls High School and Narrabeen Boys High School 50 Years Reunion, Friday essay: forget Big Brother, propaganda is now a form of hybrid warfare, Blue-faced Honeyeaters Return: Spring in Pittwater, Sydney scores the 2027 Super Netball Grand Final, Southern Leaf-tailed Gecko Grows Bigger Here: Our Careel Bay Laundry Resident, Lismore in Bloom: The Famous Floral Festival (1961), Worried about your Year 12 exams? 3 ways to help anxiety + 8 Student-Backed Study Tips To Help You Tackle The HSC + Links To ReachOut Support Content, Opportunities: Avalon Beach SLSC: SRC Course + 2027 Premier’s Anzac Memorial Scholarship tour EOI + Manly Warringah District Junior Rugby League Girls Tackle 2027 EOI Closes Sunday November 1 + Try Pittwater Dragonboating!, Financial help for young people, School Leavers Support, Word Of The Week: Amateur, David Hockney: the celebrated artist is bigger in this immersive digital spectacle, but not closer, Creative arts enrolments are dropping for Year 12. Here’s what parents and students should know, Spending in‑person time with friends is the biggest predictor of whether college students flourish, Raye’s ambitious Mercury Prize‑winning album is a testament to female creative freedom, Australia has to pay millions to fly an astronaut to space. What do we stand to gain?, ‘What we leave behind is not as important as how we’ve lived’: remembering actor Patrick Stewart, Harry Kane wins Ballon d'Or – a victory for sportsmanship over celebrity, Gulliver’s Travels at 300: a satire of the Anglo‑Irish and the folly of allegiance to empire, The phantom lighthouse: new research explains one of Australia’s strangest illusions
Profile of the Week Avalon Preservation Association: 2026 AGM
History Coaster's Retreat wharves: Bonnie Doon + Bennetts - Some HistoryPittwater Offshore Newsletter:
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To contact Roy: editor@scotlandisland.org.au
Endangered plant Pomaderris mediora: Researchers Call out for sightings


Newport Residents Association Meeting
- When: Tuesday November 3, 7pm
- Where: Newport Community Centre, The Boulevarde Newport
- Shared Pathway Newport to Bilgola
- NBC Draft LEP & DCP Proposal
- Mona Vale Multi-story Developments
- NBC Code of meeting practice & public forum
- Robertson Road Update - Demolition / Construction issues (Corner Robertson Rd and Barrenjoey Rd)
- Pittwater Community Alliance update
The Newport Residents Association Incorporated is an organisation of residents and/or ratepayers of the original Pittwater Council area whose concerns are the welfare and advancement of that area, in general and Newport in particular. Avalon Preservation Association AGM 2026
- Date: Thursday 12 November 2026 from 7.00pm sharp
- Venue: Bangalley Room, Avalon Beach Surf Life Saving Club
- Speaker: Professor Peter Davies, Macquarie University

2026 Ocean Festival

New DA's lodged with council
- Application Type: Development Application
- Status: Application Lodged
- Submitted: 28/10/2026
- Cost of Work: $ 22,946,990
- Height of Building: 22metres +30% SEPP AFFORDABLE HOUSING BONUS 28.6M and 8-9 storeys + 2 basement levels
- No of Units: 30 with 2-3 bedrooms; 12 x 2 bedroom units and 18 x 3 bedroom units (78 bedrooms)Carparking: visitors - 6, residents - 44
- Flood Risk zoning: Medium

- Application Type: Development Application
- Status: Application Lodged
- Submitted:22/10/2026
- Exhibition Period:29/10/2026 to 12/11/2026
- Cost of Work:$ 2,882,093
- Address: 289 Barrenjoey Road Newport
- Basement Level; 11 x car parking spaces comprising 9 resident spaces and 2 visitor spaces, Resident storage, plant and services, OSD and drainage infrastructure.
- Level 1; 1 x 2 bedroom unit, 1 x 3 bedroom unit
- Level 2; 2 x 3 bedroom units
- Level 3; 1 x 3 bedroom unit
The Newport locality will remain primarily a low-density residential area with dwelling houses a maximum of two storeys in any one place in a natural landscaped setting, integrated with the landform and landscape. Secondary Dwellings can be established in conjunction with another dwelling to encourage additional opportunities for more compact and affordable housing with minimal environmental impact in appropriate locations.Future development will maintain a height limit below the tree canopy and minimise bulk and scale. Existing and new native vegetation, including canopy trees, will be integrated with the development. Contemporary buildings will utilise façade modulation and/or incorporate shade elements, such as pergolas, verandahs and the like. Building colours and materials will harmonise with the natural environment. Development on slopes will be stepped down or along the slope to integrate with the landform and landscape, and minimise site disturbance. Development will be designed to be safe from hazards.Contemporary design solutions within the commercial centre will respond to Newport's climate and setting, including providing shade and shelter to streets and entries, generous private outdoor spaces, openings that capture ocean breezes, and shade elements.
- Application Type: Development Application
- Status: Application Lodged
- Submitted:27/10/2026
- Cost of Work:$ 28,240,610
- Address: 6 A Brookvale Avenue BROOKVALE NSW 2100, 6 Brookvale Avenue BROOKVALE NSW 2100, 4 Brookvale Avenue BROOKVALE NSW 2100
- For: 51 units - 1,2, and 3 bedroom units with 5 adaptable and 5 liveable units, comprising 7 x 1 Bedroom, 37 x 2 Bed, 7 x Bedroom = 102 bedrooms
- 3 Basement levels for 73 car parks
- Height: 28.6m

- Application Type: Development Application
- Status: Application Lodged
- Submitted: 29/10/2026
- Cost of Work: $ 2,645,500
- Application Type: Development Application
- Status: Application Lodged
- Submitted: 27/10/2026
- Address: 12 Nailon Place MONA VALE NSW 2103
- 1 - 239.8m²
- 2 - 169.1m²
- 3 - 287.3m²
- Application Type: Development Application
- Status: Application Lodged
- Submitted:21/10/2026
- Exhibition Period: 30/10/2026 to 13/11/2026
- Cost of Work: $ 27,090,276
- Location: 10 D Ponderosa Parade WARRIEWOOD NSW 2102, 12 C Ponderosa Parade WARRIEWOOD NSW 2102, 12 - 12 A Ponderosa Parade WARRIEWOOD NSW 2102
- For: 4 Storeys + basement.
- Height: 13.37m

- Application Type: Development Application
- Status: Application Lodged
- Submitted: 16/10/2026
- Cost of Work: $ 82,500
- Address: 11 Narrabeen Street NARRABEEN
- Installation of a temporary floating inflatable activity circuit (WIBIT KidsCircuit), measuring approximately 15m x 11m and accommodating 25–30 users, positioned seaward of the existing seagrass beds in a minimum water depth of 1.5m. The circuit comprises a series of interconnected modular inflatable elements (climbing and balance obstacles, a slide, a central tower feature and open floating platforms) arranged in a cluster of three linked rings, as shown on the WIBIT Anchor Plan and 3D location renders;
- Eight mooring blocks resting on the lagoon bed at fixed points around the circuit's perimeter (shown on the Anchor Plan), connected to the floating circuit by bungee and stainless-steel shackle, installed and removed by diver/balloon float as needed;
- Seasonal deployment — the structure is not permanent and will be set and removed by the operator according to periods of use, rather than remaining in place year-round;
- Possible installation of a floating access pontoon linking the shore to the circuit, sited and managed to avoid shading and mooring impacts on adjacent seagrass;
- Supervision by a qualified lifeguard stationed on the water during all sessions, with two staff managing bookings and activity sessions;
- Sessions of up to 25 children at a time, run on an hourly basis, available to the public, schools, and community/family groups, as an addition to Prokayaks' existing kayak, canoe and paddleboard hire and tour offering.

Art Work for Bert Payne Park Newport: Update
- The historic Newport lagoon connecting Newport and its community.
- Newport’s culture centred around its beach and waterways.
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Newport Lagoon placed into a concrete channel by 1934
Avalon Beach and Bilgola - Rockpool renewals
- improve safety for swimmers and visitors
- improve accessibility
- strengthen the pools and surrounding infrastructure to better withstand coastal and marine conditions
- reduce ongoing maintenance requirements
- preserve the community value and coastal character of the rockpools.
- repair and upgrade pool walls and deck areas to improve structural integrity
- improve accessibility
- replace safety fencing
- upgrade access to pool valves and equipment
- new concrete walkway within the pool to assist with cleaning and maintaining the pool deck (the natural pool floor will be retained in other areas)
- refurbish existing bleacher seating.

- repair and replace damaged sections of the pool floor
- upgrade the pool's pump system
- improve accessibility via a longer ramp with a gentler gradient
- upgrade handrails, access platforms and other safety features
- new fence
- repair pool walls, ramps and other concrete structures
- refurbish bleacher-style seating
- new swim lane line-marking within the pool area
- retain existing features where appropriate.

Scotland Island Emergency Water Pipeline and Non-Potable Water Policy

Lower speed limits: neighbourhoods safer
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Governor Phillip Park Working Group: First Meeting

Local Government Regulation Review: Have Your Say
- Local Government (Elections) Regulation
- Local Government (Approvals and Orders) Regulation, and
- Local Government (Council Governance and Operations) Regulation.
Monika's Doggie Rescue Pets of the Week
Update: Sophie and Chloe from last week have a home! This week's darlings are:
Tramp 5yo Cavoodle and Lady 5yo Cavalier


Lady and Tramp are a bonded pair who want to stay together. They were found by pound staff one morning tied to a garden seat at the pound. They are both sweet very affectionate dogs who just want people around them. They are both very dog social with other small dogs. Tramp was totally matted and urine soaked and has been shaven at the vets. Lady has just had a professional clip. These two dogs came so distressed and we are trying to settle them into a regular routine. They are just looking for a quiet home where someone is around most of the time. Tramp as a low shedding coat and weighs 6.5kg and Lady, is slightly chunkier at 10.2kg. They suit a home-based worker and apartment environment. They are desexed, fully vaccinated, heartworm free and chipped. Their adoption cost is $1400 together.
Sushi
9yo Corgi X Spitz

Sushi is a very gentle sweet dog who greets everyone and is very social with small dogs. He came from the pound in a pretty sad state with chronic dermatitis, cauliflower ears and a mass on his scrotum. Despite being in such bad shape he is the happiest dog. We are treating his ears for infections and slowly his fur is regrowing. The mass has been removed during desexing. He has a fluffy coat that needs brushing or clipping and he weighs 10kg. Sushi suits Apartment living and FT hours alone. He is desexed , fully vaccinated, heartworm free and chipped. His adoption cost is $600.
For further details call DoggieRescue on 9486 3133 or email Monika@DoggieRescue.com. RON R251000024
Marine Rescue Broken Bay Christmas Raffle

Elanora Heights Christmas Market 2026
- When: Sunday 29th November from 3-7:30pm!
- Where: Kalang Road, Elanora Heights


Community News + what ran in each Issue
Community News Pages list articles that ran each week as well as reports run in other pages: Inbox and Environment News archives etc.
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Slow Down: Wildlife Crossing

Mona Vale Residents Association

Report Hate Crimes
- Every report is taken seriously by the NSW Police Force.
- You can expect a respectful and straightforward experience.
- A translator will be used if required.
- When you report to the police, they will request your details. You can choose not to provide these details at the time of reporting however, this will likely affect how police can proceed with an investigation.
- Support services or contact with an appropriate liaison officer will be offered.
- You will be kept informed of what happens next, your rights and the criminal process (if someone was able to be charged).
JP Public Register
- Terry Jones J.P.
- Deborah Hendy(Carter) J.P
Speed humps on McCarrs Creek Rd: share Data
- The position via GPS or road and suburb
- The date
- The animal
