For residents living along North Sydney’s Blues Point Road, having your evening disturbed by screeching tires and roaring motors can be a regular occurrence. 

After years of complaints from locals, the council has been forced to act, installing concrete speed humps along the road in an effort to curb “anti-social driving behaviour”. 

What happened: Blues Point Reserve is a popular spot along the Sydney foreshore, but what makes a great location for brisk morning walks and sunlit picnics also happens to attract motor vehicle enthusiasts looking to snap a picture of their ride with the Sydney Harbour Bridge as a backdrop.

Mika, a long term resident of Blues Point Road, said she could still remember wondering how she would ever get used to the noise of loud cars revving their engines at night. Five years after moving in, little has changed. “Our apartment is east and west facing, but the bedroom faces the street”, she told the Lorikeet.

Council steps in: The issue has attracted the attention of the local council. In July, Mayor Zoë Baker held a “Hooning Roundtable”, attended by local residents, NSW Police and Transport for NSW representatives. 

The discussion: “Tips for a sick burnout” was not on the agenda. What the roundtable did discuss was the installation of speed humps along Blues Point Road, which is the main traffic corridor for McMahons Point. 

Along with a suite of other accessibility and pedestrian upgrades, North Sydney Council is now pushing ahead with that plan, which will see speed humps installed at five points along Blues Point Road and Henry Lawson Avenue. 

Will it work: “What council can do is very limited”, Mayor Baker told the Lorikeet. 

“It's not going to be a silver bullet, it has to be part of a larger multi-agency approach”. 

Baker claimed that while prevention of hooning largely fell between the NSW Environment Protection Authority (who manage noise regulations) and NSW Police, council could make small changes to disincentivize the practice. 

The plan will also see parts of the road narrowed and curved with extended nature strips, causing cars to reduce speed to turn. 

Not all hoons: Pointing to the recent “Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride” — where motorcycle enthusiasts rode classic bikes through McMahons Point — Baker said that not all car and bike events were a problem. 

“Highway patrol say it's a relatively small cohort of people who aren’t representative of the broader car enthusiast community”, she said.

Sitting along the Pacific Highway, the Arts and Crafts manor is a piece of Australian architectural history you could easily drive past every day.

Watch the full video below.

The NSW Electoral Commission has called for a local government by-election in the tiny council of Hunters Hill, after the surprise resignation of a first-term councillor in October. 

A date of December 12 has been set for the election. 

What happened: On October 14 independent south ward councillor Marc Lane tendered his resignation from Hunter’s Hill Council. 

Monday evening's council meeting began with lengthy speeches from Councillors Carla Kassab, Carol Tannous-Sleiman, Tatyana Virgara and Mayor Zac Miles, all of whom defended their conduct at council against the allegations of “toxicity” made by Lane. 

Councillor Ross Williams, the only other independent on the council, backed up Lane's comments.

“There have been several occasions where I have not felt safe or comfortable while participating in proceedings in this chamber”, he said.

Williams moved to commission an independent review of the workplace culture at the council. The amendment was accepted 5 – 1.

How much: A clear figure on how much the by-election will cost Hunter’s Hill Council is currently not available, but will be provided by the NSW Electoral Commission by Friday. 

The election will have a one week period of prepoll voting for residents who may be travelling for the Christmas break. 

The details: The south ward of Hunters Hill captures the suburbs of Woolwich, Huntleys Point, Henly and Hunters Hill from Matthew Street eastward.

Nominations for the election will open on November 2 and close at noon on the 11th. A result is set to be declared by the 31st of December.

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The federal government still hasn’t responded to a Senate inquiry into climate and energy misinformation, more than four months after its deadline passed.

🏛️ The inquiry: The Senate Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy tabled its report, The Integrity Gap, on March 24.

The committee heard concerns about astroturfing, where campaigns presented as grassroots are highly coordinated and well financed, often with links to think tanks, business interests, lobby groups or donors.

Former Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson, who chaired the committee, said deceptive campaigns “have stalled climate action, including the rollout of renewable energy in Australia”.

Labor senators backed the committee’s majority report, which found misinformation was “delaying renewable energy projects”. The government wants 82 percent of Australia’s electricity to come from renewables by 2030.

Its 21 recommendations include exploring ways to make corporate-funded campaign activity more transparent before federal elections, and making sure regulators such as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission have the resources to tackle greenwashing - a term used for companies that exaggerate their environmental credentials.

⏰ The deadline: The Senate expects government responses within three months of a report being tabled, which made this one due on June 24.

📋 Not a one-off: In the first half of 2026, 33 committee reports reached their three-month deadline, and the government responded on time to five, according to the President of the Senate’s twice-yearly report.

By June 30, 80 reports were overdue.

When asked if he agreed with the recommendations of the report, a spokesperson for the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, said: “It would not be appropriate for the department to pre-empt the whole of the government response.”

Watch the National Account’s Archie Milligan below: