A four-year-old boy has died in hospital after being hit by a car on a suburban street in Dubbo.

Owners of stores in rural towns say the landscape has changed since COVID, and higher costs and fewer customers have forced them to innovate.

More than 500,000 head of cattle have already been sold across New South Wales this year, with Scone seeing its biggest sale in 20 years.

Trucking industry peak group NatRoad calls on the federal government to urgently implement the $1 billion Economic Resilience Program it promised two weeks ago.

All underground workers at Newmont's Cadia gold mine have been brought to the surface as inspections are carried out following an earthquake. 

There are growing fears that a second varroa mite strain could enter Australia, as beekeepers lose key chemical options for controlling the tiny parasites of honey bees.

Australia controls less than 20 per cent of our liquid fuel supply and relies on imports for the other 80-plus per cent we need to keep the nation moving. But proponents of biofuels argue it does not need to be this way.