Michael Waite, his wife Whitney and three kids were on an 18-month global adventure, popping back to Australia for the Southern Hemisphere summer to visit family when COVID and family tragedy struck. With travel grounded, the former Seattle-based family had to put away their backpacks and establish a home living in between Normanville and Naracoorte, two regional towns in South Australia, starting a total rethink on their three-to-five year plan. With regional South Australia home for the immediate future, Michael, a senior finance executive who ran for State Treasurer of Washington State in 2016, embarked on an unusual COVID side project, starting the Naracoorte News, which created his own headlines. Now he and his wife, a highly experienced paediatrician, are keen to ignite their careers while living in a regional area. Facing multiple challenges of trying to reshape international experience into a local market and a regional one at that, the Waite’s are asking themselves if staying is more short than medium term.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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