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Byron Shire
March 19, 2024
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Articles & Columns

How fungi and theatrical performance can tackle the problem of PFAS contamination

When scientists first discovered the chemistry of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, PFAS, in the 1930s, they didn’t know we’d be struggling to remove them from the environment and human bodies nearly a century later.

State of destruction

Tasmanians go to the polls next weekend, in an early election brought on by Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockcliff, whose party has fractured during its ten years in office but is currently warning voters not to elect a Labor minority government, which he's been calling a 'Coalition of Chaos'.

Editorial – Giving it a tick and flick

The rezoning of high-value agricultural land for future housing – some on floodplains – is likely to be rushed through at Thursday’s Council meeting with last-minute tinkering – see page 1.

The case for natural parks

Between One Mile Beach and Big Rocky Island, just south of Nelson Bay, lies the stunning Samurai Beach, a part of the Tomaree National Park. 

COVID-19 pandemic has cut life expectancy globally

COVID-19 reversed earlier trends toward longer life expectancies. During the pandemic, life expectancies globally dropped by 1.6 years according to a new study published in the Lancet medical journal.

Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox: Reach Beyond

One in 12 people over 65 are living with dementia. Dementia is not a specific disease, but is a general term for the impaired ability to remember, think, or make decisions that interfere with doing everyday activities. It’s actually no longer called dementia, but Major Neurocognitive Disorder (MND).

What’s so controversial about vehicle efficiency?

Thanks to years of political inaction, Australia is one of the few countries in the world not to have a New Vehicle Efficiency Standard. The European Union, New Zealand and China have one. Even the United States has a standard, which means new cars in Australia use 20 per cent more fuel and create 20 per cent more pollution than their American counterparts. With the Albanese Government about to introduce legislation to correct this situation, the Coalition is busily dusting off the 'war on utes/the weekend' rhetoric.

Editorial – Emergency volunteerism

Two years ago this week, it’s fair to say the entire north coast was in shock and struggling to comprehend the extent of what just happened.

Jem Bendell to speak about living in the midst of climate collapse

The brutal reality is that we’re facing global biospheric collapse, with little or no prospect of reprieve. This is the existential consequence of a system hellbent on greed, overshoot and suicidal levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox – Free Assange: It’s Up to Us

'If war can be started by lies, then maybe peace can be started by truth.' ~ Julian Assange. It’s a simple profound statement said by someone who knows that as a journalist the truth doesn’t set you free. It gets you locked up in solitary confinement in Belmarsh Prison. The truth can cost your life. Assange knows that too well.

CSIRO voyage gets up close to Antarctica’s climate challenges

The rapidly changing nature of Antarctica has been witnessed first-hand by Australia’s leading research ship on a record-breaking investigation of the icy continent.  

Spies like them

The Dunkley by-election is done and dusted, with Advance's fear campaign failing to fire, and Labor's primary vote actually increasing. The swing to the Liberals on preferences came from right wing voters not having anyone crazier to vote for this time, with UAP and One Nation out of the race. Meanwhile another question continues to be raised; which Australian politician was secretly working for a hostile foreign power, and when?

Editorial – Grab the popcorn and bean bags

Both Mayor Michael Lyon and fellow councillor, Mark Swivel, offered an apology to the followers of the Save Wallum Facebook page last week.

Hijacking feminism, harming women

Surely the success of feminist activism is one of the most positive stories of our times. Just think of the limited options of our mothers, compared to young women today. 

Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox: We Need to Talk about Birth

Birth is magical. It is powerful and wild and beautiful and scary and miraculous. Until it’s not. When things go to shit, it happens fast and when your baby dies, your life is changed forever, but not in the way you were expecting.

Doing it for Dunkley

The eyes of Australia turn this week to the electorate of Dunkley in Victoria, historically the site of the Frankston riot and just down the road from where Harold Holt disappeared. Now it's the location of an all important federal by-election.

Editorial – Prosecuting publishers

WikiLeaks founder and Australian citizen, Julian Assange, will soon face possibly his final court hearing in the UK High Court of Justice over whether he should be extradited to the US to face spying charges. 

Breaking bad promises

It’s so hard to introduce urgently-needed reforms in today’s fevered media climate that governments tiptoe around problems and hardly dare to act.

Wallum: councillors failed to listen to the community

Thank you, Councillors Lyon, Pugh and Coorey for explaining what went wrong with the Wallum development application (DA) process on Facebook. The community f*cked up because they failed to object?

Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox: Growing Mould Together

I love the smell of mould in the morning. Actually I don’t. It drives me nuts. Some days I’m obsessed that it’s all I can smell. It’s the smell of living in the Northern Rivers. The humidity and rain of our summer has created the perfect conditions for mould. Mould on shoes. Mould in my bread bin. Mould in the dark of my cupboards. Mould in the cracks in my bathroom. Mould behind the sink. Mould in me

Last chance for Julian Assange?

This week the Australian journalist Julian Assange will find out whether he will be extradited from the United Kingdom to the USA, where he faces 175 years in solitary confinement for his role in revealing the truth about war crimes and the inner workings of empire, or conducting 'espionage', as America calls it.

Once known as the rainbow region

The most poignant moment from Thursday’s boisterous and unruly Council meeting was listening to elderly Mullum resident, Peter McGill. 

Have we already exceeded 1.5°C of warming?

A study published in Nature Climate Change has suggested we have seriously underestimated global warming, with the Earth already well over 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.

Frogs, fertility, toads and drugs 

My mother inculcated me with a love of science, which somehow survived a run of sadistic chemistry teachers who staggeringly discouraged creative experiments in the lab. Like making LSD, and smallish explosive devices. 

Managing free speech and truth as defined by many different voices

I hesitated to add my voice to the chorus about the Gaza conflict, especially to the controversy over The Echo’s publication of a half-page advertisement by the Australian Jewish Association. But to be clear: well done The Echo for doing so...

Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox: My Motherhood Statement

I don’t mind having my ideas shredded. But criticism rarely stays there. It becomes personal. I usually don’t engage. I just let people fight it out with themselves. But I came across this one comment, on a thoughtful post I’d written, that enraged me. The writer accused me of making ‘motherhood statements’. That statement was like acid. I couldn’t let it go.

Most migratory fish on the brink says global analysis

At least 2 in 5 migratory animal species prioritised for conservation are in decline and almost all significant migratory fish are threatened with extinction, says a new report.

Look Ahead: co-designing a brighter future

At Living Lab Northern Rivers we are looking at a co-design process where we’ll connect the best technical experts with the local community.

Raging against renewables in Canberra

Parliament returned to Canberra last week to be greeted by the Rally Against Reckless Renewables on the front lawn; a protest against net zero policies, wind turbines, the United Nations, COVID vaccinations, China and chemtrails, amongst other things.

Editorial – Untethering from developers

There’s no doubt that social and affordable housing in NSW is in need of life support. Thankfully, the NSW government put out a media release last week to say the entire system will be rebuilt. But how?

Stereotypes and labels are so 2023

As the first ever female Young Liberal State President, I drew gasps from the Liberal Women’s Council by telling them I was a ‘feminist’.

It was once clear water, running over clean sand and pebbles…

There is serious pesticide pollution in the Richmond River estuary. But the problems of the Richmond River start well upstream. And they started long ago...

Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox: To Hall and Back

The February flood sent 2.7 metres of water through Corndale Hall. This water of biblical proportions reached to the roof. It wrenched the modest little building from its footings and set it free. It collided with a power pole and was broken into pieces. Such a violent and unexpected death for such a magical place.

What parents just don’t get about video games

New research reveals a generational disconnect over online games, with 94% of young people expressing positive feelings about the activity, yet only 15% of parents identifying benefits for their child.

The price of political influence

Despite promises of reform when the Albanese Government was elected, Australia’s political donation laws remain unchanged, which is why it took until last week to find out who was donating in the last financial year, via the AEC's Transparency Register.

Is our drinking water supply threatened by Dunoon Dam?

Most people don’t know that the proposal for Dunoon Dam has never been part of Rous County Council’s 40-year, adopted, strategic plan to increase water supply, resilience and security, known as Future Water Plan 2060.

Editorial – Young people listen up!  

Hello, impressionable young person. ICYMI, the world as we inhabit it isn’t in great shape. 

Suffolk Park Tennis travels to grass courts

A group of eight adult Suffolk Park tennis players headed south of the border for a grass court tennis tournament in the small town of Tatura - north of Melbourne.

Film fundraiser for Save Wallum

Our Generation Media together with the Brunswick Picture House will be hosting a special fundraiser screening of the award-winning documentary, Luku Ngärra: The Law of the Land in support of Save Wallum.

Bangalow and Byron Bay third-grader cricketers qualify for 2023/24 grand final

Bangalow Cricket Club has played its way into the third-grade grand final after beating minor premiers Lennox Head in the semi-final played at Megan Crescent Oval last Saturday.

Karate students win medals on the Gold Coast

Students of the Byron Bay JWK Karate dojo competed at the first AMAC Gold Coast tournament of the year on March 10 with medal-winning success.