14.9 C
Byron Shire
June 22, 2026

Andy’s on fire

Latest News

Momentum hosts free skate workshop for girls and women

Whether you are stepping on a skateboard for the first time, sharpening your skills or getting ready to compete, a free school holiday workshop is being offered to all female skaters up to 25 years.

Other News

AI roll-out

My dad bought a quarter-acre block overlooking Sydney’s Northern Beaches for 400 pounds. That was about eight week’s salary. Mum...

Tweed Shire Council presents flood resilience series – part one

Over the coming weeks, Tweed Shire Council will present a flood resilience series, which looks at how 'Tweed's story is different from the standard flood recovery narrative and what happened next'.

Are retirement villages what Byron Bay needs?

Developer DD Resort Living is seeking community feedback until June 18 on its proposed retirement living development in Byron Bay.

The NT intervention laws that shape lives

local filmmaker Sinem Saban will be presenting back-to-back screenings in Murwillumbah of her two award-winning films that not only expose draconian Australian intervention policies, but also present the catastrophic fallout from these laws that have been unravelling in Aboriginal communities to this day.

Tweed keeps rate increase below rate of inflation

Tweed Shire Council says it has adopted one of the lowest rate increases in the cross-border region for 2026/27, with the average household bill rising around 3.6 per cent once all charges are counted. This is below the current annual rate of inflation of 4.2 per cent.

Humanity together

Dale Emerson’s letter last week expanding on Chris Hanley’s attitude to The Echo, and to our world, was impressive....

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v7rFcHmA-M]

Blending groove with a pop sense of catchy melodies, poet Andy Jans-Brown writes and performs songs you want to sing along with. Some of the highlights of Andy’s career include opening for Nick Cage and The Bad Seeds, having his film clip You Got Me Thinking broadcast on ABC’S Rage program and his composition Despite Everything included in the soundtrack for Showtime Foxtel’s successful Aussie glam/drama series Satisfaction. Andy draws upon all things human and seeks at every turn to connect with his audience, endearing himself with honesty, sincerity, humanity, poetry and his musical sigh at the beautiful of all. And all accompanied by his band of hot young players who many of you will recognise from other combos. A very different afternoon of music for By The River Restaurant in Ballina on Sunday from 3pm.



For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling.

If you are a local business owner help us and in turn we help you. All The Echo asks for is advertising, not a free ride. It is every advert in The Echo and on www.echo.net.au, which creates the space for all the stories and coverage of community events, happenings and concerns.

If you are a reader you can become a sponsor of The Echo. Your support keeps the us independent.

Even a small one-off or regular donation from you will help keep the echo’s independent voice alive and strong.

Support Us

Become one of the supporters who helps keep independent, local journalism alive in the Byron Shire by contributing anything from as little as the cost of a coffee each month.

You're Wonderful, Thank you for supporting independent journalism in the Byron Shire

You’re supporting The Echo, thank you

Your contribution is keeping independent, local journalism alive in the Northern Rivers.

Because of supporters like you, we can keep every story free for everyone — no paywall, no exceptions. Your money goes directly to funding our newsroom of 40-odd local workers covering the stories that matter to this community.

Tell us what you think, give us your opinion

The Echo loves your letters and comments and is proud to provide a community forum on the issues that matter most to our readers and the people of the NSW north coast. So don’t be a passive reader, email us your epistles at editor@echo.net.au.

The letters deadline for The Echo is noon Friday. Letters longer than 200 words may be cut. The publication of letters is at the discretion of the letters editor. Please remember to include your full name, address and telephone number.

Online comments are no longer available.

Wyuna 1 freed from Belongil Beach

There's been a happy ending to the saga of Jeff Sutton's yacht Wyuna 1, which has been beached near Elements at North Belongil since early May, after being damaged in heavy weather.

Tweed keeps rate increase below rate of inflation

Tweed Shire Council says it has adopted one of the lowest rate increases in the cross-border region for 2026/27, with the average household bill rising around 3.6 per cent once all charges are counted. This is below the current annual rate of inflation of 4.2 per cent.

Pauline at the Press Club, and on Planet Gina

Last week Australia had a glimpse of what life might be like under Prime Minister Pauline Hanson, via two speeches, one in Canberra and one in Townsville.

The NT intervention laws that shape lives

This Sunday marks 19 years since the then Howard Government announced the Northern Territory Intervention laws – ‘The Intervention’ began with a media release by Mal Brough, Minister for Indigenous Affairs, on June 21, 2007.