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Byron Shire
March 28, 2024

Not so Fast Mr Buck$

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A few weeks ago, I wrote in to ask Mr Buck$ to clarify whether the rental accommodation he controls is compliant and offers his tenants the expected level of safety and security. Based on his regular column in last week’s Echonetdaily, I’m guessing the answer is no!

So, this presumably reveals that while Mr Buck$self-proclaimed ‘people’s champion’ and mayoral candidate – requires every other ‘authority figure’ to abide by his painstaking approach to compliance and behaviour, he fails that same test when it comes to his own conduct. Not a great look for a prospective mayor is it, Mr Buck$?

I love living herejust love it. However, despite living in paradise, what a miserable bunch of whingers we must appear to be to the outside world. Byron Shire must look to be a very awkward place, with noisy clamouring from cafe socialists looking to repel visitors, discipline Israel or solve world issues, through to unsympathetic developers trying to turn Byron into the Gold Coast, with everything in between being the council’s fault. So many letters to Echonetdaily give the clear impression that ‘the world will end’ unless the potholes in Helen Street are fixed.

The upshot of all this hot air is that Byron is slipping ever closer to being ungovernable. My personal hope is that Byron does continue to retain that special feel and doesn’t succumb to overdevelopment but, in the meantime, we have to find a way of managing ourselves as a community and to avoid the self-serving disharmony fostered by Mr Buck$ and his ilk. One of my major gripes with the public discourse here is the notion of selective compliance with Council regulations. I have often seen the Echo support this notion, the mayor did so last week and it is Mr Buck$’s expressed position. It goes like this (and prepare to be patronised) – ‘we’ve been here a long time, we’re university educated, socially aware, self-professed greenies and we know better than anyone else what is best for Byron’. Well guys, you may make a lot of noise and say politically correct things at all times but you’re contributing to an unholy mess for a group so prescient and wise!

How can anyone here take a mayoral candidate seriously when his election manifesto appears to be that rural people (read Mr Buck$) should be able to do whatever they please, in terms of compliant conduct (unless you are new here, want to start a business or develop anything or are not connected to the cafe set that always knows best), until the state government fixes affordable housing in Byron (how transparent is this bloke!) I’m assuming that Mayor Buck$ would assemble a group of like-minded sages who will dispense great wisdom from Mullum and advise us all whether we are on the list of ‘special’ residents who need not comply with Council policy. Why does anyone take this bloke seriously and, more importantly, why would anyone vote for him?

Ian Gow
New Brighton


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1 COMMENT

  1. Well said Ian. Since arriving here over 5 years ago, I have read his continued bleatings about council persecution and at the end of the day as a rate payer, the question remains, are the structures approved and do they meet council standards. Fast$ has been very adept at creating the largest smoke screen in history (who needs geoengineering when fast bucks can cool the planet with his smoke), whilst continuing to collect rent on his properties (I am assuming he does not allow people to inhabit his land for no Bucks). I do not believe for one minute he is the people’s champion of any kind, despite himself and others putting him onto a pedestal. Notwithstanding this, I do believe that councils should approve rural properties for additional habitable dwellings, if it can be shown that those are 100% compliant regarding safety for occupants and meet the required environmental standards (septics etc.) Doing this would not create over development and would meet the needs of a great many people at various levels (affordable accommodation due to additional stock, additional income source for owners and tax for the government, maybe even more rates for the council) Win Win.

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Carrying and passing the torch

If I say the words ‘US Forces give the nod’, I can pretty much guarantee that you will hear the unmistakable voice of Peter Garrett ringing in your ears. Your head may even start to bob up and down a bit.