Adrian Gattenhof has written kind remarks about a letter of mine. I wish to say of Adrian’s comments regarding law enforcement, and Mary Gardner’s piece on the back swamps, that these people have shown us the way forward.
Haven’t you looked at the low lands west of Byron Bay and thought, ‘Why on earth don’t we turn this back into habitat?’
Everyone who goes fishing, everyone who loves birdlife, and everyone who stands to make a buck out of tourists walking along nature trails through a huge wildlife park (plus an unspecified number of non-humans) will surely welcome such a thing. So will the state of NSW, the nation, and the earth. So that is the goal. Let us achieve it. Honestly, should it not have been done 30 years ago? Thanks to Mary Gardner for trumpeting the charge.
Mr Gattenhof has drawn our attention to the ‘Writ of Mandamus’. A writ to compel action in accordance with the law sounds handy. Overall, what is required is compulsion of governments to act, and this can indeed be done by the population. Look how mayor Smiling Simon is now seeking to delay the housing estate he was so much in favour of so recently. How about pressuring him until he changes his tune on illegal letting too? Foot on the throat and don’t let up.
But there is more. Two massively corrupt political gangs, Labor and the Coalition, have lost all credibility. Mike Baird has resorted to simple bribery to get re-elected: he will sell off our electricity infrastructure to buy votes in Sydney. Has there ever been a better time to organise and slam these gangsters?
Ultimately, as Jan Barham said, the holiday let battle requires NSW government action to be won. Now, as Dailan Pugh has pointed out, West Byron could become a glorious park or a horrific suburb at the minister’s whim. Or not.
The enemy is weak and we are strong. I can smell their fear, can’t you? A statewide rising on a simple agreed agenda: to destroy corruption and strengthen communities, to reverse population increase and cease wasting money on corrupt projects. This is our best chance. I smell more than fear. I smell their blood in the water.
Matt Hartley, Byron Bay
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. 
