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Byron Shire
March 18, 2024

Nature under threat

Latest News

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'.

Other News

What’s happening with the Alstonville showgrounds?

A war of words has erupted between Ballina councillors over an unauthorised development at Alstonville Showgrounds, consisting of a series of steel cattle pens close to neighbouring houses.

NSW bans offshore mining and exploration for gas and oil

The NSW Labor government has now banned offshore mining and exploration for gas and oil in NSW waters. NSW...

Time to tape up

Could I suggest that all flood-affected residents in Mullumbimby turn up to the Byron Council chambers by 8.30am for...

Time for change

National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) and Byron Shire Council (BSC) have agreed to close Tyagarah clothing-optional area on...

Don’t want to show us your muff? Make a merkin instead

The call to 'Show us your muff!' might be a bit much for some people, as a way of raising money for homeless women as part of the Darling Muffs Of May campaign – but that doesn’t mean you can’t get involved.

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).

Nature in Byron Bay is about to tip one way or the other. Many long-term structural changes are being pushed all at once: West Byron development, Ewingsdale, Baywood Chase, the Suffolk quarry site. I listen to many alarmed residents, informed and engaged, desperately dealing with each issue separately. The nature of residents is also under great stress.

To my mind, all these proposals turn on one fundamental choice: how do we live with nature? We surely can overwhelm the unique way nature is in Byron Bay.

Instead, how about we stand up for the freedom of our own beleaguered wild animals and places? To safeguard wild places and wild ways, we need a proactive growth plan for wildlife and coastal habitats, from Ewingsdale to Suffolk, through the twin catchments of Byron Bay. This plan includes water-sensitive designs to handle stormwater and flooding, too.

Emergency actions! 1. Insist councillors act according to the green vote that was won at the last election. Rescind new subdivisions and write in co-habitation with wildlife. Ring the councillors! (www.byron.nsw.gov.au/councillors). 2. Ring Mike Baird: no state plans for local development, no to West Byron and the rest. (02) 8574 5000

Enough of this death by a thousand cuts. Let’s plan for a renaissance of wildlife, on land and in sea. Let’s redevelop ‘development’. Pass the message along: Rewild Byron Bay.

Mary Gardner, Byron Bay


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