Is Jacqui Lambie resigning from PUP akin to Rose resigning from the Greens?
Well, no. Clive Palmer formed PUP as a political party opposed to Tony Abbott’s more extreme views, while Ms Lambie’s election campaign emphasised she shared that position and well before the election made it clear she would oppose pay cuts being imposed on Australia’s armed forces and health spending. It is Clive who is moving away from his party’s philosophy.
Rose in her advertising said her knowledge of developers as a real estate agent made her afraid of ‘developers who see our gorgeous area and its culture as just a fabulous commercial opportunity to cash in on’, and stressed her loyalty to the Greens, Simon Richardson and ‘environmental sustainability’. Rose now leads the charge in bringing Ewingsdale Rd traffic to Main Beach, voting against Mayor Richardson and providing developers with their ‘opportunity’.
The contrast is marked, but the impact is different. Rose has no mandate, Jacqui has a limited one.
Even more curious. Rose never bothered to reply to the Byron Echo’s legendary co-founder, David Lovejoy, in his Echo editorial headed ‘Please Resign’ who concluded: ‘The extent of the damage [to Byron Bay] caused by Cr Wanchap’s defection is hard to overestimate’.
Linda Wills, Suffolk Park
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. 
