Sue Arnold Co ordinator Australians for Animals Inc, Ocean Shores.
Given the extraordinary statements by Mat Morris quoted in relation to the Land & Environment Court’s refusal to grant permanency consent to Parklands to hold festivals for 50,000 patrons, serious questions are raised.
Morris claims that ‘Parklands paid Council $150,000 towards the new roundabout adjacent to the Yelgun interchange.’ Really? How come the commonwealth government lists the grant made for the roundabout under its black spot program as $300,000? There’s no mention of extra funds being paid to Council? In essence, we have taxpayer funds being used to provide Parklands with a facility to direct traffic to festivals. I wonder how many taxpayers would support this? Will Council provide the evidence of $150,000 being paid by Parklands over and above the commonwealth grant?
Then Morris states that ‘Parklands will be guided by what the planning law requirements are as it has always done since the original application.’ He must have amnesia about the significant numbers of breaches; the appalling problems with noise; the impacts on Billinudgel Nature Reserve; the traffic fiasco of the last Splendour; the damage to the infrastructure of the shire (which ratepayers are now being asked to cover to support the l.5 million tourist numbers now invading Byron).
And further: ‘the application for permanency may ultimately be determined by the State government’. How does that work Mat? What kind of influence does Parklands have with the Baird government that would permit the government to trump planning legislation to satisfy the demands of a festival corporation? This statement smacks of questionable and very concerning political influence which is incompatible with democracy.
Does Parklands seriously think that they have the power to dictate what happens in this shire? That they can bully council, the government and the community into accepting what festival owners decree?
The decision by council recently to appoint Ray Darney, former planning director deeply involved in approvals for Parklands as a representative of the community at Parklands should be of concern to all residents and ratepayers. There is no record of how councillors voted, and no indication how many applications were received.
Given Matt Morris’s apparent powers to dictate what happens in Byron Shire in relation to Parklands, mayor Richardson needs to let the community know if Parklands was given access to the applications prior to the vote. As a so-called ‘Green’, perhaps Richardson needs to remember his party’s platform of social justice and insist on a rescission motion so that real community representatives can be elected.
Otherwise, any final decision on Parklands which will be necessary when the five-year trial ends cannot be described as independent. The vote for Darney is a breach of the Code of Ethics for NSW Councils. Not a happy start for a new council.
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. 
