13.2 C
Byron Shire
August 29, 2026

Country women are standing up for the land

Latest News

How can we keep paying for incompetence

The only way forward is going backwards. That’s how I explain the current situation of Byron Shire Council. The...

Other News

When will the madness stop?

I attended the Byron Council meeting last week where I was astounded to listen to Jason Dunn, Byron property...

Monster rich

For a while we visited Northern Rivers until one year we felt and saw the changes. The rich elsewhere...

Who decides Byron’s future?

A recent Four Corners program provided a harrowing insight into new state planning legislation made in consultation with developers....

Cameras rolling on Ballina crime fight

A $1 million CCTV network targeting crime hotspots and major roads in Ballina and Lennox Head is finally moving into the installation phase, following years of calls for greater surveillance across the shire.

Mullum CWA celebrates 100 years

The Mullumbimby Country Women’s Association has played a pivotal role in the local community for the last 100 years.

Bangalow community rallying for the Bowlo

A major town rally for Bangalow is planned for Saturday, 19 September at 2pm as the next phase of action to have the Bowlo reopened and back in community hands.

The Country Women’s Association of WA has raised its hand to protest against fracking. Photo supplied.
The Country Women’s Association of WA has raised its hand to protest against fracking. Photo supplied.

The second state Country Women’s Association has raised its hand to protect the future of the land and rural communities.

The Federal National Party needs to end its blind support for the gas fracking industry and listen to its constituents according to Lock the Gate, after a second state branch of the Country Women’s Association, this time in Western Australia, passed a motion supporting a ban today.

The motion agreed by the WA conference was that: ‘CWA of WA (Inc) request the Government of Western Australia to enact legislation to ban unconventional onshore gas mining and exploration processes to access gas trapped in tight sand and shale in Western Australia.’

This follows a similar motion passed by the NSW Country Women’s Association earlier this year.

‘The divide between the National Party and its constituents on unconventional gas and fracking grows wider every day, and this motion by the CWA today should trigger an urgent re-think by the party,’ said Carmel Flint, spokesperson for Lock the Gate Alliance.

‘The Federal Government has been doing everything it can to overturn state controls on invasive gasfields but this motion reveals yet again that by doing so they are ignoring rural voters.

‘Rural communities are determined to protect land and water resources from gas mining and they will never accept moves by the Federal Government to overturn state-based bans or to use GST funds as a form of blackmail to enforce fracking,’ she said.

 



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.

If you are a local business owner help us and in turn we help you. All The Echo asks for is advertising, not a free ride. It is every advert in The Echo and on www.echo.net.au, which creates the space for all the stories and coverage of community events, happenings and concerns.

If you are a reader you can become a sponsor of The Echo. Your support keeps the us independent.

Even a small one-off or regular donation from you will help keep the echo’s independent voice alive and strong.

Support Us

Become one of the supporters who helps keep independent, local journalism alive in the Byron Shire by contributing anything from as little as the cost of a coffee each month.

You're Wonderful, Thank you for supporting independent journalism in the Byron Shire

You’re supporting The Echo, thank you

Your contribution is keeping independent, local journalism alive in the Northern Rivers.

Because of supporters like you, we can keep every story free for everyone — no paywall, no exceptions. Your money goes directly to funding our newsroom of 40-odd local workers covering the stories that matter to this community.

Tell us what you think, give us your opinion

The Echo loves your letters and comments and is proud to provide a community forum on the issues that matter most to our readers and the people of the NSW north coast. So don’t be a passive reader, email us your epistles at editor@echo.net.au.

The letters deadline for The Echo is noon Friday. Letters longer than 200 words may be cut. The publication of letters is at the discretion of the letters editor. Please remember to include your full name, address and telephone number.

Online comments are no longer available.

Greens urged to back pathway to end native forest logging

Some of NSW’s most respected and long-standing forest campaigners and scientists have today urged the Greens not to support the Nationals' attempt to disallow the Improved Native Forest Management (INFM) method.

Ballina Council makes decision on Ross Lane

With the absence of all four of its progressive councillors for various reasons, Ballina Council pushed ahead with its agenda at yesterday's monthly meeting, including a decision which is likely to close Ross Lane for months while the road is upgraded.

Mullumbimby puts new governance models first, and now wants to build it

Imagine Northern Rivers says Mullumbimby is the only community across the region to rank new models of governance and decision-making as the number one element of its preferred future, and last week locals gathered to work out how to make it real.

Appeal to locate man missing from Broadwater

Police are appealing for public assistance to help locate a local missing man.