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Byron Shire
March 28, 2024

Age pensioners where art thou now?

Latest News

Where should affordable housing go in Tweed Shire?

Should affordable and social housing in the Tweed Shire be tucked away in a few discrete corners? Perhaps it...

Other News

Byron Council staff baulk at councillors’ promise of free parking for locals

Will Byron Council deliver on its pledge to make parking permits free for locals across the Shire when paid parking comes into force in Brunswick Heads?

Breakfeast, Bluesfest weekend

Victoria Cosford Oh to be a cow with a four-chambered stomach system! Farmers’ market, Bluesfest long weekend, a spot of...

Zoom meeting

Just to clarify the report that Michael Lyon now declares ‘no’ to developing Ann St and New City Road....

Lismore Labor MP called out over native forest logging

More than five hundred people marched in the rain through Lismore to the local state member’s office in protest against government sanctioned native forest logging on Sunday.

Dynamic, rustic yet polished

Animal Ventura is the brainchild of Byron Bay-based singer-songwriter Fernando Aragones. Growing up playing punk and reggae in noisy garage bands in Southern Brazil, Aragones ventured to Australia where the eclectic sounds of the Sydney music scene beckoned.

Mayoral casting vote gets Lismore’s Affordable Housing Strategy over the line

At the recent Lismore City Council meeting former Mayor Vanessa Ekins and councillor Elly Bird moved the motion to introduce an Affordable Housing Contribution Scheme and submit it to the state government for a gateway determination. 

Among the reporting obligations for the age pensioner in Australia are to let Centrelink know when you are going overseas, even on holiday, just in case they are able to void the social contract the government made with you when you were a young lad in the 1970s and starting to pay tax, unaware that most of it would go to concentration camps for refugees on Pacific islands, and to advise them when you are sent to prison or committed to an institution.

We all know that when one is banged up at Her Majesty’s Pleasure at a cost to the taxpayer far greater than your pension the first thought is, ‘Gosh, now that I’ve slain the prom queen on that lonely road on the outskirts of town, I must notify Centrelink of my change in circumstances’, or ‘Once I’ve finished smearing faeces on this wall I must upload my 200-page analysis of why rabbits are persecuting me to my.gov.au.’

It takes special minds to write government policy that manages to skirt around reality almost entirely.
Michael McDonald, Wilsons Creek


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Making Lismore Showground accessible to everyone

The Lismore Showground isn’t just a critical local community asset that plays host to a number of major events each year, but has also been used as an evacuation centre during past natural disasters in the region. 

Iconic Lennox beach shed upgraded –  not demolished

Lennox Park and the shelter shed has now been upgraded and reopened.

Govt cost-shifting ‘erodes financially sustainable local government’

Byron Shire Council looks set to add its voice to the growing chorus calling on the state government to stop shifting responsibilities and costs onto local government.

Saddle Road group home DA decision this week

Plans to build Byron Shire’s first permanent group home for women and children in housing stress are moving ahead, with the development application for the project coming before Council this week.