Matthew O’Reilly, Greens candidate 2021
Both Basil Cameron and Cate Coorey have done a terrific job on Byron Council as progressive councillors unaligned with any political party.
I was really pleased to see in Basil’s letter (10 March) that he has not disagreed with the substance of my letters and comments over the last couple of months. The only issues he raises relate to historical accuracy.
He was right in drawing attention to the many non-Greens progressives who have contributed to Byron Shire over the years, but for clarification, no-one in the Byron Greens has ever claimed a majority on Byron Council despite this often being misrepresented.
He is, however, wrong about the Byron Greens being at war. We naturally have policy disagreements but one of the great things about the Byron Greens is that our members get together regularly and discuss those issues like mature adults. Our breadth of views is similar to that of the diverse community we represent.
If my only comments that needed correcting are about the green credentials of past councillors then it is clear that Basil and the New Byron Greens team are in agreement on a very large number of issues.
In my past letter I bemoaned the loss of organisational and historical memory from Council. Basil is a clear exception to that.
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. 
