Jan Barham, Broken Head
Broken Head is precious but fragile.
Again, it’s under threat and it’s urgent to act now. This time it’s an ecotourism proposal at the Linnaeus Estate, which doubles the human impact.
The application detail doesn’t match the hype. It’s just not good enough for this significant site. Byron deserves better and Broken Head deserves much better! Decades of activism have protected its values and it’s time again to act to protect against commercialisation.
There’s 100 hectares in the nature reserve; once privately owned, but community advocacy secured its protection. We knew then and we know now, caution must be applied to biodiversity, if we stuff it up, extinction is next.
I agree with former Mayor, Simon Richardson, when he said in December 2014, ‘Byron is the third most bio-diverse region in Australia, and Broken Head is our jewel in the crown. If ever a precautionary principle should apply it is in Broken Head.’
The Linnaeus site was protected since 1990 by a restrictive zone for education, until 2017 when it was secretly changed to allow tourism. The community didn’t know, so we couldn’t oppose it, but we are now. It has an approved education facility and that’s enough. Please help, act now, do a submission.
You can make a submission at: [email protected] quoting the DA 10.2021.170.1. The deadline is 19 May.
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. 
