Asren Pugh, Labor candidate for Mayor
Labor has a very long and proud history as part of the Byron Shire community with the Byron Bay branch recently celebrating its 100th anniversary. We have seen this community change from farming, to working class industrial, then through the Aquarius revolution to the beautiful, kind and progressive community it is today.
It was Labor that created all of our local National Parks and Nature Reserves, from Tyagarah to Cumbebin Swamp to Arakwal National Park.
Sandra Heilpern asks what Labor has to do with local government.
It has been Labor councillor, Paul Spooner, who has driven the Community Land Trust model to help housing affordability and the need to use some of our rail corridor for emergency small housing. It is Labor councillor, Jan Hackett, who has championed the arts and the protection of our beaches while on Council. Right now there are more Labor councillors on Byron Shire Council than Greens members.
We need a Council that works, that better engages with and is responsive to the community. We need to be taken seriously by state and federal governments so that we can get our fair share of infrastructure funding for roads, parks and paths.
Our community is under enormous pressure from tourism and housing stress. It is time to start actually doing things. Let’s get Labor’s plan for a Community Land Trust happening on lot 22 and the Mullum hospital site. Let’s build the bike and walking paths within and between our towns. Let’s reform Council so that it starts delivering and working for us as a community.
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. 
