I am proud to be running as Labor’s mayoral candidate for Byron Shire, with a great team that comes from every part of our community. Our local Labor branch has been in Byron Bay for 100 years. We know this place, we love this place and will (and do) fight hard for this place.
Ian Cohen, Paul Jones and the Greens Party have again resorted to tired old tropes about the Labor party when, after 18 years of Greens Party mayors, our local Council still has 68 per cent of its financial investments in fossil fuels. This is a total failure of responsible governance. Labor-led Councils in the Inner West and Newcastle have led the way in actually divesting from fossil fuels.
It is too easy to criticise, it is easy to just say ‘no’, it is easy to protest. It is harder to govern effectively. It is harder to do the real work of coming up with solutions to difficult problems. It is harder to bring together people from different backgrounds and opinions and forge a consensus.
This hard work is what our Labor team will bring to the table. We must grasp our future is in our hands, or else others will make decisions for us. Whining from the sidelines will not achieve what our community needs.
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. 
