The Echo (March 29) contains a strange contradiction in its uncritical support for local Greens representative, Tamara Smith, and its scepticism of the nascent ALP government in NSW with regard to funding local road upgrades.
The article reads positively for both the Greens and the Ballina electorate. Any notion of Smith struggling to deliver results is absent, along with the issue of roads. Yet beside this article is another, highlighting 200 road projects without funding in Byron Shire. Instead of noting the apparent ineffectiveness of the Greens in delivering for the local area, and failing to secure this funding after eight years, the article questions whether Labor will commit.
We need to hold our local politicians to account and not gloss over these issues if we want effective representation.
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. 
