The letters from Tony Christy and Kate Smorty savagely castigating Justine Elliott for ‘doing nothing’ and ‘failing to organise or attend protests’ in the Feros Care issue were at best ludicrous and at worst, disingenuous, highly insulting, and indicative of Greens involvement.
All of the great people who assisted the remaining residents to finally win a great outcome deserve all the praise they can get, but all the supporting visits, photo ops for wannabee Green MPs and protests in the world mean nothing, unless someone actually in government makes it happen.
It was always a state government issue because the Feros Care facility is on Crown land, and in response to feedback from residents and the community, NSW Labor Minister for Lands and Property Steve Kamper instructed Crown Lands to conduct an Expression Of Interest process to invite potential operators of the Feros Village facility to be considered for a long-term lease at the Marvell Street site.
Justine Elliott, Labor member for Richmond and Minister for Women’s Protection; and Rose Jackson, NSW Labor Minister for the North Coast, along with great support from the Byron Council, were instrumental in securing St Andrews in Ballina as the new care provider; to deploy experienced staff to commence operations at the Byron site quickly, maintain the existing 40 residential aged care beds at the site, invest an initial amount of $3 million to refurbish facilities and to provide comfortable and functional accommodation and ensure compliance with aged accommodation standards.
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. 
