Local government elections are scheduled for 14 September 2024 and ‘Team Cadwallader’ of Ballina Shire Council have scored an own goal in promoting a report on the health of the Richmond River by Dr Matt Landos (Echo, 5 June, 2023). Have they been drinking from the purple pipe (recycled water)?
Dr Landos did not hold back in pages 56 to 60 of his report (available at https://ipen.org/documents/pristine-polluted), where he explained that the river cannot recover because our governments prioritise development and economic growth over the environment. He suggested on page 63 that real change would require ‘a societal shift in how humanity views the natural world’.
Ballina Shire Council has a poor record on protecting the environment. In particular, the incumbent Council voted to abolish environmental zones (‘deferred matters’) on 28 September 2023. Councillors Cadwallader, Bruem, Buchanan, Ramsey and Johnston voted for that motion, which passed with the casting vote of the mayor. Those same councillors voted to promote the report by Dr Landos on 23 May 2024, except that Councillor Buchanan was absent.
The motion by Councillor Bruem to promote the report by Dr Landos appeared to pass the buck to state and federal governments in stating that ‘many of the approaches to improve catchment health… are areas of state and federal government responsibility’. He may have ignored the fact most of the Richmond River estuary is within the Ballina Shire, where those habitats have been severely degraded. Dr Landos noted on page 57 of his report that ‘around the township of Ballina development of urban and industrial areas through in-filling of former wetland areas is continuing’.
Dr Landos made it clear on pages 58 and 59 of his report that ‘words alone do not deliver aquatic ecosystem protection’. Come September, those in Ballina Shire who want a healthy river are reminded to vote carefully.
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. 
