Oh, Sharon (Sharon Kelly, Letters, March 6). As you know, we live in a democracy.
Our model is good – but not perfect. In my youth, I worked for the state government and was involved in ‘flooding six houses’.
The owners could not get to talk to me – or get a satisfactory answer from their state MP. Local government is not perfect – particularly in a non-viable council like Byron Shire, but it is ‘the best form’ of democracy in Australia. If you can’t get to talk to people in Council, go to the Ombudsman …
Most stormwater, drainage and sewerage issues are Councils’ problems, not state government problems.
Most of us know that Council has been ignoring technical recommendations for decades – just ask Alan Dickens. If councillors don’t represent ‘you’, vote ‘em out – democracy at work. Most importantly, don’t ‘go silent’.
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. 
