Challenges are still being faced by the Suffolk Park community following the divide between supporters and detractors of the roundabout and traffic lights to deal with traffic woes at the Clifford Street intersection.
A new Suffolk Park Progress Association (SPPA) management committee was elected in November 2025 with the intention of healing the community rifts.
It was described as a ‘re-energised community group in Suffolk Park [that] is calling for improved road safety, as Byron Shire Council seeks public input on how to spend an estimated $80 million in developer infrastructure contributions in the next 15- 20 years,’ in The Echo in early March 2026.
There have now been six resignations from that new nine-member committee with the final four resigning as a group on 18 March.
Current SPPA President Kelly Minahan told The Echo that five new members have now joined the committee saying the previous members struggled with the significant workload the committee had to manage.
‘Within 24 hours [of their resignation] we had five members step into their shoes,’ he told The Echo.
He has since confirmed that three new members had ‘already been inducted at previous quorate meetings’ and that ‘more applications have been received since and all will be appraised and voted on by all current committee members in accordance with the constitution and the Invorporated (sic) Associations Act.
‘Our divided committee is now united and building on the momentum forged by this president’s founding committee,’ he said.
Call to publish resignation letter
While former committee members have acknowledged that there was significant material to process, they told The Echo that the key issue that led to their resignation was the speed that matters were being pushed through the committee, which ultimately meant the committee was unable to give due consideration and time to matters.
‘In the interest of community cohesion following division over traffic lights, I agreed to serve on the SPPA committee,’ former committee member Lynne Richardson told The Echo.
‘I did my best to support it, along with the president, for as long as I could. Unfortunately, whilst appreciating the enormous volume of work undertaken by him and the secretary, in my opinion the duty of the committee, to act with due care and diligence, was not being performed due to overload. Committee members’ concerns about style of governance, raised repeatedly, were not being heeded,’ said Ms Richardson.
Resigning members have asked that the current SPPA publish their letter of resignation to members so that members and the community are clear as to why they resigned. However, Mr Minahan has declined telling The Echo that ‘the committee has met and determined that the resignation correspondence is not a public document, and we are respecting that as part of our governance and privacy obligations’.
Community transparency
‘In my experience, the SPPA’s interests are best served by transparency,’ said Ms Richardson. ‘The reasons for multiple resignations need to be disclosed to the membership as it is in the public interest. My view is that what has been happening needs to be understood, and collectively addressed before moving forward.’
Her view has been supported by former committee member Dr Ray Moynihan, who’s previously chaired international scientific committees, spent a year as a Harkness Fellow at Harvard University, and five years as a researcher and producer at ABC’s Four Corners.
‘We think the people of Suffolk, and the wider Shire, have a right to know why the majority of the SPPA committee resigned on 18 March,’ he told The Echo.
‘And that’s why we respectfully repeat our request to the president to release our resignation letter. We resigned in part because of concerns about what we believed was too much haste in decision-making. The ultimate aim here is a community with social cohesion and compassion, balancing improved amenity with strong environmental protection. Genuinely listening to each other, and rigorously and meticulously working through complex issues in face-to-face committee meetings is, in my view, how best to achieve that aim.’
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