There’s a simple reason Byron’s hinterland continues to be overlooked – we no longer have anyone elected to directly represent it.
Unlike Ballina Shire Council, which retains a ward system ensuring all three wards of that Shire have three dedicated elected councillors, Byron Shire Council operates as one undivided electorate.
Every councillor is elected by the whole Shire. That might sound democratic, but in practice it concentrates influence where the votes are – along the coast and main towns. Our villages end up without a real voice.
Byron abandoned its ward system in 2004, and with it lost something important: clear geographic accountability.
Since then, no councillor is directly responsible for hinterland communities like Coorabell, Goonengerry, Eureka or Federal.
Councillors are voted in based on political factions.
The result is visible on the ground. While coastal and main town issues dominate debate and the fight for limited funding, our hinterland roads and facilities – relied on daily by locals, workers and tourists – continue to deteriorate.
Poor surfaces, minimal line marking, guideposts, safety signage and dangerous night-time conditions are not new problems.
They are known, ongoing safety risks.
In a ward-based council, councillors are elected to fight for our villages. In Byron, no one is. Mayor Ndiaye recently told us in a TIAC meeting ‘the hinterland roads are not that bad…’
Until that structural gap is acknowledged, our hinterland will remain – quite literally – off the map.
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. 
