19.9 C
Byron Shire
April 18, 2026
Home Comment Editorial

Editorial

Editorial

Balancing safety and individual rights

Aslan Shand - 0
ASIO (the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) plays a key role in keeping all Australians safe in a troubled world. But, according to their governments,...
Read more
Editorial

Approving the uninsurable

Aslan Shand - 0
Speaking at the Northern Rivers NSW Business Economic Breakfast recently, Alan Kohler AM noted that the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has questioned the...
Read more
Editorial

Change comes from connection and hope

Aslan Shand - 0
On Monday night, it was standing room only at the Top Pub in Mullumbimby as the community came together to hear the top-five short...
Read more
Editorial

Electrify and tax gas profits

Aslan Shand - 0
While Trump may deny climate change and be pushing for greater fossil fuel extraction, the result of his actions of attacking Iran with Israel, without consulting the UN or any other countries he has since called on for help, is that he is creating the conditions for Australia to take decisive action on electrification, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and the call for greater tax on gas corporations.
Read more
Editorial

Marching to save our future

Aslan Shand - 0
This Sunday is the national March in March for Forests day where thousands of people come together across Australia to demand an end to...
Read more
Editorial

Drip, drip, drip

Hans Lovejoy - 0
With the US and Israel’s war on Iran unlikely to end soon, Australia’s lack of fuel security is worth a closer look.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial: Stop landbanking our homes

Aslan Shand - 0
The NSW government keeps harping on about the length development applications (DAs) take to be processed by councils, and recently it announced it is removing the DA approval process from councils’ hands
Read more
Editorial

Driving our own path forward

Aslan Shand - 0
Whether you agree with the community members who are listened to or not, it’s a powerful vote of confidence in democracy when community voices are heard, and policy is changed, even at the local government level.
Read more
Editorial

All creatures great and small

Aslan Shand - 0
The lack of a place to live because of the pressure on land, droughts, fires, and floods, are all increasing as a result of the impacts of climate change and continue to affect lives, and the future, yet the NSW state government still refuses to take decisive action.
Read more
Editorial

Prime public and affordable housing site languishes

Aslan Shand - 0
The community is becoming frustrated as Byron Shire councillors call repeatedly for affordable housing while they allow the old Mullumbimby Hospital site to languish with no tangible public, social, or affordable housing plan or development of the site.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – Australia at the table or on the menu?

Aslan Shand - 0
It is time for the Australian government to take a clear and firm stand for justice, equality and moral independence from the current US administration, as the US spirals further into chaos both internally and on the world stage.
Read more
Editorial

Being the spark of positive change

Aslan Shand - 0
A few days ago one of my kids asked me how long I thought it would be before the next world war broke out.
Read more
Editorial

Inspired by Brazen Hussies

Aslan Shand - 0
I sat down with my kids and watched Brazen Hussies recently.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – Oil is back, baby!

Hans Lovejoy - 0
Which country is next? Quagmires ahoy! Yabbering about his next move is what the 79-year-old US reality TV president loves.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – Let’s unpack that court loss for Council (and Mullum residents)

Hans Lovejoy - 0
Mullumbimby residents fought hard for a better outcome than what was proposed by developer Callum Sked on low lying land near the showgrounds. As has...
Read more
Editorial

Community expression vital to democracy

Aslan Shand - 0
Protest and gathering together are ways for people to create unity, to highlight what they see as important, when they see a problem, when the government of the day is not living up to the expectations of its citizens, and when a system is failing and should be strengthened.
Read more
Editorial

Reflections on Bondi attack

David Heilpern - 0
I for one am reeling. I am overwhelmed with sorrow and grief for the murdered and their families, friends, and communities.
Read more
Editorial

Gender-based violence an ‘every day’ issue

Aslan Shand - 0
The alleged domestic violence murder of Ashleigh Grice in September 2025 brought hundreds of people together to grieve and to question how this could have happened in our community. Yet it is happening every day.
Read more
Editorial

Make life safer for women

Aslan Shand - 0
I was once told that I was ‘too feminist’. My response? ‘Yes, I am. And so are my sons’.
Read more
Editorial

Drop bear etiquette made simple

Aslan Shand - 0
I remember a teacher once describing how you eat peas with manners – I’m afraid to say it wasn’t a lesson I took too seriously and to this day I could not tell you the correct etiquette for eating a pea or two politely.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – Drug policy failing youth

Aslan Shand - 0
Most young people I know smoke vapes. They start there and then often end up smoking cigarettes as well. They are not buying cigarettes for $50 to $80 a packet from your official distributor; they are picking them up illegally and cheaply.
Read more
Editorial

Drug policy needs reason, courage

Aslan Shand - 0
The NSW Minns Labor government has failed in its response to the NSW Drug Summit 2024 report, delivered 3 April, 2025. It is a weak response to the overwhelming scientific evidence that the best approach, to both drug use and drug abuse, is to make them both health issues outside the criminal justice system.
Read more
Editorial

Online and lonely

Aslan Shand - 0
As the Australian government seeks to limit access to social media for under 16s, we might be pushing them further into isolation. 
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – World hits first tipping point

Aslan Shand - 0
As politicians in Australia, and around the world, continue to push back against climate change action we have reached our first climate change tipping point.
Read more
Local News

Making the best of our lives

Aslan Shand - 0
We all create a framework or prism in which we live our lives. That framework is made up of social expectations, family expectations, and personal expectations as well as the legal and work frameworks we are part of.
Read more
Editorial

Before we become fossils

Aslan Shand - 0
While Trump was ranting at the UN General Assembly last week, telling countries they were ‘going to hell’, others were leading the way, with Colombia and Vanuatu announcing the First International Conference for the Phase-Out of Fossil Fuels in 2026.
Read more
Editorial

When morality beats science 

Aslan Shand - 0
It was Easter 2024 when Queensland introduced its first festival drug-testing accompanied by the opening of two fixed-address drug testing units located in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – Dial before you dig

Hans Lovejoy - 2
So discovering a sewer main underneath a major ‘affordable housing’ development in Mullumbimby – after five years of planning – is was what it took for Council staff to conclude it was an inappropriate site.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – Help the drop bears now

Aslan Shand - 11
Koalas may look cute and cuddly – but really, they’re not. But they are facing extinction in NSW by 2050, particularly as a result of habitat destruction, and they do need our help to ensure they don’t die out.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – The right tools for change

Aslan Shand - 6
There is no doubt that there are challenges ahead in order for Australia and the world to meet net zero emissions and keep the world to a 1.5 degree rise in the average global temperature compared to pre-indistrial levels.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – The cost of climate change

Aslan Shand - 3
Over the weekend we saw the cancellation of the Byron Writers Festival owing to another significant rain event on the NSW east coast.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – Worth taking seriously

Aslan Shand - 8
A hundred thousand people turned up on a bridge in Sydney to let their government know they wanted a better result, but local government planning matters are often only complained about when they’re built.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – Earth first, then let’s strip mine the other planets later

Hans Lovejoy - 1
Like most modern human endeavours, they originate in pulp science fiction. The idea of deep-sea mining (DSM), for example, dates back to Jules Verne’s 1870 classic, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – Academic freedumbs under threat

Hans Lovejoy - 5
Academic freedom is the lifeblood of universities – a principle that ensures scholars and students can pursue knowledge, challenge orthodoxy, and engage in open debate without fear of censorship or reprisal.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – ‘One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain’ – Bob Marley

Hans Lovejoy - 1
There’s an old gag about being a musician:  what’s the difference between a musician and a pizza?
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – Welcome to Mullumbimby!

Hans Lovejoy - 7
It’s on – NSW government-run development corporation Landcom has lodged its development application for 28 tightly-packed ‘affordable’ units and commercial space, which would replace a very busy Mullumbimby carpark at the town’s entrance.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – Localisation and the media’s role

Hans Lovejoy - 0
World Localisation Day is being celebrated through the month of June.
Read more
Editorial

Fascism and journalism don’t mix

Hans Lovejoy - 11
Attacks on journalists – whether by military forces in conflict zones or by law enforcement during civil unrest – pose a grave threat to freedom of speech and the health of democracy.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – Are you at a loose end?

Hans Lovejoy - 0
Woahhh the grinding rubber wheels of progress will once again touch Byron’s potholed roads as councillors and staff meet this Thursday in their never-ending live streamed reality show called ‘local governance’.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – What would you do with $32?

The Echo - 3
If you are on the minimum wage, then get ready to celebrate with the extra $32 per week the Fair Work Commission has just awarded you.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – Resonating voice of the week

Hans Lovejoy - 1
In a world of disinformation overload, it’s sometimes hard to find sane voices that resonate. Scott Galloway, a wealthy American entrepreneur and academic, is one of those voices.
Read more
Editorial

Editorial – Fewer voices is our loss

Hans Lovejoy - 0
Two well-known Byron Shire identities are moving, and say that the reason is in part from constant harassment for speaking publicly of their views around the genocide in Gaza.
Read more
Byron Echo

Vegan leather

Dr Desmond Bellamy - 0
Media outlets have been receiving press releases lately spreading an outdated picture of vegan leather. The facts are simple: animal skins are among the most polluting...
Read more
Local News

NSW anti-protest laws struck down by court

The Echo - 0
The NSW Court of Appeal has struck down Labor Premier Chris Minns’ post-Bondi anti-protest laws, says Greens MP, Solicitor and spokesperson for Justice Sue Higginson.
Read more
Local News

Tweed Local Woman of the Year announced

The Echo - 0
Support for New Mums founder Deborah Hunt is the 2026 Tweed Local Woman of the Year, Member for Tweed Geoff Provest (Nationals) said today.
Read more
Local News

Weekly local police wrap for 8-15 April

The Echo - 0
Local police say that over the past week (8-15 April 2026), 66 people were charged with a total of 84 criminal offences.
Read more

Support Us

Become one of the supporters who helps keep independent, local journalism alive in the Byron Shire by contributing anything from as little as the cost of a coffee each month.

You're Wonderful, Thank you for supporting independent journalism in the Byron Shire