Editorial
Editorial
Editorial – Quick! Tax the wich and tax them, vewy wuffly
Oxfam delivered a stark message in its current annual report, Survival of the Richest, which focuses on global wealth distribution and inequality.
Byron Echo
Editorial – Good riddance to George
The Devil pounced on Cardinal Pell last week and dragged him down to the infernal level prepared for him by his own actions.
Editorial
Editorial: Democratic circus coming
With the NSW election looming on March 25, there will no doubt soon be a government bonanza of promises to impress, you, the good-looking and articulate voter, into thinking that this or that party will govern with your interests at heart.
Editorial
Editorial – 2022 in the Echo rearview mirror
Herewith is a brief summary of 2022, as seen through the Echo lens. Given the constrained space, only a few topics can make it in.
Byron Echo
Editorial – Lessons from 2022
As 2022 comes to a close, there’s a lot to unpack from a year in which the region experienced its worst flood and landslips in living memory.
Byron Echo
Editorial: Quick, someone else grab the policy lever
With 2022 wrapping up, there will hopefully be some much-needed time for everyone to pause and reflect on the year, and to take time out to do what’s most important – spending time with friends and family.
Byron Echo
Editorial: Ambitious targets to be ignored again?
The sense of déjà vu is overwhelming. An international conference to tackle the already known causes of the ecological disaster unfolding around us.
Editorial
Editorial – Labor does a better job of being less terrible
Federal Labor had a cracking week of reform, something that even the last prime minister (Liberal) admitted was their thing.
Editorial
Editorial – Wokie dokey
Last Thursday’s Council meeting was an example of when a good idea gets kiboshed because the people proposing the idea are considered crazy conspiracy theorists.
Editorial
Editorial – Getting recovery right
Aslan Shand - 2
The recognition of loss and damage at COP27 is a cause for celebration by those countries, especially developing countries, already experiencing the impacts of climate change.
Editorial
Editorial: Building flood resilience
Aslan Shand - 3
Resilience is a word bandied about a lot these days. From fires to floods we are being told to build ‘resilient communities’, but it is not just the human aspect that needs resilience. It is also the infrastructure.
Editorial
Lex Luthor buys Daily Planet
After acquiring Twitter for $44B, the world’s richest individual is now trolling its users, and removing people’s accounts he doesn’t like.
Byron Echo
Editorial – Don ya toga and let’s start this party!
The wheels of commerce and governance, indistinguishable as they perhaps always have been, again cranked into gear at the local level last Thursday.
Editorial
Editorial – Council’s top brass seeks renewed contract based on secret review
Council’s general manger, Mark Arnold, is seeking to renew his contract from July 1, 2023, presumably for another five years.
Byron Echo
Editorial – Where’s the drug reform?
While the rest of the planet seems to understand that cannabis is a healing magical plant, as well as a superior fibre for clothing and building materials, it’s as if most of those who inhabit NSW parliament have no clue. Or even care.
Byron Echo
Editorial – Everything seemed to be going just dandy before the asteroid hit
We survived the awful fires, then a terrible global pandemic, then some dreadful floods.
Byron Echo
Editorial – Labor believes in transparency, but…
Phew. Last week, federal Labor introduced legislation into parliament that would hopefully stiffen the spines across the Commonwealth public sector.
Byron Echo
Editorial – Break out the bubbly for Budget Estimates
Budget Estimates is truly one of the most revealing and best educational services that the NSW government offers. MPs from the opposition grill ministers and agency bosses without mercy, for hours.
Byron Echo
Editorial – Secret governments are untrustworthy
The small amount of information that Resilience NSW supplied a resident regarding their GIPA request was wrong
Byron Echo
Editorial – Just quietly, Govcorp is doing very, very well, at your expense
Gosh, the one per cent are having a field day, aren’t they?
Byron Echo
Editorial – Secret meeting held over poor governance
Councillors, like all politicians, are in the unenviable position of trying to represent the interests of two parties that are often in conflict with each other.
Editorial
Gerontocracy rules, okay?
The American president displays the unmistakable signs of old age. He shows a frailty in his movements, and a tendency to forget names.
Byron Echo
Editorial – Proselytising the demise of democracy
According to most political commentary last week, the reason for the former prime minister casually screwing up parliamentary democracy is to be found in his overweening, narcissistic nature.
Editorial
Editorial – Will the NSW government act on disasters, or just manage them?
The Select Committee on the response to Major Flooding across NSW in 2022, headed by chair Walt Secord (Labor) painted a picture of unprepared agencies, such as Resilience NSW, and documented a lack of planning.
Editorial
Editorial – Bye bye, Prince St froggies
It’s worth pausing to reflect on the mass frogacide that just happened on Prince Street, Mullum, which was led by unquestioning Byron Shire councillors and Resilience NSW.
Byron Echo
Editorial – It was the best of happy times…
The start of the new federal Labor age saw advances in one short week that the previous government had failed to achieve in nine years.
Byron Echo
Editorial – A colourful catalogue of contradictions
Either it’s a nefarious blueprint for ‘Agenda 21’, where governments cede to unelected global bureaucrats pushing for depopulation and ‘The Great Reset’, or it’s an obligatory document to guide north coast councils (and developers) over the next 20 years.
Byron Echo
Editorial – Emergency wedges!
Things are looking like they are about to get a bit messy, with Council and the NSW government dipping metaphorical political wedges into big pots of sour cream and tomato sauce, paid for by us, the taxpayer.
Editorial
Editorial – Protect our whistleblowers
Aslan Shand - 2
It can be hard to know when to be a ‘dobber’. But there are times when the actions of others require us to take a stand.
Byron Echo
Editorial – Here’s a tiny violin
There are a few times when a tiny violin is required to be taken out of its small instrument case to sooth the sounds of the monied class.
Byron Echo
Editorial – Byron Council report card
Did you know it’s been six months since councillors were elected? They have another two years to go, and while a usual term is a gruelling four years, this time, it’s shorter, owing to a disrupting bat virus.
Editorial
Editorial – Which Byron Council services could see an increase?
ICYMI, Council staff have crafted a draft budget, and it’s on exhibition! If it’s approved, without any tinkering by our well informed and good looking councillor majority, it will see waste removal rates raised by around 17 per cent.
Editorial
Reasons to be cheerful
After nine long years of being led by the least among us, Australia’s future feels optimistic. Thanks, Western Australia, you were instrumental in booting those numpties out!
Editorial
Editorial – E-con-oh-my
If there’s one thing that the LNP lays claim to, above all else, it is the assertion that they are the better managers of the economy. But what does this bold claim actually mean?
Editorial
Editorial – Community must drive housing
Aslan Shand - 2
It is easy to have a knee-jerk reaction to the need for housing on the Northern Rivers at the cost of both the environment and the amenity of the region.
Editorial
Gotcha! Distracted ya!
Albert Einstein warned in 1949 that the time would come when the very rich controlled the means of communication, it would be almost impossible for ordinary people to make informed decisions. And then, democracy would be broken.
Byron Echo
Editorial – Govern me, harder!
Here’s an idea for the rainbow region – Council’s ominously named ‘Community Enforcement’ police style paddy wagons could be painted in rainbow colours and instead say something like ‘Keeping Our Community Safe’.
Byron Echo
Editorial: opportunity for renewal
One issue from all this flooding that is not getting much attention is the presumably high levels of toxicity flowing in the creeks and rivers.
Political Comment
Food prices are up, and so is…
I was shocked to see the cost of local bread I buy in Mullumbimby had risen 40 per cent. That particular loaf is becoming a luxury item.
Byron Echo
Abouchar honoured with Order of Australia
Paul Bibby - 0
The new head of the Byron Community College (BCC), Chantal Abouchar, has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her contributions to business and the media.
Byron Echo
Appeal for flag stolen from Bruns
Paul Bibby - 0
The two Aboriginal flags that fly high over the Brunswick River Bridge on Invasion Day have become a potent symbol of survival and solidarity for many in the Shire.
Byron Echo
TELSTRA – The end of the line?
I live in a valley that was ravaged by flood last year. Telegraph poles were swept out of the ground by landslides and many...
