Home Special Features
Special Features
Guides
NIMBY Guide
Dear resident,
This guide is aimed at providing helpful information to consider should you be facing a large-scale inappropriate development application (DA) in your neighbourhood....
Byron LGA
Byron realtor announces candidate platform
Further to last week’s announcement of council candidate groups, Gail Fuller has supplied a statement for her ticket. Ms Fuller heads an all women team and is the president of the Byron Bay chamber of commerce, a real estate agent and has been in the area for 21 years.
Local News
Lismore mayoral contenders provide drama to race
The Lismore mayoral race is providing plenty of drama, with one candidate booted from a Lismore market at the weekend, while another is refusing to attend a meet the candidates night at Nimbin because of ‘rumours’ he would be attacked by ‘ferals’.
Federal election
Major parties fail to respond to ‘war on drugs’ questions
Nimbin’s HEMP Party is urging voters in the Page and Richmond electorates to vote for The Greens in the House of Representatives after receiving no reply from the Nationals and Labor to questions related to ‘the war on drugs’.
Local News
666 apprenticeships lost in Page electorate: Saffin
The number of apprenticeships in the Page electorate has fallen by 31.5 per cent in two years, according to Federal Department of Education figures. Federal Labor candidate for Page Janelle Saffin said the drop in numbers equated to 666 apprenticeships, with the figures replicated across Australia.
Local News
New govt must address north coast youth unemployment
The next federal government must address the youth unemployment crisis in the Page electorate, which has left 21.6 per cent of young people out of work, according to the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
Ballina State Electorate
Qld Labor in government a different story
Christopher Macfarlane, Ocean Shores. I am stunned and appalled that after just 25 days in government, the Labor Party has announced a deal with coal billionaires Adani to dredge and expand the Abbot Point coal port in the Great Barrier Reef.
NSW state election
Foley’s promise to ban cable logging welcomed
Environmentalists have welcomed the announcement from NSW Labor leader Luke Foley, that if elected premier he will ensure that cable logging on extremely steep slopes will not be introduced but have lamented that the coalition plans to plough ahead with it,.
NSW state election
Nationals support for CSG is ongoing
Jeff Johnson, Independent candidate for Ballina. On the important local issues the Nationals have let the community down. Their ongoing support for coal seam gas (CSG) mining in the northern rivers proves that they no longer represent the community.
NSW state election
Rail trail ok, but corridor must be preserved
Paul Spooner, Labor candidate for Ballina. The rail trail is an excellent initiative that should benefit both locals and tourists, and I think it will be well frequented. But we shouldn’t rip up the existing train lines to make the corridor solely a bike trail.
NSW state election
For a gasfield-free region, put Nationals last
Brigid Beckett, Alstonville. As a voter in the Ballina electorate I received a flyer headed 'CSG we don't want it here'. Turning it over I was gobsmacked to see that it was promoting the Nationals, who are the party who last December renewed the license for the largest PEL in the region. It includes the area of Lismore, Kyogle, Nimbin and Woodburn and covers the water catchments of Byron Bay and Ballina.
NSW state election
Vote Green for statewide CSG ban
Tamara Smith, Greens candidate for Ballina. Last week, major mining firm AJ Lucas moved to buy coal seam gas licences in the northern rivers and other parts of NSW for $2.5 million. It's an ominous sign for our community.
NSW state election
We don’t have to spend $50m to rip up rail line
said Jeff Johnson, Independent candidate for Ballina. $50 million to rip up our rail line is unacceptable while the need for improved public transport grows.
NSW state election
Labor promises $40m high school for Pottsville
The NSW Labor opposition has made a bold pitch for support from Tweed Coast communities at the upcoming election with a pledge to build a new $40 million high school at Pottsville which for years locals have campaigned for.
NSW state election
Farmers dump manure on Nationals’ gas plan
A contingent of northern rivers farmers has delivered bags of manure to the office of Lismore MP Thomas George, and are now on their way to Nationals campaign office in Ballina.
NSW state election
Dart sells north coast CSG licence
The NSW Labor opposition’s promise to ban coal seam gas (CSG) on the northern rivers and not pay compensation to miner Metgasco for cancelling its exploration licence has riled the company’s managing director.
Byron Echo
Entertainment Roundup
A true OzRock icon and distinguished member of the ARIA Hall of Fame, Russell Morris is one of Australia’s most enduring performers, and just one of the great acts playing over the weekend in the northern rivers.
Byron Echo
The Arts & Artist In Focus
Eve Jeffery - 0
Artist In Focus
Laura Targett – mother, musician, fourth-generation artist and self-confessed ‘art-nerd’ – first exhibited in the Ocean Shores Art Expo in 2006 as...
Federal election
Election no CSG mandate
Chris Anderson, Byron Bay. Though hardly surprised to read yet another tiresome anti-Green rant by John Vaughan, his take on the facts cannot go unchallenged.
Federal election
Here & Now #20
S Sorrensen - 4
Today, I'm wearing a toga. Well, it's not really a toga. It's a sarong, which I have draped over one shoulder as well as around my waist, but I'm in a Roman frame of mind since the election, so... it's a toga.
Federal election
A better way to vote for the Senate
The Senate-voting was a bit of a shambles. Here are three ways to improve Senate-voting procedures:
1: Do not force voters to number every square...
Richmond Electorate
Coalition set to slash regional funding
Nationals leader Warren Truss has confirmed that, if elected, the coalition will abolish the $2.5 billion Regional Development Australia Fund, slashing the money available for regional development projects by almost two thirds.
Richmond Electorate
Fraser accuses ALP of ‘media control’
Nationals Richmond MP Matthew Fraser falsely accused sitting member Justine Elliot of controlling local media at last night’s Richmond candidates forum, to the disgust of many in the audience.
Federal election
Economy independent of government
Ian Macfarlane, governor of the Reserve Bank for most of the Howard years, has pointed out in his book, The Search for Stability, that...
Federal election
Coalition to win, but a late surge to minors
Tony Abbott is set for a comfortable win in Saturday's election, but his lead has been clawed back by a late shift toward the minor parties, the final pre-election Essential Research poll shows.
Richmond Electorate
Richmond candidates face off
Five of the six candidates for the seat of Richmond faced-off at the final meet-the-candidates forum at a combined Tweed business chamber breakfast at Kingscliff yesterday.
Federal election
The Phony Tony Blues
Might this be the theme song of this election?
It’s sung to the tune of Summertime Blues.
We got a dog called Phony Tony
He’s not...
Richmond Electorate
Abbott excesses unveiled
Right now we are facing the excesses of Tony Abbott and his Liberal party controlling both houses of Parliament.
Federal election
Page Candidate Profiles – 2013 Election
Labor: Janelle Saffin (age 58)
Born and bred in Ipswich, QLD, Janelle has lived in Lismore for 35 years. She left school at 13 and worked...
Richmond Electorate
Nats man profits from fast food
Letter to the Editor: Why would any sensible person vote for the Nationals’ Matthew Fraser to represent our best interests as the federal member for Richmond? Matthew makes his money from selling fast food, even as the costs of obesity-related illnesses to Australia's national health budget are skyrocketing.
Federal election
Election forum in Tweed
Get up-close and personal with the local candidates in the upcoming federal election at one of three forums in the coming week.
Local News
Stop CSG Party deal under fire
Luis Feliu
The Lismore-based leader of the Stop CSG Party has defended his fledgling party's preferencing of far-right and fringe groups in the race for...
Richmond Electorate
Meet the candidates at our forums
Echonetdaily and the Byron Shire Echo will each be sponsoring a meet-the-candidates forum in coming weeks.
The Richmond forum, sponsored by the Byron Shire Echo...
Richmond Electorate
Parties rorting the system, situation normal
David Lovejoy goes postal on the candidates’ mail chicanery
Two brochures came to my house in the post last week. They both appeared to come...
Sample online magazine
Live music roundup
Music with Pepper
Peppers Coorabell are starting up a regular Sunday Live Music Day showcasing local musicians. They will have a different musician every Sunday...
Sample online magazine
So you don’t think you can dance?
Mandy Nolan
I’ve never really got the dancing thing. I’ve never felt comfortable dancing. Especially in public. Dancing has always felt less like a voluntary...
Sample online magazine
Get Your Skates On!
Roller Derby embraces women of all sizes. According to Bay Rollers’ Emma Hand, or, as she’s known on the track, Crystal Beth, ‘everything about...
Sample online magazine
Book explores pivotal moment in Christian history
Michael McDonald
While David Lovejoy’s latest book, Heresy, is fiction, it is based in a pivotal moment in Christian history when the influence of Augustine...
Sample online magazine
Is it easier to buy drugs in Nimbin or online?
Dylan O’Donnell
We live in a modern society where I can admit that, like the president of the United States of America, I have tried and...
Byron Echo
West Byron flooding
All east coast communities are now daily regularly warned by the ABC radio/TV, by the Bureau of Meteorology, to prepare for flooding. The flooding...
Byron Echo
Odd row of lights
Just following up the letter from Sarah Smith in the August 31 issue. It was a Starlink satellite train. My webcam captured the scene.
Michael...
Articles & Columns
Trampling of the graves of the murdered: reply to Will Liley
As I read Will Liley’s response to my article in dedication to my late uncle, I recalled the poem in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel Clandestine in Chile:
Local News
Murwillumbah mega-school merger public meeting on Monday
Aslan Shand - 3
Opposition to the merger of the four Murwillumbah Schools, which includes two primary and two high schools, remains strong. Monday will see Leader of the NSW opposition MP Chris Minns and local MP Janelle Saffin joining concerned parents, students and community members at a town hall meeting in Murwillumbah on Monday at 5.30pm.
