←Volume 34
April 15, 2020
In this Issue:
Time for Resilience
As COVID-19 quarantining continues in our neighbourhoods, there are also new relationships forming.
Mercy dash
Charles MacFarland, Ewingsdale I’m really pleased to see that Mandy Nolan has gone back to writing humorous articles for The Echo. I think humour is where her true talents lie. In her latest article, she mentions that she drove all the way...
Pell and the High Court of Australia
Jim Beatson, Byron Bay Who does one believe; Australia’s High Court judges or perhaps Australia’s greatest investigative journalist, Sarah Ferguson? Justices of the High Court are appointed by the Governor-General in Council on the advice of the Commonwealth Attorney-General and the Federal...
Where food growers and lovers can connect
There’s a new space where local growers and food lovers can connect to share, trade and sell their produce.
Masking
Sarah Smith, Eltham The only time I wore a mask out publicly (to buy essential food) was when my daughter had whooping cough (the incubation period can be extensive). I couldn’t have lived with myself if I‘d passed it on to...
UBI to COVID
Hayo van der Woude, Mullumbimby Now is the time to give Universal Basic Income (UBI) the grandest practical trial ever. I suggest it be done in Tasmania, without any prospect of Federal participation. It is surely the most promising tool of...
Editorial – This is not COVID-19 related
While a virus sweeps across the planet and through humanity, this Thursday in the Mullum chambers you will find a dedicated bunch of Council staff and elected councillors thrashing over contentious local planning issues. In varying degrees of abilities.
Home schooling in a DV environment
One of the biggest threats facing children during the COVID-19 pandemic is not the virus itself, but the risks of living in a highly stressed and unstable hom
Planning staff support questionable Main Arm DA
Council’s planning process is under the spotlight after staff again recommended approval of a contentious dual occupancy development application (DA) in a high fire danger area in Main Arm.
Priorities?
Mick Stacey, Ballina Whilst I acknowledge these are difficult times for any government, I am astounded at the lack of intelligence from both federal and State governments. Where in the world these days can you disembark from a cruise ship and enter...
Give us a new story – what are your ideas?
One virus to rule them all, one virus to find them, one virus to bring them all, and in the darkness, bind them.
The matter of Pell
Fast Buck$, Coorabell On the two occasions I appeared before the High Court I didn’t bother with lawyers: I represented myself. On both occasions there were many other appellants and on both occasions there were only two judges present – which...
Oh God!
Vyvyan Stott, Mullumbimby Drought, fire, flood, plague, martial law… Are you ready to repent yet? Or would you prefer more suffering? Have a second helping, there’s plenty. Much or most pestilence begins in inland China, where the inhabitants eat swine flesh,...
A reality check
Keith Duncan, Pimlico In the dying days of 2019 we thought that the way that year had transpired we were glad to see the end of it. Climate change was taking hold, unleashing the worst drought on record with thousands of...
Medical cannabis clinic opens in Byron
In 2016, the federal Narcotic Drugs Amendment Act 1967 was amended to allow doctors to legally prescribe medical cannabis to patients with specific health conditions through the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Special Access Scheme.
‘Fast-track’ development laws announced
Could controversial development projects such as the West Byron housing proposal be fast-tracked under new laws introduced by the state government to boost the construction industry?
Commercial tenants thrown a lifeline
Owing to COVID-19, a new code between commercial tenants and their landlords has been announced by the NSW and federal government. The code will be retrospectively applied to April 3.
No slight on Cr Coorey
Cr Michael Lyon, The Pocket In response to Roger Seccombe's letter, fair point, I could have been more circumspect with my comments last week. It has been pointed out to me that the community protests against the seniors development adjacent to...
Plastic reuse
Bronwyn Sindel, Mullumbimby Having read Malakai Smith’s letter (1 April) I would like to suggest a reuse for what is intended as a single use plastic. When the Byron Shire News is delivered to my front gate, I remove the paper...
Scientific faith
Christopher Wright, Byron Bay I find it bizarre that we have accepted, almost without question, the scientific opinion and rigour which supports the near universal acknowledgement of the threat currently posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, only 43 per cent of the...
Cartoon of the week – April 15, 2020
We love to receive letters, but not every letter will be published; the publication of letters is at the discretion of the online and print letters editors.
Entertainment in the Byron Shire for the week beginning April 14,...
Entertainment in the Byron Shire for the week beginning April 14, 2020
Your Gourmet food donations
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the need for social distancing became clear, it became very clear to Leela Brett, from Your Gourmet, that there would be many people in Byron Shire who would be hurt...
Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox: Beyond Belief
The world has always been adversarial – to conspire in the interests of world domination would suggest a kind of unity that governments, and the rest of us, have never shared. Perhaps we are being run by the lizard-people overlords after all!
Thus Spake Mungo: the snapback
Having shrugged off the minor and temporary distraction of parliament, Scott Morrison can resume doing what he is best at – marketing himself and his often-dubious achievements.
