←Volume 34
June 3, 2020
In this Issue:
Go natural
Gabi Giacomin, Ocean Shores I was delighted to receive a letter from Greens MP, Tamara Smith, today reminding people to exercise, spend time in nature, take time away from devices, and care for their mental health. It’s very similar to what...
Fools and fanatics
John Scrivener, Main Arm Lucas Wright (Letters, 13 May) made a number of excellent points that I agree with wholeheartedly. Lucas doesn’t come across as incurious or opposed to questioning authority, so I’m puzzled by his reaction to my observation that...
Shark detection
David Gilet, Byron Bay Some time ago when there were a number of shark attacks in the Ballina and Byron area I wrote to The Echo suggesting that buoys, equipped with radar, could be installed along beaches. The radar could then...
Editorial – Galactic Imperial Empire dumps regional print
All Echo employees empathise with local News Corp employees who face an uncertain future.
Caring, a sackable offence?
Mimi Bekhechi, PETA Shock, horror: a bureaucrat who worked at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s (DFAT) Agricultural Development and Food Security section follows the social media pages of animal protection groups! Dr Julie Delforce – a senior sector specialist...
Byron Council’s residential building approvals set to be highest since 2001
Byron Shire Council looks set to exceed last year’s residential building approvals, with 169 approvals given in the July–March period of the financial year so far.
Fast Buck$ on the Greens
Fast Buck$, Coorabell Further to my advertisement in last week’s Echo I can confirm that Sarah Ndiaye did take advantage of the Greens’ affirmative action policy to jump a place for the election ballot, even though the guy she jumped, Matthew...
Fartbuck$
Cr Sarah Ndiaye, Mullumbimby Thank you to those within the Greens who supported me in the recent pre-selection, and congratulations to Duncan Dey on his win. Affirmative action is a cornerstone principle of the Greens party. It helped us to see Jan...
Time to act for all the people
Early afternoon on the 14 May, 2020 means this is a changing tide. The moon is in the last quarter. It is weeks into the pandemic lockdown, months since the last wildfire and drought here, and years into climate change.
Mullum’s Million March, June 5
A march for ‘freewill and rejecting all forms of tyranny’ is planned Friday June 5 from 3.30pm in Mullumbimby
News Corp scraps print for paid online subs
From June 29, nearly 100 regional newspapers, owned by US citizen and multi-billionaire Rupert Murdoch, will cease print operations.
Bay of Mush
Raphael Lee Cass, Byron Bay Yay! The plastic bags containing mashed up paper are no longer to pollute our roads, paths and ultimately the Bay. The real-estate-and-tired-re-hashed-news from the Byron Shire News is finished. I feel sorry for the staff if...
Snap-back
Neil Matterson, Byron Bay The government preferred ‘snap-back’ has started its jarring journey into Byron Bay. For a month and a bit, the lawn area at Main Beach was in pristine condition, both in its verdancy and lack of rubbish. The...
Barrio is back!
It’s like spring – restaurants are opening their doors like flowers blooming in a garden. And patrons are in for a treat when they venture into the post-lockdown Byron Bay. Why not come down for a sunset aperitif at...
The secret to Success Thai is community
Goy and Kan Kingkaew have literally come full circle in the community they have come to call home. Both born in Thailand, Goy was a secretary and Kan was a building contractor in Bangkok. It was the newlywed Kan who...
Develop, develop, develop?
Hilarie Dunn, Eureka What is the Byron Shire Council (BSC) doing to Eureka? The peaceful rural location near Federal is at risk of becoming a development nightmare with a development application (DA) currently before Council that seeks to replace a large...
Stacked to kill
Meg Pickup, Ballina The unveiling of the Australian government’s long-awaited Technology Investment Roadmap for reducing Australia’s carbon emissions over the next 30 years confirms it as a work of fantasy. What would you expect when the committee is stacked with people...
Microchip babies
John Jennings, Numinbah Seventy years ago I could walk down to a red box on a street corner, pop a penny into the box, dial a number and speak to an actual human being. These days I must first spend a week’s...
Cartoon of the week – 3 June, 2020
Letters to the editor 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. The deadline for the Byron Echo newspaper is noon Friday and letters longer...
Entertainment in the Byron Shire for the week beginning 2 June,...
Entertainment in the Byron Shire for the week beginning 2 June, 2020
Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox: Universal Wage
What is the point of democracy if it means being thrown under the bus? The people are not there to serve the economy. The economy is there to serve the people… and I don’t mean as a dish in the capitalist kitchen.
