←Volume 35
August 5, 2020
In this Issue:
Boycott Hewlett-Packard
Gareth W R Smith, Byron Bay In 1898 Herman Hollerith invented the Hollerith punch card and sorting machine and founded IBM in Germany. This machine could process 24,000 cards per hour bringing unprecedented organisational efficiency which the Nazis exploited. The machines...
ABC funding cuts
Lyle Clarke, East Ballina J Rose, (Letters, 29 July), states that I missed the point he made about cuts to ABC funding. I think perhaps his figures must be wrong. If the funding has been increased, why would the ABC reduce its...
Informed consent and vaccinations
Nina Woods, Ocean Shores In response to Asren Pugh (Letters, 24 July) you can’t question vaccines without throwing medical sense out the window. You can question vaccines and still be discerning about the source and its scientific literacy. However, when your...
Community voice?
Greg Cooper, Lennox Head Me think it a bit rich that you decry the Murdoch influence and at the same time espouse The Echo as ‘the voice for our whole community’. As editor, and I assume the arbiter of final comment taken...
Nothing’s changed with Mullum’s gravity mains….
Alan Dickens, Brunswick Heads On 30 July, the Water, Waste & Sewer Advisory Committee will meet. The agenda contains a report from the System Planning Officer (SPO) on the remediation work that has been carried out by a contractor in Mullumbimby...
Answer: love
John Youdan, Ocean Shores Mick and Deborah Stacey believe love is the answer, (Letters, 22 July). To love and be loved is sublime. To physically and mentally abuse and express hatred to control others is bullying and evil. We are reminded that...
Tales of urbanisation in rural landscapes
A development planned for Eureka has some of the locals pretty upset at what they see as Byron Shire Council breaking their own rules to accommodate the construction of 15 ‘rural living lots’ on what is currently farmland.
Conditions made public on controversial Sunrise townhouse DA
The Land and Environment Court has rubber stamped an agreement between a developer and Byron Council regarding a controversial ‘affordable housing’ proposal, leaving residents greatly disappointed about the outcome, and the process by which it was achieved.
Investing in people will rebuild the economy
Eight hundred people were considered homeless in each of the federal government electorates of Richmond and Page, according to the census data from 2016. That was before the impact of Black Summer bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Editorial – The rewards of being uncompromised
Happy birthday, James Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987). As one of the more obscure figures who championed human rights, his activism spanned race, sexuality, and class, which contributed to major political movements of the ’60s.
How to avoid pirates and make the long journey home
To sail or to stay? That was the decision that Craig Plummer and Claudia Schick from Bangalow had to make when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and they sailed into an Indonesian port, from Thailand.
Skeletal remains
David Henry, Suffolk Park The headline on the front page of The Echo on July 22 ‘Skeletal remains not believed to be Theo Hayez’ introduces an unfortunate, if unintentional, bias. We would all like closure on the tragic story of the...
Black Lives Matter address for Byron Writers Fest
One of Australia’s most eminent Indigenous academics and advocates, Prof Marcia Langton, will deliver the Byron Writers Festival 2020 Thea Astley address.
Bruns park op licence refused over insufficient information: Council
Reflections Holiday Parks (RHP) has hit back at suggestions that its legal dispute with Byron Council over the Terrace Reserve caravan park relates to an attempt to expand the park’s boundaries.
The future of the world
John Kersten, Mullumbimby I can’t control most events in my life,/ but I can choose how I react to them./ More than any outward event,/ my focus dictates my future. The neck turns the head to view an object,/ just as your...
All you need is LOVE?
You can’t really miss it – it’s right there, in the middle of a paddock just as you approach Mullumbimby from the east: the word LOVE, displayed in enormous white capitalised letters.
Loan refusal
Mac Nicolson, Mullumbimby After 33 years as a member of Southern Cross Credit Union without a single month of debt or overdraft, I applied for, and was refused a home loan by them. Even though I owned a debt free house...
Wear masks
Dr John Langford-Smith, West Ballina With an Australian case fatality rate of 1.1 per cent for COVID-19, it is tempting to suggest that SARS-CoV-2 is not that serious, and that the actions of politicians are disproportionate to the threat the virus...
Sealing our fate
J Mitchell, Tyagarah Could Byron Shire Council (BSC) councillors clarify how $2.2 million is adequate to upgrade Grays Lane, Tyagarah and Seven Mile Head Road, Broken Head? Grays Lane runs through a vast floodplain that floods up to 1m high. How much...
Cartoon of the week – 5 August, 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.
TV chef Miguel showcases Byron Farmers Market
The effervescent Miguel Maestre, chef extraordinaire from The Living Room, recently visited Byron Farmers Market with his film crew, seeking ingredient inspiration – and he wasn’t left disappointed!
Our world has changed dramatically in the last few months…
When COVID-19 hit, Harvest in Newrybar decided to focus on what they thought was appropriate, and their strength: food.
Everything is alive and wild for Vicki Veranese
It was after doing a clay cleanse and fasting that Alive and Wild’s Vicki Veranese found herself scouring raw food porn and getting excited about a new way of ‘doing’ food, and the possibilities of making the flavour match the presentation.
Interview with Aine Tyrrell
Aines new song and the clip will be released 14 August and the launch will be celebrated with music, dance, art, visual projections and fire ceremony at the Brunswick Picture House with Áine Tyrrell and the Bunyarra Culture Collective on 21 August. Doors open 7pm.
Arts and Entertainment for the Byron Shire and beyond for the...
Arts and Entertainment for the Byron Shire and beyond for the week beginning 4 August, 2020
