←Volume 35
October 28, 2020
In this Issue:
Byron’s new resilience team
A group of locals committed to regeneration and resilience to disasters and crises in Byron Shire has announced its volunteer leadership team. Resilient Byron welcomes geographic group co-leaders, Melanie Bloor and Dr Claire McLisky. They join Seb Berry, Matt...
Northern Rivers infrastructure boost
Richard White, East Ballina Wonderful news that the NSW Upper House has passed, without amendments, the legislation to keep the rail corridor in public hands and allow the development of a community pathway. Anyone who has walked or ridden on the new,...
Ardern’s amazing
Nev Kelly, Ballina Every now and then great moments in history occur. One such event just happened in New Zealand, where Jacinda Ardern’s Labour government was re-elected with a record-breaking majority. Well done Jacinda Ardern, her compassionate and efficient handlings of...
Rail trail exasperation
Dave Lisle, Goonengerry A wave of exasperation impels me to scribble this note. Over the years, your articles, whether opinion pieces or so-called reportage, have consistently opposed the idea of a rail trail. They’re always strongly slanted towards ‘returning’ trains to...
Postal extravagance
Vince Kean, Murwillumbah It is nice to see the PM actually show some passion about something… anything. He has emerged from behind his hail fellow well met veil to attack the Post Office about its normal (in the business world) approach...
Tim Shanasy, Byron Bay
Rail Trail gets the GO! Whilst our derelict rail corridor gives a massive sigh of relief after 16 years of disuse, because a growing section of our community has fought to see it be truly loved again, the dissenters and...
Car free delight
Robin Harrison, Binna Burra I can't begin to tell you how much I would like to see a rail trail. I ride an electric bike and our roads are not designed for bikes. Having a car-free transport corridor running through the...
Regional areas missing out on rail
Beth Shelley, Booerie Creek Last week the NSW parliament passed a Bill to close sections of the Casino to Murwillumbah railway line for a rail trail, which is a huge loss to the Northern Rivers. We have been consistently told, for years,...
Editorial – Clinging onto biodiversity
In case anyone missed the memo, there’s almost no housing, let alone affordable housing, available in Byron Shire.
Mullum’s gateway opens
The burying of a time capsule was part of a full day of celebrations for the official opening of the Mullum Gateway on Saturday.
Byron brands invest in climate positive projects
Founders of three well known Byron Bay brands have launched a new environmental initiative to produce carbon neutral products, with the principal purpose of investing in climate positive projects.
Politics in the Pub presents activist Ellen Brown, Nov 3
Public banking and the destructive privatised banking cartels will be discussed, over beers, at the upcoming Politics in the Pub event, to be held at the Courthouse Pub on November 3 from 7pm.
Unanswered questions, poor process surrounds contentious DA
Council planner, Chris Larkin, is yet to reply to whether he will assess ‘assertions’ made by Greens mayoral hopeful and water engineer, Duncan Dey at a recent council meeting.
Bang for your buck
Keith Duncan, Pimlico Well I’ll be, ‘Our Glad’ up to her eyeballs in a sex and corruption scandal. No reasonable person would criticise Gladys for being in a personal relationship, but for a public figure to keep a relationship with a...
Future development of Mullumbimby edges along Council’s conveyor belt
An anticipated report into flood impacts around Mullumbimby will be tabled at the upcoming October 29 meeting of the Byron Shire Floodplain Risk Management Committee.
Run, bubble, run
J Rose, Mullumbimby Wonderful revelation in the news several nights ago. I was lifted out of my ignorance about the anatomy of bubbles! The newsreader told me that the trans-Tasman travel bubble was ‘up and running’. Or, was that actually a revelation about...
My conspiracy with Abbie Hoffman
Our covid days have pushed the limits of what we’ll watch on Netflix. Maybe you caught the series on the Chicago conspiracy trial of 1969, starring Yippie defendant Abbie Hoffman? This story is about my conspiracy with Abbie...
West Byron – wetland or suburb?
Turning the West Byron housing development site into a wetland for excess effluent from the Byron Bay Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) is a possible solution to its increased output, says Greens MP Tamara Smith and Byron Shire councillor Cate Coorey.
Byron Councillors object to govt’s ‘koala killing’ Bill
In an urgency motion passed unanimously at last Thursday’s Byron Shire Council meeting, all councillors noted their ‘strong objection’ to the Local Land Services Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2020, which allows for large-scale clearing of bushland by farmers and industry.
Gnomes of Ewingsdale interchange
Malcolm Price, Main Arm There is a cave below the Ewingsdale traffic interchange where gnomes are preparing a spaghetti of roads, Escheresque circles to permanently park slow moving cars coming off the freeway. In the 1890s depression our government built the North...
Priorities for Mullum
Len Bates, Mullumbimby We are all looking forward to the Talking Street Project in the main street of Mullumbimby. However, there are two really important projects that are needed in conjunction with this. The first project is the urgent need for...
Eroding Byron
Dailan Pugh, Byron Bay How can it be that 42 years after the problem was identified that there can be a panic when the coastal dunes start eroding at Clarkes Beach? We are in a mess with coastal erosion, despite a 1978...
Gold Coast coming
Matt Hartley, Byron Bay There has been a lot of talk about ‘The Greens’ political party bringing the Gold Coast into Byron Bay, Brunswick Heads, and Mullumbimby. The takeover of the creekfront of Belongil Estuary and transition of that waterway into...
Cartoon of the week – 28 October, 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.
Interview with Monsieur Diop
Over the last six weeks, Dashboard Animals have given life to an empty space in the Ocean Village car park with their pop-up InSideOut Lightbox (beside Target). The latest collaboration is a full sensory immersion with Monsieur Diop, with multi-channel video projection and cameras, art installation and a live outside street-space.
