←Volume 35
November 25, 2020
In this Issue:
Young people rewiring the world
It is all about perspective, and Rewire Youth Mag that features opinions, art, and ideas of the youth of the Northern Rivers is being launched next week.
Human gene therapy?
Theo Engelaer, Mullumbimby I recently perused the World Health Organisation (WHO) website and I found a complete and up-to-date overview of all pharmaceutical companies and the ‘vaccines’ in the race. From these you can deduce that they are largely not...
Forest moratorium
Chibo Mertineit, Lillian Rock A big thank you to all the people writing and ringing the, so called, ‘our’ politicians to vote against the koala killer bill. How stupid (they might never have read it), or corrupt must someone be to vote...
Groovy Byron mayor
Fast Buck$, Coorabell Council has graciously agreed to permit me to attend meetings in person again. So I went along to last Thursday’s ‘planning meeting’ to address items that were on the agenda, even though they had nothing to do with...
How resilient indeed!
P (Sadie) Taylor, Billinudgel As an essential worker in the Shire over the last decade the impact of our current rental crisis is impacting this ‘resilient industry’ too. Who is left to clean up after the wealthy, and not so wealthy,...
Ministers avoid accountability
Michele Grant, Ocean Shores The Echo’s Backlash (8/11) suggests ‘the cruel and incompetent Alan Tudge MP’ will probably avoid accountability for the Robodebt fiasco. The program to aggressively pursue ‘debts’ from welfare recipients ‘rorting’ the system was instigated by Scott Morrison...
Slaughtering ourselves out of a future
Think of the mighty North American Buffalo Nation! Once, the peoples numbered in tens of millions and the herbivores some 60 million. The herds ranged from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Northwest.
Beach Byron Bay open for biz, despite erosion
The owner of Beach Byron Bay cafe and restaurant, that has been affected by coastal erosion on Clarkes Beach, says his business is well and truly open, and he believes a long-term solution can be found to ensure it stays that way.
Councillor pushes for Shire-wide traffic focus
Cr Alan Hunter will present a motion at this Thursday’s meeting for a ‘requirement to have all Council traffic and movement related committees adopt a policy to have one minute per kilometre average inter-village journey travel time in the Shire as a part of an overall vision’.
Editorial – Koala Konscience
Is governance, in NSW in particular, about representing your constituents, or is it about following the party line?
Confused
Alan Dickens, Brunswick Heads I read Mr Pont's blueprint for the Belongil recovery. It's great in theory! Mr Pont should realise by now that constructed wetlands must be maintained which Byron Shire Council’s (BSC) Water & Recycling (W&R) department has shown a lack...
All about choices
Keith Duncan, Pimlico It has been drawn to my attention that my profoundly written opinion pieces over the years have again drawn a response from the predictably whinging right. It’s always immensely gratifying to know that the effort one puts in...
Dehumanised nation?
Mike Balson, Upper Wilsons Creek Around one in a hundred Australians are psychopaths. That means 250,000 of us. Psychopaths make great soldiers because they can kill without trauma or remorse. They are disproportionally attracted to life in the military, especially mercenary...
They stab it with their steely knives but they just can’t...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have won the US Presidential election by over six million votes. Unlike preceding Democratic vote winners Al Gore and Hillary Clinton, they also won the Electoral College vote.
Council staff to proceed with ‘error’ in zoning label debacle
Bound by nature reserves and a Marine National Park, Linnaeus Estate has been the focus of many court challenges and community activism over the years.
Frontier art takes Ocean Shores to a new level of immersion
First we had silent movies that had live music played as the soundtrack. Then came the talkies! That’s right, the ones where the characters spoke. But now the genre is reinventing itself again in Ocean Shores, New Brighton, and South Golden Beach as live cinema.
NAIDOC Week
Paul Brecht, Evans Head To celebrate NAIDOC Week; I am honoured to know First Nation brothers and sisters and to be living on Wirudjuri Country.
Do you want beaches or rock walls?
Dailan Pugh, Byron Bay It never ceases to amaze me how many people remain in denial about climate heating and the effects it is having on sea levels and thus coastal erosion. The CSIRO’s recently released ‘State of the Climate 2020’ once...
So, so QUIET!
Matt Hartley, Byron Bay Another night with the tourists next door. They were very considerate after arriving home at 11:45pm on a weeknight. I know that because they told me loudly how considerate they were, and how quiet they were...
Old white men
Julia Collingwood, Uki I agree with Mandy Nolan’s gripe about Old White Men (Soapbox, 19 November). I want to know – where are the Margaret Thatchers of today? If you are white, over 70 and a male, off to a re-education...
BVHS bouquet
Michael McDonald, Bairnsdale VIC Congratulations to the Brunswick Valley Historical Society for making history itself. The Society produced a fine four-part series of films, meticulously edited and directed by local filmmaker Sharon Shostak, on the arrival of the ‘new settlers’ in...
West Byron court case
Tom Vidal, Byron Bay I have been listening to the ongoing court proceedings Council v Site R&D (part of the West Byron DA) of the Land and Environment Court. I noticed that the developer’s traffic expert opines that there won’t be a...
Cartoon of the week – 25 November, 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 William Crighton
The Change is Coming... William Crighton’s latest release My Country speaks to environmental degradation in the pursuit of profit. It’s a subject close to his heart. Crighton is the kind of man with dust on his boots, and in his heart. ‘I...
Interview with Nardi Simpson
Join Byron Writers Festival for an evening with Nardi Simpson; Yuwaalaraay writer and founding member of Indigenous folk duo Stiff Gins, when she speaks about her debut novel Song of the Crocodile with Bundjalung writer, editor and Byron Writers Festival board member Grace Lucas-Pennington, on Tuesday at the Mullumbimby Civic Hall.
