Thanks to The Echo for reporting on page 2 last week, the vote 5/3 of Council to approve modification of a motel approval in Lawson Street. The original approval allowed the building to exceed the area’s height limit, but it can now go...
Well chalk up another monumental policy failure by the rapidly decomposing Morrison government. This time the hollow man has managed to insult one of Australia’s longest serving allies, with his jingoistic nonsense. The brutal diplomatic snub with the sudden...
While sitting at my worktable here in beautiful Mullumbimby I could hear children, probably four or five year olds, playing and singing and I thought ‘Oh, you poor little buggers, growing up in this world’. What with horrendous climate...
This pro-developer vote to approve the breach of building height limits in Byron Bay was by Labor and Michael Lyon. Please do not vote for either in December. Lyon has voted pro-developer on the current Council and will not stand...
What a powerful acronym for a formidable alliance. But shouldn’t it be in order of primacy with the junior member last? USUKA. If we buy into this war-mongering against our major trading partner, that’s the USA’s message to us, ‘you...
I’ve been reflecting lately, on when Australia pulled together during the bushfires of the Black Summer 2019–20. People listened to the experts, most didn’t look stuff up on the internet and profess to know more than the RFS. There...
Dr Helen Caldicott’s sage perspective on Australia’s nuclear-powered subs (22 September) was a searing reality check of how democracies can suffer from the insanity of the industrial-military, neo-liberal, white, patriarchal, theological, capitalist complex of ideologies, algorithms, and worldviews. As eminent...
Great letters from Robin Harrison, Hannah Grace and Gareth Smith on PM Scott Shyster’s war-mongering regime. He’s taken us across the event horizon into the terminal gravity of the Death Star. The awkward acronym clumsily disguises the hierarchy of...
The ongoing saga of the bullying push by developers to raise development heights in the CBD highlights that it ‘pays to be pushy’. This is how crony politics works. However, the law of consequences always reveals the genesis of...
Society works, so get on board. Stop the bullshit, here are the real facts. Society works – there are only two police on duty in Mullum, Bruns and Ocean Shores at any one time. We don’t need the police on...
In his letter (22 September) Bill Ashford states incorrectly that the AstraZeneca vaccine has an effectiveness of only 64 per cent. In a real life study in England of 156,930 adults aged 70 and over published recently in the...
I was dismayed to read that councillors have again approved what must be another fateful decision on the future of this town as a congenial place to live. It seems to me that you either have rules and regulations, or...
What happened to Mandy Nolans’ column? It used to be outrageously funny and I’d be rolling on the floor laughing. Now (when I don’t flick past it) it’s just bad puns full of scorn. She’s either taking the piss...
Who’s been naughty? Who caused Byron Shire to go into lockdown? We hear about the naughty film crew member who visited non-essential venues on her visit to Byron Bay. She didn’t comply with her permit conditions. Yes, naughty. What permit?...
Coorabell artist Lindy Lee is about to create a huge sculpture for the National Gallery of Australia. The piece, Ouroboros, is her first immersive public sculpture.
A local teacher, who cannot be named owing to onerous laws that prevent NSW government workers from speaking publicly, has raised their concerns over the looming November 8 deadline by the NSW government requiring all education and care workers to be vaccinated.
Locals could be forgiven for scoffing at the idea of a cashed-up property developer asking for fee relief from Byron Council to help boost his profit margin.
On Monday, cartoonist Michael Leunig became the latest victim of cancel culture.
An accident on the Orana Rd roundabout at Ocean Shores last Friday quickly turned into a manhunt after a fugitive crashed a stolen car into another.
Dr Tim Devine makes several impassioned statements in his letter (September 8) about COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccinating children. I am certain that his arguments are well intended and heartfelt. But they contain substantial inaccuracies. He is writing with the...
I was saddened to hear of the passing of Local Elder, Auntie Dulcie Nicholls, (nee Kay). As Deputy Mayor of Byron Shire Council and Chair of the Arakwal MoU Committee, I’d like to extend my deepest sympathies to her...
I’ve heard a lot of criticism (even hostility) over the years from people disdainful of ‘the mainstream’ and, in particular, mainstream medicine. People who routinely complain about ‘the system’ in general, or any public service. Yet I wonder how such...
Living in a biodiversity hotspot brings with it great joy for humans with opportunities to experience connection with nature. I love frogs, they are beautiful creatures, and living with green tree frogs in our environment is a delight. So hearing...
Lack of vaccines is responsible for low vaccination rate, not vaccine hesitancy. The impending lifting of the Sydney lockdown threatens people's health in the Northern Rivers and may lead to the region’s hospital capacity being overrun.
Overseas and interstate STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) teachers will be the target of a new campaign to boost teacher numbers in NSW public schools.
