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Byron Shire
June 10, 2026

Latest News

Mono wins in Hawaii and Japan

Australian adaptive surfing champion Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart has once again celebrated success on the international stage. Mono claimed victory at...

Other News

Push to slow traffic outside Coorabell Hall

The campaign to slow traffic on the short stretch of Coolamon Scenic Drive outside Coorabell Hall is gradually gathering momentum, with Byron Council supporting a lower speed limit despite advice the road may not meet state criteria.

Lennox development

The proposed Saltwood development at Ross Lane raises serious concerns for local residents. You cannot engineer away local knowledge. Residents with...

Northern Rivers philanthropic org reveals 2025 achievements

Not-for-profit philanthropic organisation,  Northern Rivers Community Foundation (NRCF), have released their annual report for 2025, revealing $2.4m was raised, and 121 projects funded across the region.

Kayakers rescued after being stranded on offshore rock near Byron Bay

Volunteers from Marine Rescue Brunswick battled darkness and deteriorating conditions overnight to save three men stranded on Cocked Hat Rock, part of the Three Sisters south of Byron Bay.

Threatened species protection in NSW overhauled

A "new, holistic approach to threatened species conservation" has been introduced by the NSW Labor government, reforming the Saving our Species program.

Invisible elderly women

The 2026 Federal Budget has sent a clear, heartbreaking message to the senior women of the Tweed: you are...

June 25, 2025

Byron Shire Echo issue 40.03 – June 25, 2025

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Jump to:
Local News | North Coast News | Byron Writers Festival | Comment | Letters | Articles | Sport | Good Taste | The Good Life | Byron Arts & Industry Estate | Soapbox | Crossword | Stars | Making Spaces | Seven Entertainment | Gig Guide | Cinema | Classifieds | Community at Work | Service Directory | Echo Property | Property Business Directory | Backlash

In this Issue:

Big names and big issues explored at writers festival

This year’s Byron Writers Festival is a star-studded celebration of national icons and local legends gathered under the festival theme Passion & Purpose.

Media workshop on offer for creatives

Arts Northern Rivers will present a free one-and-a-half hour interactive online workshop designed to equip participants with practical public relations and media strategies.

Book fair returns for July 11–14

Are you a reader? Love books? Friends of Libraries are once again holding their annual secondhand book fair at the Byron Bay Surf Club from July 11 to 14.

Planning minister backs Council’s plans for large Mullumbimby carpark redevelopment  ...

An e-petition asking the government to explore options other than plans for a three-storey mixed residential and commercial shops on a public carpark at Mullumbimby’s entrance has recieved a response from NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully (Labor).

Mullum Roots Festival tickets selling fast

Mullum’s newest music festival is just days away, which will see more than 40 acts fill local venues including the Civic Hall, Ex-Services Club, Courthouse Hotel and the Bowlo. The Mullum Roots Festival will run July 12 and 13.

It’s a new community piano!

To celebrate the year of the piano and the new ABC iview series The Piano, the ABC and Piano Plus Australia have delivered up to 20 pre-loved pianos donated by organisations and ordinary people to towns across the country.

Solstice marked by Cape Byron students

Cape Byron Rudolf Steiner School students, parents and teachers gathered on the eve of the winter solstice, last Friday to shine a light into the darkest night of the year.

Editorial – Localisation and the media’s role

World Localisation Day is being celebrated through the month of June.

Death & Dying Expo June 28

Building on the success of last year’s event, a free Death & Dying Expo is again planned for Saturday, June 28, to be held at the Mullumbimby Civic Memorial Hall.

Byron’s Special Entertainment Precinct – comments sought

Plans for a Special Entertainment Precinct (SEP) in Byron’s CBD are moving closer, with Byron Shire Council inviting the public to make comments around how it will be developed.

Peace not hate

In response to the letter in The Echo from Carl Cleves (4 June): ‘The truth’ that I am referring to re Israel coming second in Eurovision is that the bulk of people of the world clearly do not have...

End of impunity

Israel’s reliance on violence to the exclusion of all reason, enhanced by contempt for international law and the rights of others, emboldened by decades of impunity, has led to this. Israel’s illegal unprovoked aggression against Iran has now paved the...

Conspiracy

Ken Clarke’s article, ‘Flourishing conspiracy theories’ (Echo, 18 June) appeared to echo establishment talking points. In recent years, many views once dismissed as conspiracies – such as mass surveillance, the Covid lab-leak theory, vaccine risks, and overreach during lockdowns –...

Love Lennox! But do we love Airbnb?

Like thousands of others, I happily wandered the packed streets of Lennox a couple of Saturdays back, during the Love Lennox festival. But does Lennox Head really want to get into bed with Airbnb?

A lifeline for the endangered orangutans

It’s a long way from Sumatra to Mullumbimby, but Panut Hadisiswoyo has made the trip five times, all in the name of saving the Sumatran orangutang and to do what he needs to protect and nourish their habitat: the rainforest.

Mullum’s 2022 flood levels released within mapping tool 

Mullumbimby Residents Association and Mullumbimby’s Community Resilience Group, ‘Our Neighbourhood’, congratulated Byron Shire Council for this week releasing much-needed 2022 flood data.

‘Best development ever’ says developer as residents outline objections to botched...

An online hearing last week by consent authority, the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP), heard that multiple issues remained around a large greenfield proposal near the busy intersection of Mullumbimby Road and McAuleys Lane, located halfway between Mullum and Uncle Toms.

Trump’s ‘New World Order’

The residents of Northern NSW are amongst the sickest and most anxiety-ridden people in Australia judging by the number of healers and counsellors they are supporting. So I feel it incumbent upon me to help in some small way....

What mandate?

Has anyone else noticed? Whenever Albanese is before the microphone and speaking in public, he has two words that he uses more often than any others – the words are ‘my government’. Surely someone should educate him about democracy and...

Craig’s unwavering passion for the ocean and his surf club

Born and bred in Byron Bay, President of the Brunswick Surf Life Saving Club (SLSC), Craig Reid, has spent his entire life by the ocean and he couldn’t love it more.

Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox: Oil, War and Old Men

I feel afraid. And I’m not a person who feels afraid of much. The world is at war, and our leaders are either too stupid, too addicted to power, and too coerced into silence or complicity to speak up.

Round and round the roundabout

Byron Shire Council is currently building a roundabout on Bayshore Drive to service the shopping centre and TAFE. Currently, travelling from Ewingsdale Road, to get to Bay Fair shops, people have to drive across the TAFE grass, head north...

Country Witches

Last night I had the privilege of watching the last show of the Country Witches Association which is the collaboration between Mandy Nolan and Áine Tyrrell. There were lots of laughs, incredible music, some tears and deep and important...

Cartoon of the week – June 25, 2025

The Echo loves your letters and is proud to provide a community forum on the issues that matter most to our readers and the people of the NSW north coast. So don’t be a passive reader, send us your epistles.

Husk’s first whisky with Stone & Wood

A one-off from two Northern Rivers craft trailblazers In a region where the smell of fresh-cut sugarcane usually signals rum season, something a little unexpected has been brewing in the barrel house at Husk Farm Distillery. This winter, Husk is going...

Matthew Laverty recognised with OAM

Recognising his  passion for golf and long-term commitment to community service, Mullumbimby’s Matthew Laverty received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) from...

Eclectic Selection for the week beginning 10 June 2026

Eclectic Selection: What’s on this week is a taste of some of the events that can be found in the Byron Shire and beyond this coming week.

Interview with Peter O’Doherty

Australia’s legendary band Mental As Anything made an historic comeback in 2026 – the first in 25 years – as original founding members Peter O’Doherty and brother Reg Mombassa reunited, leading an exciting new lineup to perform once again under the iconic banner Mental As Anything.

Cinema: The Christophers

From acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh, The Christophers is a sharp, darkly comic exploration of art, legacy and deception, led by Golden Globe winner Ian McKellen and Emmy winner Michaela Coel.