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July 14, 2026

Latest News

From refugee to community contributor – a personal story

When I first arrived in Australia from Syria, I carried many emotions with me. Like many refugees and newcomers, I was grateful to be safe, but I was also overwhelmed by the challenges of starting over in a completely new country.

Other News

Deadly stories: powerful First Nations voices at Byron Writers Festival 2026

This year’s festival celebrates some of the most vital and impactful storytelling in Australian literature, with a dedicated program of First Nations writers whose work spans historical fiction, picture books and Indigenous knowledge and whose voices are reshaping how this country understands itself.

NSW Women of the Year nominations closing soon

Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin is calling on residents of the Lismore electorate to get their nominations in for the 2027 NSW Women of the Year Awards.

It’s not just you, it’s Telstra

Across Australia, Telstra mobile and mobile data customers have been dealing with widespread outages this morning, from cities to the regions, including the Northern Rivers.

A hidden gem of culture and fun

With 73 films under their belts the Drill Hall Film Society are inviting you to come and see the next film they are showing – the 1971 classic and hilarious Harold and Maude.

Lismore households throwing away $670,000

Lismore City Council says Lismore households recently threw away an estimated $670,000 by placing eligible drink containers in their kerbside bins instead of claiming their refund, while almost half the contents of red-lid general waste bins could have been recycled or composted.

New flood maps could reshape development across Byron Shire

New flood mapping covering much of the Byron Shire could affect future development controls, with a major new study recommending that planning decisions be based on whichever flood source – river flooding or overland flow – produces the highest flood level.

June 25, 2025

Byron Shire Echo issue 40.03 – June 25, 2025

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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...

Oz Grom Open wraps up in Lennox

The 2026 Soundboks Oz Grom Open saw a fairytale finish to competition yesterday with huge performances, bluebird skies and local wins in dreamy two-foot conditions.

Jeff Dawson captures Mullum Roots Festival

Did you make it to Mullum Roots Festival on the weekend?

Coorabell art show inspired by natural world

'Elemental: Conversations with Nature' is the title of a forthcoming exhibition featuring eight established and midcareer artists working across painting, drawing, weaving, ceramics, and textiles.  Inspired by the natural world, each artist explores the forms, patterns, materials, and forces found in nature.

NSW Women of the Year nominations closing soon

Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin is calling on residents of the Lismore electorate to get their nominations in for the 2027 NSW Women of the Year Awards.