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Byron Shire
June 6, 2026

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Cartoon of the week – 3 June, 2026

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.

Other News

Council tightens ‘affordable housing’ rules

Byron Council has tightened its definition of ‘affordable housing’ in a bid to make access to housing more equitable on major projects like the former Mullumbimby Hospital site and 57 Station Street.

National minimum wage increases to $26.44p/h

With the Fair Work Commission’s decision to increase the national minimum wage by 4.75%, Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is calling for further action to support people doing it tough, as well as the frontline community services helping them. “People are under severe pressure from interest rate rises, rent increases, higher fuel costs, and growing economic uncertainty due to the conflict in the Middle East,” said ACOSS Acting CEO Edwina MacDonald.

Roadworks an upgrade?

I hope that Council kept their receipt for the Mullumbimby Road upgrade. Not even a year old and falling...

Norths desert Bangalow Bowlo… again

Eight Bangalow community members attended Norths AGM on Monday, 25 May, to seek answers about the future of Bangalow Bowlo, but received no meaningful engagement, with their concerns merely ‘noted’.

Stout Blackout Blowout at Earth Beer

Nestled among the rolling green hills of Cudgen, just minutes from Kingscliff on the Tweed Coast, Earth Beer Company...

Byron Bay-based hydrofoil company awarded ‘Best of the Best’

Flite, a brand of Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC) and the global pioneer of electric hydrofoil technology, have been awarded the Red Dot: "Best of the Best" – the highest distinction in the internationally renowned Red Dot Design Awards.

May 20, 2026

Byron Shire Echo issue 40.50 – May 20, 2026

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Local News | North Coast News | Comment | Letters | Articles | Sport | Soapbox | Crossword | Stars | The Good Life | Good Taste | National Volunteer Week | Health & Healing | Seven Entertainment | Gig Guide | Classifieds | Community at Work | Service Directory | Echo Property | Property Business DIrectory | Backlash

In this Issue:

Connecting Bangalow event tomorrow

It is time to come together and connect the generations at the Connecting Generations Autumn Family Fun Day.

Local bushfood nursery to support Indigenous programs

The Returning, an Indigenous women-led not-for-profit organisation based in Mullumbimby, has taken on four Aboriginal programs after the closure of the Murwillumbah Community Centre.

Community panel proposed for Mullum hospital site: Cr Hauge

Concerns are being raised that the community could be sidelined in decisions about the future of the old Mullumbimby Hospital site, as Byron Shire Council (BSC) and Homes NSW negotiate the potential transfer of the land back to the state government.

Parking, holiday park fee hikes mooted for Byron

Higher paid-parking fees, increased holiday park charges, and new commercial income streams are among a range of measures being put forward by Byron Mayor Sarah Ndiaye as Council grapples with mounting financial pressure.

Free public transport needed

Victoria is side-stepping the rising cost of fuel by offering free public transport. If only public transport was an option in the Northern Rivers, let alone it being free!

Interview with Nicky Bomba

Here at The Echo we are celebrating our big 4-0 and to make the party bigger than Ben Hur, we have invited the ultimate fun band to help us swing the night away – the electrifying Melbourne Ska Orchestra – delivering their signature high-energy big brass band sound. They are travelling north in June, and Seven caught up with band leader Nicky Bomba in the studio prepping for their next album.

New dawn

It’s a new dawn, a new day yet there is still the attempt to persuade thinking, feeling humanity that it is okay or there is justification in the killing, maiming or starving of thousands of innocent children, who have...

Amani’s dreams are en pointe

A local woman has been invited by a world-renowned ballet school in New York to join their ranks as a student to attain an international qualification as a dancer and teacher.

Mullumbimby Scout Hall faces demolition

Mullumbimby’s flood-damaged former Scout Hall could soon be demolished and replaced with open parkland under a proposal going before Byron Council today.

Local women take keeping Byron clean into their own hands

It is volunteer week this week, and it was great to see Natasha Cali and two friends decided they were getting out and doing their bit for their community.

Backing winners on policy grounds

I have decided to join Pauline Hanson’s One Nation (PHON). I have tired of voting for losers, and can sense a wave of support. After all, if they can shamelessly publicly signpost a meeting at Mullumbimby’s Lulu’s Cafe, then they must be on the up. Yep, six per cent is not a great starting point, but that’s all they got in Farrer in 2025 as well.

Izzy-Ozzies not ‘comparable to ISIS’

Mr Murray’s letter (Echo, 13/5/26) is a deeply offensive attempt to cast suspicion on an entire community of Australians because they are Israeli/Jewish. To compare Israeli-Australian dual citizens who have undertaken compulsory military service in Israel, with ISIS brides linked...

Jews not ‘collectively responsible’

Bruce Porter (Echo, 13/5/26) raises the problem that is inciting anti-Jewish actions and bigotry here – holding all Jews collectively responsible for Israel’s actions. Dear Bruce, how is it that the actions of no other world government, or the actions...

Not all Jews are Zionists

Zionism attempts to conflate race, religion and nationality into a political ideology that purports to represent all Jews, irrespective of their race, religion or nationality. To penetrate this paradox, we must examine the strategic ambiguity of Jewish identity as defined...

Instagram flotilla

Despite there being established agencies to receive and distribute food into Gaza, and despite the fact that these agencies have encouraged Greta and her minions to engage with these agencies to distribute aid, the good folk of the Tik...

Bayside fix $300m

The Byron Shire Council budget meeting was very informative in the fact that Phil Holloway estimates the costs to fix up the failed stormwater system for Bayside Brunswick Heads to be close to $300million. Interesting, as this is a...

E-bike accident update

On Monday 4 May, a ten-year-old was hit by a teenager on an e-bike on Jubilee Avenue, Mullumbimby near the Mullumbimby Pool.

The end of an era in Mullumbimby as Bridglands closes

After 118 years the fourth generation member of the Bridgeland family, Rob Bridgland, is closing up shop.

Don Page stands up against developers pushing height limits in Byron

Former Nationals Party Deputy Leader and Member for Ballina from 1988 to 2015, Don Page, has told The Echo that it is vital to hold the line on height limits in Byron Bay to ensure it doesn’t become another Gold Coast.

Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox: Valuing Queer Family

Everyone needs their ‘people’. They are the people who get you. They might share your values, or have shared experiences. They don’t judge you. These are the people you can ‘unmask’ for. When you sit with your community, you have a sense of belonging. That belonging is what you use to navigate the other parts of your life where you often don’t belong. Belonging is your compass. And we all need a compass.

Money for nothing

Anyone that lives in the Shire who looks around at what is being forced on this community by this Byron Council should be so disappointed.  This shire went through a development moratorium in the ’90s, because the infrastructure – mostly...

Cooked housing

The federal Budget promises to help 75,000 Australians into housing over four years*. Net migration is running at over 300,000 people per year. The government’s own construction target requires 240,000 new homes annually. Last year we built 179,000. The scheme...

Trainspot’n

Spot on, Judith Shelley (Letters, Echo, 14 May): ‘please write to your councillors now – please let them know you want to keep the train tracks’. Please, Byron residents, do as Judith suggested. Dual use is the answer! Roger Seccombe, Ballina M.I.E.Aust.

Suffo cred

Dear Ms Nash, I am sure Echo readers are tired of this continuing tit for tat, and I’d otherwise leave it alone. You seem; however, to insist on extolling the wondrous dynamism of the Suffolk Park Community Association (SPCA) executive...

Promises promises

What is it with journalists and broken promises? Considering the state of politics in Australia, is breaking a promise really so bad?  Is it such a failing to change your mind? Let’s have backflips on: AUKUS nuclear submarines, allowing huge...

Marooned yacht on rocks near Ballina

A local photographer has shot a marooned yacht at Flat Rock, in Ballina Shire. It's the second boat to be washed ashore in recent months

Echo celebrates 40 with awards night tomorrow

Tickets are selling fast! Come join a fun-filled night of community celebration – This Saturday (tomorrow) The Echo is set to mark its 40th year in style with a ’30s swing-era style party and community awards night featuring the dynamic sounds of the Melbourne Ska Orchestra.

Author Tristan Bancks follows up with Two Wolves sequel

Local author Tristan Bancks launched his new book for readers 10+, Raised By Wolves, at Byron Book Room last night (Thursday 4 June).

Lismore City Council recognised for environmental leadership at LG awards

Lismore City Council has been recognised for outstanding achievement in environmental leadership, resilience and community infrastructure at the 2026 LG Professionals NSW Local Government Excellence Awards.