The concept of the Australian general store is an old one, dating back to the time when our population was smaller, and transportation much more difficult. The whole town and surrounding area would purchase their food staples, dry goods and sometimes basic home and hardware from the general store.

Yesterday Liberal councillors James Owen and Rhiannon Brinsmead walked out of the extraordinary Tweed Shire Council meeting in protest against the way the Mayor of Tweed Shire is elected. 

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has declared an El Nino weather pattern, with less-than-average rainfall forecast for the Northern Rivers this year. Tweed Council is reminding residents and visitors that it is important to save water.

As a white man living on Bundjalung Country, I acknowledge that it is not easy to make the cross-cultural shift from a Western paradigm lens to comprehend and appreciate the rich diversity and complexity of 65,000 years of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ sociocultural and spiritual history.

I’ll admit it. I was a Russell Brand fan. I thought he was funny. I thought the sexually rampaging lothario image was just a clever comedic persona. I thought he satirised the privilege and legacy of rock stars.

If you go back in time 32 years, Byron was very different, but Legend Pizza was already a massive favourite of locals. You’d have to be a bit of a legend to have a successful business that’s been right in the middle of Jonson St for 30 of those years; that’s been locally owned and operated the whole time.