Latest News
Richmond candidates 2022: The Greens, Mandy Nolan
Mandy Nolan needs little introduction to most readers of The Echo, where she has a weekly column. She is a comedian and journalist running as a candidate for The Greens in the federal seat of Richmond.
Other News
‘Dining in the Dark’ at Forest, Byron
To celebrate the North Coast Festival of Flavour, Forest restaurant is turning off the lights so you can turn...
Creating homelessness
Having lived for 80 years on Argyle Street with a history of family living from number 1 to number...
A positive change for Bruns River
With the floods still on the mind of those impacted in the Shire’s north, a local charity and its partners have launched an interactive online map of the Brunswick River to raise awareness and hopefully bring it back to full health.
Review of community response called for as challenges recognised
Local community members stepped forward to help coordinate and respond to the disaster; from people getting into boats and kayaks recusing strangers in Lismore to coordinating local response hubs in the hinterland and local towns. But it wasn't all a bed of roses.
First residents move in to Wollongbar housing pods
The first residents displaced by the flooding disaster have now received the keys to their temporary housing pods at Wollongbar, Ballina Council says.
Richmond candidates strut their stuff
With the federal election looming Saturday, candidates put themselves before the public at the Echo/BayFM ‘Meet the Candidates’ on Monday night in Byron. All candidates were present, except ‘ghost’ One Nation candidate, Tracey Bell-Henselin.
Stories about "Cr Simon Chate":
Ballina Council edges back to fossils despite flood disaster
A minor item on Ballina Shire Council's agenda this week blew up when Cr Rod Bruem decided to add a last minute alteration to Ballina's investment strategy.
Wardell CORE changing face of service to community
Wardell's Community Organised Resilience Effort (CORE) is planning a community event on Saturday to celebrate the way their local community has pulled through the flooding disaster.
Alstonville offering help and refuge
The Echo caught up with Ballina Councillor Simon Chate who has been volunteering at the Alstonville Cultural Centre, recently transformed into a movie studio and now a flood evacuation centre.
Ballina mayor celebrates ‘middle ground’, Greens lose koala protection target motion
New Greens Ballina Shire Councillor Simon Chate has lost a 10-15% target proposal for increased koala habitat, with the council only agreeing to have...
Ballina Greens Cr hopes of koalas as ‘priority’ unlikely to be met under bureaucracy
Koalas have made it onto the second Ballina Shire Council meeting agenda for 2022, with new Greens Councillor Simon Chate calling for their habitat to become an immediate priority.
Countbacks or by-elections for Ballina?
Cr Rod Bruem's first appearance in the Ballina Council chamber saw an attack on ALP candidates who narrowly failed to win seats in the recent local government election, with the councillor claiming it would be undemocratic for a countback to include 'rejected' Labor Party candidates if another councillor was unable to serve during the next 18 months.
Ballina’s new Greens councillors ready for action
Although recent local government elections across the Northern Rivers were dominated by the surge of right-leaning candidates, state-wide there was a very successful result for The Greens, with 67 councillors elected (up from 56). Two of these new representatives are in Ballina, Ward C's Simon Chate and Ward B's Kiri Dicker.
Letters
The protest vote
Uncanny that in this federal election, in Richmond as elsewhere, the freedom/protest vote parties just about all preference the National or Liberal candidate. To...
Letters
Inflated Scomo
During his term, Scomo made plenty of decisions that helped lead us to the inflation we face today.
When he says we should not...
Letters
Our sitting member
The sitting member for Richmond, Labor’s Justine Elliott, is aptly named because, as far as I have seen, that’s all she’s done for the...
Local News
Bittersweet announcement about koalas
Bitter in its necessity and sweet in the action it might prompt, it has been announced today that koalas have been listed as Endangered under the Biodiversity Conservation Act.
