At the eleventh hour, Ballina Shire Council has voted to press pause on the controversial Sharpes Beach car park redevelopment, and seek further options.

With the recent release of local flood data from the devastating 2022 floods now public, Council staff have told The Echo there is no budget this year to apply for funding to incorporate it into their planning instruments.

With hundreds of riot police expected to confront thousands of protectors on site at the Bentley blockade, west of Lismore, it was a great relief to many when the NSW government suspended Metgasco's Petroleum Exploration Licence on 15 May 2014, effectively handing a historic win to the community.

Some people get to experience life differently to the rest of us. We go out of our way to make sure things are better for them. These people tend to be super wealthy and privileged so they probably don’t need the extra curation. I wondered why we do this. I wondered what life must be like when it’s made slightly better than everyone else’s experience. When you belong to those eight seats at the front of the plane with champagne and clean toilets while the rest of us wait patiently for tea and water. Behind the velvet rope.