Latest News
How is RT-PCR used to diagnose COVID-19?
It’s fast, reliable and full of lines – but might look different to the PCR you learned about in school.
Other News
More than 8,000 free meals given away in Ballina lockdown
Around 8,000 free meals were given to a dramatically increased number of people needing them in Ballina over the lockdown period starting 9 August.
Hue and cry
Seeing and hearing all the kicking and screaming about our right to choose to not put on masks takes...
Entertainment in the Byron Shire for the week beginning 15 September, 2021
Inception – Byron Theatre’s first post-lockdown live event
Cancelled twice owing to the local lockdown, Three Lords’ Inception and AV...
First day out of lockdown – record high of NSW 1,599 new cases
NSW recorded yet another new record high 1,599 locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
State gov’t services failing to keep up with regional population growth, says independent Ballina councillor
Cr Cadwallader told The Echo on Thursday she’d be asking council staff to pursue the matter of policing resources in the shire after last month winning majority council support to pressure the government on the future of Lennox Head Public School.
Sometimes you’ve just got to laugh
I confess to having no clinical or medical training, but my reading of some of the literature increasingly tells me that laughter, and the hormones that trigger it, is a powerful healing and comforting tool that serves to help us cope with stress, anxiety, trauma and the challenges associated with living and navigating modern life.
Stories about "politics":
No accountability for proven police misconduct
On Australia Day in 1998, I was the legal observer for the ‘Nude Ain’t Rude’ rally at Belongil Beach.
Maybe Canberra needs a bit of distraction biff
Mick breathed in but his Cronulla Sharks football jersey struggled to contain his well-insulated six-pack and he held up his hand as he approached Bazza in the front bar of the Top Pub.
Character test for PM without much
Over Easter I visited a friend who’s spent decades doing her best to protect old growth forests, preserve human connection with nature in the raw and help save our planet from the climate emergency.
Do only losers have honour?
There’s a sense in the air that a culture change may be on the way. The need for change has become abundantly clear since the notion of honour disappeared from public life.
Editorial – An innocent, honest man might say…
'I want a formal investigation into this allegation of rape against me, not just to clear my name, but because it is the wishes of the woman’s family and friends...'
Rapey Liberal culture is their undoing
Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins’ steel-eyed testimony around rape allegations saw spiders crawl from under rocks and spread in all directions last week.
Mandy Nolan to run for Greens in Richmond
Mandy Nolan is about to embark on a new career as a politician – she has put her hat in the ring to run for Richmond in the hope of overturning Justine Elliot’s position and making the seat Green.
The tipping point
Robin Harrison, Binna Burra
It's been obvious for some time that the primary concern for our species is whether or not we will have a...
How do we get politicians that care?
Beth Shelley, Chair, Northern Rivers Railway Action Group
It seems that many politicians are sociopaths so how do we find ones that aren’t? BJ and...
Doug Anthony farewelled at state memorial
Former Deputy Prime Minister and MP for Richmond, Doug Anthony, was farewelled at a state memorial service in Tweed Heads on Thursday.
Local News
Queensland passes voluntary assisted dying laws
Dying with Dignity NSW has welcomed the passage of Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) laws in Queensland and is hoping that NSW Parliament resumes next month so that this issue can be addressed in NSW without further delay.
Byron Echo
Planning staff back Wilsons Creek DA, residents’ concerns downplayed
Paul Bibby - 0
Residents living near a proposed 15-lot housing development in Wilsons Creek say it will negatively impact a precious wildlife corridor on the site, exacerbate traffic safety problems on the surrounding roads, and damage the peaceful character of their quiet enclave.
Byron Echo
A moment of your life?
Six questions for Jehovah’s Witness doorknockers:
1. Are you aware that the 2016 Royal Commission into Institutional Handling of Child Sexual Abuse investigated 1006 alleged...
Local News
Local mum features in documentary about the impacts and possible solutions around suicide
Eve Jeffery - 0
Murwillumbah mum Ursula has lived every parents worst nightmare – her child, at the age of just 17, took his own life – and a lot of time and energy, questions and conjecture and finger-pointing can rumble around this, but at the end of the day Ursula’s precious boy is gone and he’s not coming back.
