Local independent distillers behind iconic labels Ink Gin and Brookie’s Byron Dry Gin say a longstanding ‘bad’ government policy that taxes spirits unfairly, compared to other alcohol such as wine, is putting thousands of jobs at risk in a ‘dangerous high inflation environment’.

The letters deadline for The Echo is noon Friday. Letters longer than 200 words may be cut. The publication of letters is at the discretion of the letters editor.

Following the destruction of the previous trailer in this year’s unprecedented floods, a replacement trailer for the Richmond Tweed Regional Mobile Library has arrived – it's been polished and loaded with brand-new books and is on the road.

Dean Doyle and Sophistication are back this week for Morning Melodies at the Ballina RSL. Dean, Narelle and Paul...

Some weeks it’s hard to navigate the big feelings I have around injustice; the kind of injustice that occurs every day, everywhere, underwritten by the privilege of some at the expense of the many. The shit stuff people get away with! The shit stuff no one notices. Shit stuff always happens to people who don’t have much to start with. I sometimes wonder how you can hear story after story and not realise the system is broken. Capitalism sucks. Let’s go break stuff – like, the dominant paradigm! We haven’t managed to subvert it – so can we smash it into tiny pieces? Please?