Re-zoning back on the agenda: Beating off the Academy rort Thirty-one years have passed since Nicholas Shand dreamed up this newspaper and gathered a band of fellow dreamers to help him make it real. In those 31 years The Echo has grown, like a magic beanstalk, far taller than we ever imagined, and it is now a feature of Shire life. Our ongoing series on the history of our beloved rainbow rag continues this week, written by the newspaper’s longest-serving drudge, David Lovejoy. During the 1987–91 term of Council an application was made to develop a large site at Broken Head as an ‘academy’. The Academy had been concocted because there were strict zoning considerations which prevented this site simply becoming a resort, as the developers wished, and so they had co-opted the vicechancellor of the local university in Lismore (now Southern Cross University) to give their plan an educational flavour. The commercial arm of the university duly agreed that courses would be provided to the guests in their luxurious chalets by the seaside, and the whole transparent rort was presented to Byron Shire Council for approval.
The resistance The council, under mayor Oliver Dunne, was not at all disposed to allow the development, but refusal of an application which complied with the rules, however manipulatively, could entail an continued from page 15 who will continue the cloning of another indistinguishable coastal resort. That said, I wouldn’t have Simon’s job for a great big clock. I’ve no doubt he’s as keen on a sustainable future as any of us but, since it’s Council’s role to regulate the inevitable development and none of our available development options are remotely sustainable, the choices for our councillors are between something that will harm the environment versus something else that harms the environment – an environment we depend on for our longterm survival. Bugger that for a choice. Both our councillors and we need more choices. The logic is very simple and inescapable. Without sustainable development models we don’t have a future. Unsustainable means whatever it is you are doing will stop. Therefore the key to a sustainable future is to create sustainable development models. With sustainable development models we have council general managers highly
appeal and heavy legal costs for the ratepayers. Fortunately for the amenity of Broken Head, Fast Buck$ became involved in the resistance to the Academy. When running in a local election years before, this prominent activist had changed his name from John Anderson to Fast Buck$ in order to show his contempt for the motives of some of his fellow candidates. The story goes that most of his votes on that occasion came from rednecks ignorant of the concept of irony. His way of conducting politics was refreshingly direct: during a Council meeting to consider developing a Tyagarah paddock as a jet airport, he hired a bank of concert-sized speakers and from a van parked outside the Chamber repeatedly played the sound of jets taking off at full volume. Until The Echo arrived his main way of communicating his concerns was via the ‘pink pamphlet’, a four-page skilled at development at our disposal. This region could spawn a rapidly expanding global industry and the key is to create sustainable development models. Robin Harrison Binna Burra A small in-group of selfperpetuating ‘talent’ provides the bulk of general managers in NSW; it is narrow, protected and dated. Presented with an organisation that has been in decline over the tenure of several prior GMs, the standard new appointee will at first proclaim a reform agenda and then, realising the immensity of the task and its personal implications, will slap a lid on the Pandora’s box and sit themselves firmly on top for the rest of their tenure. Add a mayor anxious not to know anything about the internal workings of the staff lest it interfere with his personal agenda and happy to leave governance entirely in the hands of the GM – the result is the steaming mess that is now Byron Shire. Unfortunately the selection
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Christ Buck$ blesses Council as he joins the flock. Photo Jeff ‘Shepherd’ Dawson
diatribe printed on pink paper and delivered to Shire residences. Although Buck$ freely signed and acknowledged these missives, and they appeared to be shockingly libellous, the objects of his attacks rarely took him to court, pretending that it was beneath their dignity to notice him. In reality, although the libel laws are so skewed against the public interest that litigation would probably have succeeded, the real reason was a reluctance to have certain matters exposed in court. Another motive given by Buck$’s targets for not proceeding against him was that he had no money to pay damages anyway. This was of a new GM is in the hands of some councillors who have little experience, receive bad advice, have demonstrated a poor understanding of local government and are blinded by their own hubris. Before they appoint a consultant to tell them what they think, it would be prudent to commission a comprehensive independent inquiry into all aspects of staff organisation and governance and then appoint an ‘outside’ manager with the mongrel to address the sorry situation they don’t seem to know they’re in. Tom Tabart Drysdale, Victoria Ken Gainger has made a valuable contribution to the management of Byron Shire Council over the last five years. His extensive experience of local government greatly assisted the decisionmaking processes of both councillors and staff. During his time he managed to oversee a much-needed streamlining of Council processes and executive staffing positions. A major legacy will be his oversight in be-
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also specious, given his large rural property holding and the persistent – and no doubt unfounded – rumour that he made a lot of money growing dope.
Free speech In the late eighties Fast Buck$ gradually moved from pink pamphlets to advertisements in The Echo. He found three benefits: wider circulation, less expense and of course the credibility of the newspaper itself. He did have to tone down his wilder accusations, as Nicholas and I were not interested in more libel actions, but we tried to uphold the principle of free speech, and very robust free speech at that, even if we didn’t agree ginning the Byron Bay Masterplan project, a project that will influence the shape of the town for many years to come. Ken is leaving Council to enjoy a much-deserved retirement. I for one thank him for his contribution to the Shire and wish him well. Cr Paul Spooner Byron Bay
Landlords from hell The baton has been passed! The Tenants From Hell have lost their accolade – it now belongs to the landlords, particularly those in the Byron Shire. Congrats! This species thinks longterm is the end of the financial year and are not averse to handing out an eviction notice over the prime holiday period. They stipulate workers only... what? Pay rent and then can’t use the room. Or it’s all under the table; no Centrelink entitlements allowed. It seems many (most?) are not even registered with Fair Trading as a landlord. Animal Shelters repeatedly receive pets unable to stay with their humans because they are prohibited by
with all Buck$’s examples of it. In the case of the Academy Fast Buck$ set out to ensure that public opinion was firmly against the proposal, and he dug out some extraordinary facts about the university connection. It was not the first time that the vice-chancellor, Rod Treyvaud, had strayed from academia to commerce. He was a fierce opponent of the traditional view of universities as places devoted to pure knowledge (older readers may remember this quixotic pre-neoliberal tradition). He therefore advocated the new trend towards applied or occupational degrees subsidised by corporations (think Bachelor of Science in Telstra telephony or Bachelor of Arts in McDonald’s cooking procedures), and Treyvaud practised what he preached. In between lucrative academic appointments he had set up a company to supply schoolbooks to the Solomon Islands government, and so dishonest was his servicing of this contract that he was actually wanted in the Solomons for fraud. We duly published this amazing tale (with fingers crossed, as before the internet the degree of checking a free weekly paper could do was quite limited) and it was not denied. one of this group. How’s this one? Accommodation is granted, then the date gets put – the prospective tenant pays a deposit and then the whole thing is withdrawn by the property owner. Of course, no need to elaborate again on illegal Airbnb lodgings that were approved for long-term/family dwellings and built unhampered by Council fees. Landlords who are business oriented (selling a product) know their ‘rights’and behave accordingly; the dodgy ones in it for a bit of pocket money and the light entertainment of messing with the tenant via subterranean bullying are ignorant of such matters. Like privacy for the tenant, paying the bond to Fair Trading or having money in the kitty to do repairs, among other misdemeanours. The Greens are right – let’s fix this rigged system, they declare. Private rental reform is imminent – secure leases, regulation of the amount and frequency of rental rises, the prohibition of ‘no-grounds’ evictions and the ensuring
The Academy affair was a public relations disaster for the university, but it was left to Oliver Dunne to kill off the project by wrapping it up in consent conditions so onerous (and yet perfectly reasonable if the intent had been genuinely educational) that the developers eventually pulled out.
Councillor Buck$ Incidentally, Fast Buck$ was eventually elected to Council, long after the Academy triumph. It might be fair to say that being ‘in power’ (a very relative term in local government where the staff control events much more than elected representatives) was more difficult than being in opposition. Buck$ certainly enlivened proceedings, once appearing at a Council meeting dressed in white robe and crown of thorns to illustrate his suffering at the hands of the bureaucracy. Over the years Fast Buck$ has clashed with almost all the general managers of Byron Shire Council. Despite his reputation for conspiracy theories, which tends to get him discounted by mainstream voters, the fact remains that Buck$ has been right more often than not when he rails against incompetence in Council management. that all homes meet energy efficiency and security standards are on the horizon. Judith Anne Snyman Myocum
Debate done Thank God, the wasteful $120 million-dollar voluntary, non-binding – designed to lose – postal survey on samesex marriage is finally over. The claims by the naysayers were mind boggling; we were told it was about baking cakes, flower shops, freedom of choice, political correctness, gender reassignment, school children being coerced to change sex or cross dress, or being socially engineered by the Safe School’s program. The survey form simply asked ‘should the law be changed to allow same sex people to marry’, not a problem I thought, they’re living together and successfully raising children anyway, but it seems the ratbag religious right had to run a deceitful campaign of lies attempting to con us, and psychologically damage us with depressing piano music, a real shocker. continued on page 18
The Byron Shire Echo December 6, 2017 17