THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 26 #03 Tuesday, June 28, 2011 Mullumbimby 02 6684 1777 Byron Bay 02 6685 5222 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au www.echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week
p30–31 A VOLCANO IN CHILE CANCELS A WORKSHOP IN BRUNS
CAB AUDIT
A whale of a season begins Showdown looms over tourism levy Ray Moynihan
A showdown is looming over new tourism taxes in Byron, as a key council advisory committee develops plans for a special rate rise for business, to help maintain local infrastructure. The business levy is one option to be discussed at a meeting this week between local government Minister Don Page and members of council’s influential Tourism Advisory Committee (TAC). The advisory committee includes representatives from Council, the community and business, and its draft plans will likely go out for public consultation later this winter. Rates from just over 14,500 properties support the maintenance of local infrastructure, including toilets, parks and roads in Byron Shire. Our annual visitor numbers are estimated to be 1,500,000 people, which includes almost a million day trippers.
Breaching humpbacks are back – this photo was captured during the week by Whale Watching Byron Bay. Conservation group Whales Alive (www.whalesalive.org.au) recently posted on their website a victory for whales – the moratorium on commercial whaling remains, despite a recent proposal to the International Whaling Tourists account for a Commission (IWC) for a compromise. Whales Alive director Mick McIntyre said, ‘Had this compromise agreement been approved by the IWC, not only would the 25-year-old moratorium on whaling have been lifted, but the illegal third of the wear and tear and immoral activities of Japan, Norway and Iceland would have received the stamp of approval from the IWC.’ He Council estimates tourists are readded that the USA and NZ will still be pushing for this compromise at the forthcoming IWC meeting in the Channel sponsible for almost a third of the Islands. Photo Whale Watching Byron Bay wear and tear on that infrastructure,
Council moves away from biodiversity aims Michael McDonald
Byron Shire Council is redefining the way it uses the Environmental Levy coughed up by ratepayers and announced with fanfare in 2008. A recent motion from Crs Morrisey and Cameron has seen the end of funding to the Land for Wildlife services and an end to the Biodiversity Extension Officer (BEO) position. The funding is now allocated to ‘an infrastructure maintenance conservation program budget, with expenditure on conservation initiatives, such as roadside vegetation management…’
Council’s former Biodiversity Extension Officer Wendy Neilan told The Echo, ‘I am very disappointed that the Land for Wildlife program and the biodiversity extension service have been abandoned as this was a key strategic project to support biodiversity conservation on private lands in the Shire. ‘Only around eleven per cent of lands in the Shire are in public ownership and management, including the National Park Estate. ‘The rest of the land is under private ownership and makes up most of the area between the Nightcap and the coastal parks.
‘The extraordinary biodiversity of animals and plants and ecosystem processes within Byron Shire occurs across all land tenures and if conservation is to be acheived at the landscape scale we need to cooperate across tenures to achieve this goal. Council is in the best postion strategically to facilitate this vision and that is what the Byron Biodiversity Conservation Strategy is all about. ‘Land for Wildlife is a nationally recognised program that supports landholders in their stewardship of biodiversity on their land with a particular focus on habitat for wildcontinued on page 3
and has identified a need for an extra $7 million a year to maintain it at appropriate levels. While the tourism committee is debating a range of options, including a bed tax and across-the-board rate increases, its chairperson, Councillor Basil Cameron, told The Echo that TAC wants to start a dialogue about the idea of a new tourism levy for local businesses. ‘It’s early days, but a possible levy on business would involve rate notices for commercial properties being increased by a few per cent, with business getting a say in how the resulting funds would be spent.’ Katharine Myres, manager of the Byron Visitors Centre and a business representative on the Tourism Advisory Committee, says the idea of a
narrow new tax on businesses would be ‘a mistake’, although business having a say over how funds were spent may make the idea more palatable. ‘The community needs to raise money from visitors to pay for the impacts on infrastructure,’ says Ms Myres, who argues there are ‘subtle and painless’ ways to do it, like a bed tax, and that a general rate rise where everyone chips in is also worth considering. ‘We’ve got to have something new,’ she said.
Bed tax not feasible: Page State Minister Don Page says formal advice from his department suggests a new bed tax on accommodation providers is not feasible, because it would have to be shown to directly benefit those paying it. As to the idea of a special rate increase just for businesses, he said, ‘I could have a look at it.’ Mr Page told The Echo that ‘Byron, like other councils who have high tourist numbers, can mount a case for additional support for infrastructure’ from the state government, adding that he thought Byron’s case ‘would have some merit’. Apart from bed taxes or rate increases, Mr Page said there were two new funds being created, including an Infrastructure Renewal Fund which would see the state government paying at least 50 per cent of the interest costs on any new council borrowings. However Council general manager Graeme Faulkner warned against any new borrowings, saying the best solution was to increase revenues. ‘We’re happy to look at any opportunity to improve infrastructure, but are most concerned about continued restrictions on the autonomy of local government in its ability to raise revenues.’ Byron United (BU) president Sevegne Newton said she had ‘very little faith’ in Council’s proposals and continued on page 2
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