THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 26 #49 Tuesday, May 22, 2012 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
AUDIT
Inside this week
pages 18,19
NOTHING IS TRUE AND EVERYTHING IS PERMIT TED
CAB
Ash Grunwald has got a new CD: interview – p22
Surprise! Another article on climate change – p10
Letters to the editor and articles – p11
Home & Garden – p20
Byron Shire Council Notices Pages 46 & 47
Mayor Barham stops tree Billycarts thunder removal by Council staff Chris Dobney
The Byron Shire mayor’s intervention has halted the planned demolition of 87 mature blackbutt trees along Broken Head Road, just north of Broken Head hall. The trees’ removal – in a known wildlife corridor – was to make room for road widening. Twenty of the trees had been cut down by the time Cr Barham inspected the scene Thursday morning, and an urgency motion was passed later that day at Council’s ordinary meeting to have the action stopped. Both Crs Tucker and Woods voted against. The mayor said the first that she heard of her staff ’s own plans was on Friday, when staff ’s weekly bulletin to councillors referred to roadworks on Broken Head Road.
Not informed: mayor ‘But in three paragraphs it failed to mention widening of the road and the removal of trees. It was only when I got back [to Byron] on Tuesday night and got calls from residents who saw tags around trees marked for removal that I realised what was going on’, she told The Echo. ‘I sought answers through proper process but failed to get a satisfactory response. I asked an ecologist for further information and decided something had to be done.’ Cr Barham said that no developer in the shire would be allowed to undertake works of the kind that council staff had taken it upon themselves to do. ‘A DA would simply not be issued,’ she said. ‘However a new planning instrument the state has created allows infrastructure works to go ahead without proper processes. ‘A review of environmental effects took place but it doesn’t meet the objectives of our biodiversity strategy
– it doesn’t even consider known endangered species in the area.’ The mayor said ‘despite it being high-conservation area and a scenic environment, despite so many years on a hotlist of biodiversity nationally, staff proceeded to remove 80-year-old blackbutt trees that form a canopy that supports endangered species’.
down Bangalow
New NSW state laws allow such action She added that it would inevitably lead to more roadkill because animals that would have crossed the road via overhanging trees will have no option View the video by Sharon but to crawl onto the road. Shostak on the Billycarts in She earlier told ABC radio that a tree that was run into by a car, killing Go to echonetdaily.net.au four young people some years ago, was earmarked for retention but that Blues skies and huge crowds graced the 2012 annual Bangalow Lions Billycart Derby, held on Sunday. Apart from other trees located further back from the race, crowds were treated to the Samba Blisstas and a Scottish marching band. For more photos from the day the road had already been removed.
netdaily
visit the Echo stuff section of www.offmyfacebook.com.au. Photo Jeff ‘It’s All Downhill From Here’ Dawson
Road not an issue: mayor She said that the state of the road was not an issue in the deaths and that council was looking at other options, including signage and lowering the speed limit to deal with traffic problems. She believes the road does not need to be widened. ‘With all of the other roads in this shire that desperately need work – this was the priority that council staff came up with! ‘I asked the question of staff [as to] whether I am able to move a motion in council so that any works of this type that impact on significant ecological areas are reported to a council meeting in future. Everyone in this shire expects this should happen. ‘It’s surprising that staff don’t get that this sort of action is what we are trying to stop everyone else doing – and council are doing it themselves!’ Q See editorial page 10
Outcry over Mullum hospital ‘downgrade’ Luis Feliu
Mullumbimby residents are gearing up to fight the controversial plan to replace their local hospital’s overnight emergency doctor with a video camera-assessing system, a move some say was sprung on the community without consultation. Campaigners have organised a protest meeting and launched a petition calling on health minister Jillian Skinner to urgently intervene to ensure the hospital stays open 24 hours a day. Concerned nurses and locals are urging people to attend a public meeting Monday May 28 at the Mullumbimby Services Club from 7pm, which local health officials have been asked to address. Nurses fear patient welfare may suf-
fer as a result of delays to treatment by increased transfers to other neighbouring hospitals, and that it could be the first move in ridding the hospital of a night doctor. The plan is set to take place on July 1.
Public meeting May 28 NSW Nurses’ Association delegate, Shauna Boyle, told The Echo the meeting was needed to address concerns raised by the announcement, which had caught nurses and locals by surprise. ‘They want to replace a doctor with a $60,000 camera and nurse, where previously both nurses and doctors worked together at night,’ she said. ‘They’re saying it’s because we only have an average of two presentations per night, but just the other night we
had four people in overnight. ‘During the day we’ll get 20 to 30 presentations and one or two at night, but sometimes you get horrible nights with seven people coming in throughout the night and when there’s seven people with one nurse and no doctor there’ll be a lot to deal with, it’s a lot to deal with even with one doctor there.’ Ms Boyle said the hospital dealt with around 7,700 emergency cases a year, compared to Byron Hospital’s 12,000 and Kyogle’s 7,400. ‘We are also being told that Byron hospital from now on will also send us patients not needing to go to Tweed Heads hospital, so we’ll get an overflow with lots of backpackers. ‘They’re downgrading the service by stealth; we need to talk about continued on page 2
relax with no establishment fee UHÀQDQFH DQG
*
Terms & conditions, fees & charges apply. *No establishment fee applies to home loans only. See us for details.
call or visit us <echowebsection=Local News>
banking on people.
1300 802 222 summerland.com.au