THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 27 #49 Tuesday, May 21, 2013 Phone 02 6684 1777 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au www.echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week
Inside this week
THIS IS NOT BROKEN, IT’S JUST UNFINISHED
CAB AUDIT
Farewell Peter McNeilly – p9
Here & Now again with S – p12
Constitutional divide Brouhaha erupts over proposed local govt changes Hans Lovejoy
Is local MP Don Page the minister for, or against, local government? That’s the question posed by the peak body representing NSW councils after Mr Page refused to support the inclusion of local government or councils in the Australian Constitution. It comes in response to the upcoming referendum on the topic, to be included with the September election. Currently councils are an operational arm of state governments and only two tiers of government are recognised in our constitution. Councils currently receive the majority of their funding from municipal rates and council fees, but also receive grants and subsidies from state and territory governments. There is also direct federal funding via initiatives such as the Roads to Recovery program, the Regional Development Fund and Low Carbon Communities, but the legality of some of these grants has been challenged in the High Court. The court cases have prompted the referendum in a deal brokered by the Greens/independents and Labor at the last election. Mr Page told ABC radio last week, ‘You could easily envisage a situation where a couple of marginal seats in a federal election would be benefited by large cash injections from the Commonwealth on the eve of the election to fund a particular piece of infrastructure. So you would have a large amount of money going to a project that was for political reasons but wasn’t actually part of the state plan.’ Those comments prompted an outraged response from Local Government NSW’s joint presidents Cr Ray Donald and Cr Keith Rhoades AFSM, who accused Mr Page of ‘scaremongering and ill-informed information’ that is ‘misleading the people of NSW.’ ‘Given the recent TCorp report into
Aquarius fest lives on, man – p16–17
See pages 26-27
It goes Classified up to 11 in but not Seven – p19 secret – p37
Byron Shire Council Notices Page 42–43
Bangalow’s billycart day
NSW council finances,’ Cr Donald said, ‘it’s astounding the NSW coalition government won’t support a practical change to the Constitution securing tens of millions of dollars each year for NSW communities and their infrastructure.’ Cr Rhoades added, ‘It seems a tad contradictory for the NSW coalition government to trumpet criticism of councils’ financial sustainability, then fail to support a referendum which would protect federal grants for the most basic community needs, like local roads.’
O’Farrell’s reasoning But in a letter from NSW premier Barry O’Farrell to then federal minister for local government, Simon Crean, Mr O’Farrell outlines his reasoning for objecting to recognition. ‘The NSW government is of the view that amendments to the Constitution should not be made in the absence of clear evidence that existing funding arrangements are deficient. ‘While the government acknowledged that the High Court’s decision in Pape and Williams may have cast some doubt on the appropriateness of the direct funding of local government by the Commonwealth, it is noted that neither the Expert Panel’s report nor the Joint Select Committee interim report have identified any new significant issues with the financial arrangements that currently exist between all three tiers of government.’ Mr O’Farrell also says the amendment, as proposed in the committee’s interim report, will allow the federal government to grant funds directly to local government, ‘which could result in NSW 2021 and other major state policies being sidetracked or not given due regard… ‘This could also raise expectations that the Commonwealth could intervene in local government administration, thereby creating confusion
Bangalow Lions Billycart Derby went off without a hitch Sunday, bar the odd spill and stack. Thousands turned out on a beautiful sunny autumn day to see the largest field in the derby’s history with 252 entrants. Photo Jeff Dawson
Baseline $30,000 CSG study to begin Dominic Feain
The first independent baseline study to assess groundwater and aquifers prior to coal seam gas (CSG) development is set to commence on the northern rivers and scientists are seeking access to private properties for sampling. The research will provide reference points at specific sites from which to determine the effects of any future coal seam gas development. The absence of such data has been the bugbear of environmentalists and CSG opponents frustrated with the argument from the coal seam gas industry that there was no science to prove this form of unconventional gas extraction unsafe. continued on page 2 Jointly funded by NOROC (North-
ern Rivers Regional Organisation of Councils) and Southern Cross University (SCU), the $30,000 preliminary study will enable the collection of baseline groundwater chemistry data and the design of a long-term monitoring program for the region
ahead of any potential development of the coal seam gas industry. SCU associate professor Isaac Santos heads the team at the university’s Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry Research in the School of Environment, Science and Engineering.
Holiday Letting Organisation clarification
The Echo’s May 7, 2013 edition paraphrased John Gudgeon from the Holiday Letting Organisation as saying, ‘The underlying problem [with the holiday letting issue] is that short-term letting is not captured by the Residential Tenancy Act.’ Mr Gudgeon has asked that his quote be published in full: ‘The only regulation difference between letting and long-term accommodation is that long-term letting is subject to the Residential Tenancy Act, which requires a lease if occupied more than three months. If applied to letting, this would mean immediate evictions would be legal under a licence to occupy, framed by the terms and conditions.’
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