Letters
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continued from page 11 Max Gillies used to parody the late Senator Don Chipp by portraying him as snatching at elusive butterflies during his speeches. I would suggest that the good councillor is similarly deluded in his thinking that the Belongil Spit can ever again achieve the status still enjoyed by much of Australia’s pristine beachfront, that is, most of it.
While he is correct in his analysis that the problem is caused by real estate holdings (lines drawn on a map) we are long past being a society of nomads, and again his thinking is short-circuited. The problem is population growth and the extension is real estate holdings and there is no mainstream political party, including the Greens, that is prepared in any way to
THE ESSENTIAL CALENDAR FOR BYRON SHIRE LOCALS L R LS E I A F O CA TH ENT AR E LO S D ES LEN SHIR CARON Y B
BYRON SHIRE 2014 CALENDAR o’s local life by The Ech Selected slices of
photogs
day format e on, Monday to Sun
writ ets listed vals, events and mark n phases All Byron Shire festi s and BYR ONmoo SHIRE 2014 CALEND ays, schoolies date plus school holid AR
Easy to read and
Cape Byron, Overlooking Julian rocks and Little Wategos Beach. Photo Ziggi Browning
ANOTHER QUALITY
Outlaw billy cart gangs infiltrate the Bangalow Billy Cart Derby. Photo Jeff Dawson
A beautiful part of the world – worth protecting. Photo Eve Jeffery
Icecream as facepaint
experimentation. Photo
ECHO PUBLICATIO
Jeff Dawson
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Woman’s aura becomes visible in Byron Bay sunset. Photo Ziggi Browning
The inaugural Boomerang Festival was a flaming success. Photo Eve Jeffery
Beau Young and his board
check the break. Photo
Eve Jeffery
Arrrr! The pirates have landed at the Brunswick Heads Rod Run. Photo Ziggi Browning
‘The Flycycle’ by Roundabout Theatre (www.roundabou getting ready for the Mullum t.net.au) Music Festival. Photo Jeff Dawson
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GREAT GIFT IDEA! Michael Franti’s hokey-pokey gets out of hand at the Photo Jeff Dawson Bluesfest.
Even pink is permissible at the Living Earth Festival, Mullumbimby. Photo Jeff Dawson
Crop circle aliens overshoot the paddocks at Byron Photo Jeff Dawson Bay.
Selected slices of local life by The Echo’s photographers. Easy to read and write on Monday to Sunday format. All Byron Shire festivals, events and markets listed plus school holidays, schoolies dates, moon phases and more!
AVAILABLE NOW FROM THE
12 December 3, 2013 The Byron Shire Echo
tackle this growth. In fact, the heavyweights among the Australian political combatants, enthusiastically backed by big business, are all for the continuation of the post world war immigration program, based on the now obsolete ‘populate or perish’ thesis, that has seen Australia as the only western nation in the world to have doubled its population in the past half century. If this trend continues you can expect to see plenty of beaches on the east coast of Australia rock-walled, the Belongil being but one. My point is that a rock wall will end in a deep water frontage and to save the beach, miserable as it may be, you will need to build a groyne. Lester Brien Byron Bay
Land rates gall The ‘Battle against LHPA rates’ in The Land November 14 and a letter in the November 28 edition from the principal subject, Howard Furner of Goonengerry, at last exposes the statewide non-compliance in paying these arbitrary rates. For them to declare that these acts and regulations are the law is most deceptive when they wrote these very statutes. Former DPI min-
netdaily.net.au
Nothing major will be done Sapoty Brook wrote an excellent letter (Echo, 26 Nov ember 26) about things we all can do to prevent the Greenhouse Effect. Unfortunately, I think it is a pretty safe bet that nothing major will be done. There are two reasons for this opinion. The first is that often people cannot change their ways. For example, I overheard a woman working in a shop in town saying she lived in Ballina. This means she burns about 70km worth of petrol round trip every working day. But how free is she to change, even assuming she wants to? It’s difficult and expensive to sell your house and buy
another, or even to change houses if you are renting. Besides, Byron Bay is probably too expensive. Like almost every other commuter, she works in a place where it is very expensive to live. Public transport (if available) can help, but even trains and buses use fossil fuels. The other reason is people’s spending habits. Most people spend all the money they can now, and make no provision for the future. You have only to look at the history of credit cards to see that. Suppose a political party does try to do something to prevent the Greenhouse Effect, such as raising electric-
ity rates to pay for future developments in solar or wind power. Most people cannot see past the rising rates. The party will simply be voted out of office. So my prediction is that nothing major is going to be done about the Greenhouse Effect. People will go along ignoring the future until some calamity comes along, like flooded coastal cities or huge hurricanes. A few people will do small things, like the ones Sapoty Brook suggests, but these will be more than cancelled out by rising population. I hope I’m wrong. Charles MacFarland Ewingsdale
ister Jack Hallam in Neville Wran’s government told me this himself. So the Act states that payment is enforceable, while services are regulated and restricted. One review even had the gall to ask ratepayers to document the benefits because they could not believably describe any identifiable returns. Over 33 years I have refused to pay these charges on my 12ha wooded valley behind Billinudgel, in that time receiving one thousand demands in the mail. After about six summonses served upon me, the RLPB/LHPA has wasted at least 13 grand in costs, legal fees and an aborted auction of my land, which I refuse to pay and they are unable to enforce. If more ‘ratepayers’ would follow this praiseworthy example, this evil QANGO would be bankrupted, so let us bring this on! With 200 statements of claim, many unlawfully served, now intimidating northern rivers landowners, those being threatened need to have the courage to defend their rights, in court if neces-
sary, and still refuse to pay up. For their media officer to say they are not happy to divulge details of these intimidating legal enforcements shows how secretive they are, because their better nature must be ashamed of the appalling treatment they have meted out over the years to innocent rural dwellers. To obtain information and support go to www.rurallandsgroup.net and www. lhpaclassaction.com. Russell Preston Brisbane
Byron. I assume with all the schoolies in town they would be looking for drugs, probably marijuana and ecstasy. For those who aren’t familiar with marijuana and ecstasy, they have a similar effect – they make you feel good. That’s why they’re so popular. Marijuana is famous for positively enhancing people’s perceptions, causing them to find ordinary things funny and/or beautiful and eat Tim Tams. Ecstasy is the preferred choice of people who like to dance, hug and talk. Much is made of the dangers of drugs, and some are very dangerous indeed. Alcohol is involved in one eighth of the deaths of Australians under 25. Sixty per cent of all police calls and 90 per cent of late-night police calls involve alcohol. As a cause of personal and social harm the 2012 UK Drug Policy Report rates alcohol in the top five with heroin and barbiturates, while marijuana languishes in 11th place two spots behind tobacco, the killer of 20,000 Australians a year (marijuana has not been continued on page 14
Great festival Thanks so much to Glenn, Caroline and the Mullum Music Festival gang who once again put on a wonderful festival. It’s so heartwarming to have the town come together in smiles and song, and the musicians seem to genuinely love it too, adding to the good vibes all around. Great job, folks! Rachel Stone Mullumbimby
Money and drugs Last week I saw two police vehicles and sniffer dogs searching a car on its way to
Byron Shire Echo archives: www.echo.net.au