THE BYRON SHIRE
BUMPER
Volume 30 #40
EASTER ISSUE
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
next week
www.echo.net.au Phone 02 6684 1777 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week
S O D E N S E T H AT L I G H T B E N D S A R O U N D I T
CAB AUDIT
Farewell to Ian Hosken 1951–2016 – p14
Phillip Frazer feels the Bern from the US – p18
Memories of Fukushima, five years on
With the recent purchase by Chinese investors of four large macadamia farms in the Dunoon area, The Echo asked local Richmond MP Justine Elliot (Labor) and Greens candidate for the upcoming election, Dawn Walker, their views on foreign ownership. Owing to the upcoming vote on the Nationals preselection, both candidates – Matthew Fraser and Carolyn Byrne – are understandably unable to comment until a candidate is announced.
FIRB approves $18m maca farms sale Harsha Prabhu
It’s now been five years since Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, which to this day is still surrounded in secrecy regarding the cleanup effort and the extension of ongoing massive radioactive leaks into the ocean. The 2011 magnitude-9 tsunami generated waves of around 3.4 metres, which travelled at speeds of around 800km/h from its epicentre. While more than 18,000 people died from the waves’ impact, it also unleashed one of the worst nuclear disasters in history when reactors were damaged. Five years on, more than 1,000 square kilometres of villages, mountains and forests remain out of bounds. A people’s gathering was held at the Mullumbimby Farmers Market on Friday, which included members
of the rainbow region’s Japanese community with babies in tow. The oldest was 80-year-‘young’ Zen master Hougen San. He told the gathering he predicted the disaster and left his country 20 years ago to move to Australia. ‘You know how serious this nuclear disaster is. I would like to shed light on a different point.’
Considered a blessing He then proceeded to turn the gathering into a Zazen session by suggesting the event could be instead considered a blessing. ‘We need not just information. We need direct experience [and] discovery of this miracle of “now”. ‘Otherwise we go on habitually and senselessly till the end. Without the discovery of this miracle of “now” all life is meaningless, [it’s] just habits,
which also produce disaster in our daily lives. It’s not just Fukushima.’ Activist Saya Minami told the group the Japanese government recently stopped supporting and compensating evacuees and cancelled the evacuation instructions, forcing evacuees to return to the contaminated area. She said, ‘The subject of “radiation” is culturally very sensitive in Japan. Many people have decided to live normally and not worry about radiation…’ ‘Everyone should have the right to live healthily and safely on this earth. And it’s a basic right as a human to protect our children. Nuclear power destroys our basic right to life.’ Saya told the group they can help by assisting her friend Taeko in Fukushima, who is on the frontline. The Fukushima Kids project is at www.pozible.com/project/203537.
www.echo.net.au/no-jab-no-paypenalties-from-next-week
Foreign ownership interest tested Luis Feliu & Hans Lovejoy
Zen master Hougen San explains his philosophy on how to deal with Fukushima. Photo Jeff Dawson
netdaily No jab no pay penalties from Friday Online in
Be entertained! Gigs and things – p30
So what was sold? Totalling 380 hectares with around 130,000 trees, four farms were approved for sale by the federal government under its ‘national interest test’, which is headed by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB). The Echo understands Chinese investment group Discovery paid around $18 million for the properties and that the Dunoon farms were previously owned by a US corporation. A spokesman for the new owner told the ABC north coast radio last week that it would ‘not make sense to bring in workers from overseas to manage the farms, as Australian farms were already highly-mechanised and efficient’. Page electorate MP, Kevin Hogan (Nationals) told The Echo that all purchases of agricultural land, including on the north coast, that were over the $15 million limit ‘have
gone through the ‘National Interest Test’ and have been approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board as it exceeded the foreign investment threshold of $15 million. He said the Nationals at the last election ‘took a commitment to lower the foreign investment threshold from $250m to $15m’. ‘This is the level that the Foreign Investment Review Board investigate foreign purchases of land. They determine whether it is in the national interest or not. I am very disappointed Labor wants to increase this threshold to $50 million,’ he said. The Australian Macadamia Society’s CEO Jolyn Burnett also told ABC that about 10 per cent of macadamia farms are foreign owned and it is not concerned about any increase in that trend.
Investment needed So where does Labor stand? Richmond’s Justine Elliot told The Echo, ‘Australia’s agriculture sector has huge opportunities to take advantage of demand for Australia’s clean, green food products.’ ‘Our farm sector needs investment so these opportunities can be realised. Investment is good for jobs, prosperity and sustainability in regional communities like ours. That is why Labor will get the balance right between attracting investment and protecting the national interest. ‘I’ll keep fighting for investment that delivers local jobs. That’s the first, second and third test that should be applied to any foreign continued on page 2
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