THE BYRON SHIRE
mothers day
Volume 31 #47 Wednesday, May 3, 2017
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pages 20-24
P U T T I N G O U T S N A C K S F O R A F P G AT E C R A S H E R S
The spooks have us Dr Mary in the in their sights mozzie mosh pit – p10 – p15
Mullum’s Renew Fest brings together energy and ideas Renew Fest stages its second festival at the Mullumbimby showgrounds this weekend. Organisers say the festival brings together ‘an extraordinary range of people to share their passions, solutions and initiatives for a sustainable world’. Among them is builder Tony Hill, who runs ECOnic Design & Construction. He is ‘surfing the home-owning wave of “small is beautiful – and sensible” with his Tiny Homes.’ When his daughter Kai was born, the then 21-year-old Tony built a home in Hervey Bay where he developed his guiding philosophy about practicality and thermal properties of building materials. ‘I taught permaculture courses on that property for 14 years and experimented with everything I read in the Permaculture Manual and beyond. ‘This all eventually led me to cre-
ating the ECOnic Design modular buildings and construction systems, so that anyone could build their own home with the option of starting small and adding to it as they could afford it.’ This year at the festival Tony is launching his small homes and cabins. To support Renew Fest, Tony is auctioning the frame of a tiny home, worth $14,000. He is giving 50 per cent of the profits to COREM for their renewable-energy generation projects. Mullum-based musicians Peter Hunt and Si Mullumby have collaborated to create a theme soundtrack for the festival and its causes this year. ‘I’m good friends with many of the people involved with the festival organisation,’ said Pete. ‘I’m a believer in COREM’s goals, especially continued on page 2
Escaping Mullum Jan Barham by cargo ship reviews the parks – p16 takeover – p19
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The goddess on the brewery wall
Over the last week mural artist Nitsua has been painting a mural at the Byron Bay Brewery. According to Nitsua, a good mural ‘inspires and has the ability to take the imagination elsewhere’. Nitsua said he wanted to paint a character that had a goddess-like spiritual power to give the feeling that ‘this could be someone in the crowd’. For Nitsua, it’s about the feeling of the work. ‘We are all on our own journey,’ he says, ‘understanding things in our own way.’ Photo supplied
Response to flood needs ‘too slow’ Aslan Shand
From left, Mark Stanton, festival master of signology, Ella Rose Goninan, festival creative director and Murray Drechsler, non-violent direct action program coordinator. Photo Nirveyli Rose Goninan
North coast flood recovery coordinator Euan Ferguson has conceded that they had been too slow in responding to the needs of residents and businesses in the north of Byron Shire. ‘It took us too long to come to Mullumbimby and meet with the Byron Shire Council,’ he said. ‘We should have been here within the first ten days.’ More than 40 residents from the north of Byron Shire, primarily from businesses in Billinudgel, attended a meeting in Mullumbimby at the council chambers on Wednesday April 26 to discuss the response to,
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and recovery from Cyclone Debbie. ‘The response to the needs of Billinudgel to date I feel has been inadequate,’ said Rebecca Brewin from Billi Auto. ‘There are no clear plans in place for how these disasters are responded to.’ Mr Ferguson and the Byron Shire Council are now working towards a proposal for category C funding for the Billinudgel area as part of a second round of funding applications to the Commonwealth. ‘We are working with the data to see if there are other areas that might qualify,’ said Mr Ferguson. ‘The data are saying we need to take action. ‘We don’t want to build up hopes;
however, there are a number of areas that need a closer look.’ If category C funding is declared for Billinudgel then businesses in that area are able to apply for the funding, provided that they meet the specific funding criteria. Council is still collecting and collating data. Businesses affected by flooding are encouraged to hand an impact statement to Council. The Billinudgel community has come together to create a subcommittee of the North Byron Chamber of Commerce to look at the needs of small businesses and future responses to extreme weather events. continued on page 2
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