THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 32 #10 Wednesday, August 16, 2017
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P18–20 N O B O DY N E E D S A WA R M O R E T H A N A P R I M E M I N I S T E R W H O I S P O L L I N G L O W A N D H A S A O N E S E AT M A J O R I T Y
Deluded PM thinks Case made for the Mandy tackles he’s a ‘strong Bob Bellear Sports that $122m postal leader’ – p12 Field – p9 vote – p39
netdaily Mullum nurse defends using cannabis as a cure Online in
echo.net.au/mullum-nurse-defends
Sizzling sounds of Bangalow Calls to focus on future proofing against flood Aslan Shand
Glorious early spring weather greeted punters at the fourth annual Bangalow BBQ and Bluegrass Festival held over the weekend at the Bangalow Showgrounds. More than 1,500 patrons ate and drank and listened to the awesome lineup at this year’s event. Pictured are MC Emmy-Lou Amythis who left her mark on Banjo picker Zane Banks. Photo Jeff ‘Smooches’ Dawson
‘High capital cost’ prevents sealing of gravel roads Byron Shire Council staff have hosed down the suggestion from a local quantity surveyor/cost engineer that the most cost-effective use of funds for repairing the Shire’s roads is to apply bitumen to gravel roads. Ron Priestley told The Echo that a 50 to 66 per cent saving could be achieved, ‘on annual gravel road maintenance into the future if only the most basic single-coat bitumen seal were applied.’ He says, ‘Annually the Shire’s gravel roads erode during the wet season and tonnes of stone and sedi-
ment wash into the bush, into creeks and destroy the fish and aquatic habitat. Council budgets only allow for repair of these gravel roads and there are no funds for the necessary bitumen seal to stop erosion, particularly on the steeper parts.’ In reply, Infrastructure Services Director Phil Holloway confirmed with The Echo that Council’s budget currently does not provide for the upgrading of gravel roads to bitumen roads. He said, ‘Our budget only allows for the repair and maintenance of
gravel roads. For Byron Shire Council to seal a gravel road, it would be necessary to buy all the gravel for the sub-base and base of the road as this is required to ensure longevity of the road’s structure…’ ‘While this may achieve longterm savings, this measure is a high capital cost and Byron Shire Council has instead committed to maintaining gravel roads and maintaining and renewing bitumen roads.’ For full story, including Council’s current road repair projects, visit www.echo.net.au.
The Bad News: Power Prices Up by 20%!
With welcome news that Byron Shire Council have received muchneeded state government funds for a North Byron Floodplain Risk Management Study, questions have been raised as to whether preventive disaster preparation should be the focus of governments rather than simply disaster relief. Parliamentary secretary for the northern NSW, Ben Franklin MLC (Nationals) announced the $130,000 funding grant for Council last week. Yet as The Echo went to print, the state government Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) were yet to reply as to why the funding for the flood plain management study had taken since June 2016 to approve. Tweed Shire Council senior staff member David Oxenham, who is chair of the infrastructure, waste and environment sub-committee of the regional flood committee, said that ‘for every $10 they [the government] spend on recovery and restoration for flood events, they are spending $1 on flood management and mitigation.’ Oxenham pointed to the need for both state and federal governments to fund the essential work needed to make roads and other assets able to withstand the effects of disasters, rather than to just bring them back to the previous condition. He told The Echo, ‘It is about making the assets more resilient. So far, the state and federal governments have said No. We would like them to put their minds to making assets more resilient rather than just replacement,’ he continued.
It’s a position supported by local civil engineer and former Greens councillor Duncan Dey.
‘Policy entrenched in failure’ He told The Echo, ‘In Australia, we spend bugger-all on good planning and heaps on “disaster relief ”. Most disasters can be sheeted home to bad planning.’ ‘Most other countries allocate 80 per cent of their disaster budget towards better planning and 20 per cent towards restoration. ‘Sadly in Australia we roll out the money when there are extreme weather events rather than planning to avoid building in areas prone to these events. This policy entrenches failure.’ Euan Ferguson, who co-ordinated the regional flood recovery on behalf of the state government, recently handed back responsibility to local councils. He told The Echo, ‘Flood recovery in the northern rivers is going as well as it could. It is a long-term and complex issue.’ He highlighted the importance of planning in relation to flooding and other disasters that we know will happen again. He also said there is a need for insurance companies to ‘look at what worked and what didn’t.’ ‘In my view, there need to be some changes.’ Meanwhile Byron Shire Council have recently replied to questions put forward by a range of community groups since Cyclone Debbie in late March. continued on page 3
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