Letters Voice of Splendour
Goobye ANZ
They talk about automation as if it is manifest destiny. As though it is machines themselves bringing it on. It’s not. It’s deliberate Neo-liberal policy. There are already robots in Byron. Each time you use an ATM or supermarket checkout machine, you are playing your part in putting your neighbours out of work. ANZ makes billions in net profit every year. The Mullum branch is being shut down this week, another half-dozen people lose their jobs. Each time we used the ATM we put a nail in the coffin of our local branch. Valé. The ultimate bank will be a giant robot that employs noone, screws its customers and makes billions for its global shareholders. We are well on the road to realising this Orwellian nightmare. So next time you bank or shop at the supermarket, use
a real person when you can –not a robot. Michael Balson Upper Wilsons Creek
Rubbish?
On my steam wireless I heard an unfortunate Byron Council functionary attempting to justify Council’s long-term transport of our rubbish to Queensland. From where I was listening I could clearly see the hand imprint of a budgetpanicked GM Gainger in the middle of his back. The hastily compiled story claimed that the Queensland sites were more environmentally acceptable than local tipping. He added that other adjacent councils may take our waste. Oh yeah, which ones? They are mostly at it themselves. Also that the Myocum tip (now a transfer station) if reopened would generally degrade and produce more leachate. True but specious in
that the council quarry on the west of the site that was being prepared for a new tip years ago was abandoned because sending garbage to Queensland was cheaper. As for the leachate, it is currently dumped at Ocean Shores and West Byron in very questionable and secretive environmental circumstances that no-one, including the current councillors, seems to want to address. This is standard for the whole sewage and rubbish crisis from the effluent reuse scandal to the defunct Mullum sewer system to the impending general sewage treatment plant overload. Watch this space and see if our fading-green council has the intestinal fortitude to confront this environmental scam or will it hide behind the flimflam produced by the GM’s embattled staff ? Will Simple Simon for once call the Pieman’s bluff ? Tom Tabart Bangalow
Letters to the Editor Send to Letters Editor Aslan Shand, fax: 6684 1719 email: editor@echo.net.au Deadline: Noon, Friday. Letters longer than 200 words may be cut. Letters already published in other papers will not be considered. Please include your full name, address and phone number for verification purposes.
Career Guidance
For years community members worked to have the environmental importance of the Marshalls Ridge wildlife corridor on land adjacent to Jones Road in Yelgun recognised and protected. In the early 1990s the community was successful in having the Fahey NSW Liberal government provide more than $13m to protect this significant wildlife corridor. In 2009 the community challenged the proposed Splendour in the Grass mega development adjacent to this significant wildlife corridor in the Land and Environment Court, and won. The Court found this development is properly characterised as a temporary place of assembly which is a prohibited use in the habitat zone. Did these hard-working community members receive any kind of reward or recognition for these years of work? Of course not! The developers were able to lodge another development application with the Planning and Assessment Commission, who ignored the community’s concerns and the Land and Environment Court ruling and what the community and the wildlife got was one of the noisiest, most disruptive, mega developments imaginable at their back door! Despite the documented importance of the Marshalls Ridge wildlife corridor, and several breaches of the consent conditions, it appears certain that permanent approval will be rubber stamped. The Planning and Assessment Commission will be holding a public meeting on continued on next page
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RAILS
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AND THE FAMOUS
RAILS kitchen
Thursday 17 August
DAN HANNAFORD Friday 18 August
I want to keep my yucky germs to myself For some people getting the flu means time off school or work, but for others it can lead to hospitalisation and even death. You can help stop the spread of flu by keeping them home if they’re sick, and teaching these three steps.
The Flu. It’s Not Just About You. www.healthynorthcoast.org.au/stop-flu North Coast news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au
KELLIE KNIGHT & THE DAZE Saturday 19 August
CATCH IT
MARSHALL O’KELL BAND Sunday 20 August
DAN HORNE
BIN IT
Monday 21 August
FINTAN CALLAGHAN Tuesday 22 August
KILL IT
CHRIS ARONSTEN Wednesday 23 August
KARIN PAIGE DUO The Byron Shire Echo August 16, 2017 13