THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 32 #34
100% LOCAL
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
100% INDEPENDENT
www.echo.net.au Phone 02 6684 1777 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week
Stop Adani rally road trip – p5
T H E B E S T C O M M U N I C AT O R S U S E S I X - W O R D S L O G A N S
Social media bullying tackled – p8
Insurers pay out on local flood damage – p9
Death by tourism – p16
Sports sign-ons – p18–19
Survival Day launches petition Both the meaning of Australia Day and the date that it is celebrated on each year were once again brought into question last Friday, January 26, when people took to the streets in ‘change the date’ marches around the country as well as celebrating it as Survival Day. ‘While the important discussion of a meaning for our national day continues, Byron’s 14th annual Survival Day brought the community together to pay respect and acknowledge that there are two sides to the story of the erection of a British flag on Aboriginal land,’ said Delta Kay, local Aboriginal Arakwal custodian. With a minute’s silence, Aboriginal dancers, musicians and speakers at Byron’s Survival event ‘marked the day in memory of our history of colonisation, and in celebration of the survival of Aboriginal culture,’ continued Delta.
Petition launced ‘The day was a great community get-together, and a great place for everyone to meet up and start the conversation on how to bring recognition of our past history into
Byron Shire mayor Simon Richardson has described the police’s ‘zero tolerance’ of naturists as ‘excessive’ and called on the hierarchy to allow officers more discretion. And a Byron Bay local, Maxine, says she will fight the $500 infringement she received at Tyagarah Tea Tree Lake just over a week ago, tell-
netdaily
D-Day looms for Lake Ainsworth road www.echo.net.au/d-day-looms-lakeainsworth-road
Scrap community roundtables: GM Paul Bibby
Byron Council should scrap its community roundtable meetings and take a careful look at the ‘squeaky wheels’ on the Byron Bay Town Centre Masterplan (BBMP) group if it wants genuine community participation, council’s outgoing general manager said in a report to councillors. The recommendations came from GM Ken Gainger in a noholds-barred report on the effectiveness of Council’s community engagement, to be discussed at the upcoming meeting this Thursday.
Citizen juries
Jade Strain-Ford took part in Survival Day last Friday, January 26, in Byron Bay enjoying the perfect weather and a good turn-out at the celebrations at Main Beach. Photo Jeff Dawson
Australia’s future.’ Survival Day also saw the launch of a petition to be tabled on the floor of the federal parliament to progress
a referendum on establishing a constitutional Aboriginal Consultative Committee, and to commence on a Makaratta process to facilitate rec-
onciling British occupation of Aboriginal land. Sign the petition in Railway Park at the BEC Kiosk.
Mayor calls for more tolerance of naturists by police Chris Dobney
Online in
ing The Echo that she has been off work owing to ill health and cannot afford to pay the fine. Since chief inspector Luke Arthurs announced the campaign several weeks ago, police have handed out some 15 fines to people found naked outside the Shire’s 800 metres of designated clothing-optional beach, whether or not they were aware of recent changes in the rules.
Maxine, who has been a Byron local for three years, said she had swum naked at the lake twice before after ‘being taken there the first time by a friend who was a school principal’. ‘Each time I had swum naked, and there were naked people there. I had no idea that it was illegal. I’m an extremely law-abiding citizen,’ she told The Echo.
Quick dip On Saturday, January 20, Maxine and a friend were returning to Mullumbimby and decided on a whim to go to the lake for a quick dip. ‘It was a hot day; we’d just been to Mullum markets. I’ve just had some really heavy surgery and my friend said, “Why don’t we go for a swim at continued on page 3
A Natural Approach Family oriented general dentistry. Dental phobics treated with understanding.
Written as part of Council’s ongoing attempt to give residents a more direct role in decision making, the report recommends that the roundtables should be replaced by ‘citizen juries’ – groups of randomly selected community members tasked with developing policy solutions. This would address what Mr Gainger described as a ‘palpable lack of trust by the community in Council’ and its decision making. Two sets of consultants hired by Council to help it engage with the community had found this absence of faith in the council, he said. In a stinging evaluation, Mr Gainger pointed to ten different council processes and policies contributing to this situation. These include the previous council’s decisions to push through its strategic land use agenda and its flawed Coastal Zone Management Plan without adequate consultation. Council’s planning processes for continued on page 4
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