THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 33 #04 Wednesday, July 4, 2018
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Gifts from outer space – p7
New book by Dr Homeless – p17
Style & Beauty – p22–23
Locals unite against Adani
School Holidays – p24–26
Hopes rise for hospital handover Paul Bibby
The campaign to have the old Byron District Hospital site placed in community hands has taken a significant step forward. A formal proposal backed by local political and business figures was put to the state government last Friday. Under the plan, believed to have considerable state government support, NSW Health would lease the 2,000sqm site to the community for a nominal fee with Byron Shire Council acting as lessee or trustee. The government would also provide $2.5m to fund the full refurbishment of the main hospital
building and the remediation work required on the site. This would pave the way for the dilapidated hospital to be transformed into a mixed-use community hub providing much-needed services for the local area.
Political play NSW Upper House MP Ben Franklin (Nationals) who helped put the proposal together and presented it to his parliamentary colleagues on Friday said he was ‘optimistic’ that it would be adopted. ‘I have had a number of conversations about this with the premier, the deputy premier and the health
minister,’ said Mr Franklin, the parliamentary secretary for northern NSW. ‘They are interested and engaged and supportive of the concept of maximising community space. ‘They haven’t given me any guarantees but I certainly haven’t been discouraged by anything they’ve said.’ On June 28 Byron Shire Council voted unanimously to support the proposal. This included agreeing to act as the lessee/trustee, and agreeing to oversee a facilities team to manage and maintain the facility, and its continued on page 2
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New GM on the block Finding the Byron way Aslan Shand
Protesters gathered in Byron on Saturday as part of the National Day of Action organised by Frontline Action on Coal. There were 25 other actions taking place around Australia. Find out how you can support people physically blockading the building of the Adani mega coal mine on page 3. Photo Jeff ‘Cold Mined’ Dawson
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Shorten’s tax backflip – p10
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With community trust in Byron Council at its lowest ebb in years the question now is what will the new GM, Mark Arnold, bring to the table to get the council back on track. Mark is no newbie to the Byron scene, having worked as the director of Corporate and Community Services for ten years. He has filled in as acting general manager since Gainger’s departure in January. While Mark says that ‘every general manager brings their own unique qualities’ to the role, when asked if there was anything that he will be doing differently from his predecessor, he focused on working with the council and the community as being a key part of his role. The three key elements that Mark would like to see the council improve during his five-year term are infrastructure, management of growth and its impacts, and working with the community on Council’s decision-making process.
Delegated powers Asked if he felt the previous GM had breached his delegated authority in the management of the Butler Street situation, he said that he felt the GM had ‘acted within his delegations that were there at the time.’ Nonetheless a new set of delegated powers for the general manager will be put to the August ordinary meeting of Council ‘and inside those delegations there will be a restriction or a guidance on when matters that are brought against Council have to be reported and the regularity of that reporting,’ said
Mark, highlighting that he is ‘looking to learn from the feedback and put that into the delegation.’ ‘Obviously when the delegation goes up, there will be community input through public access and other means and we’ll find out whether or not we’ve got that right or whether or not there are other things that Council and community will want to look at inside the delegation. I think it is important that we not only report up when matters are instigated 9by council) but when they are brought 9against council). And we’ll be looking at similar guidelines in respect of both.’ While the Butler Street Bypass is still slated to go ahead it will be dependent on the state and federal government coming to the party over the $8.5 million shortfall in funding. If these grants don’t come through, Mark has said the council will need to rethink its position and determine if it is prepared to fill the shortfall.
Engaging community Recognising that the Byron Shire community is very engaged, and often has different points of view on an issue, Mark is keen to look at how ‘deliberate democracy’ can be used to engage with the community. While the citizen jury was one approach, he said balancing cost and engagement was important. ‘At this stage we are working with Council to see whether or not it is possible to have a model that is the Byron model. One that is cost effective and can be used when you are dealing with those tricker questions.’ continued on page 2
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