Letters Getting old
Norway’s electricity is 95 per cent hydro generated and the cost of electricity to Norwegians is less than half that paid by Australians. I believe electric cars will be adopted more readily in Australia when their range can be extended and charging times and costs of the vehicles are reduced significantly, but not beforehand. Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later. Jim Mangleson Ocean Shores
As a resident of Ocean Shores, I’ve seen the toilet block at Banner Park being cleaned regularly and thoroughly. However, owing to the age of the facility, it seems old and awful. A new or renovated block would seem to be the answer, to my way of thinking. Sue Loane Ocean Shores
Charge polluters Congratulations to Mia Armitage and Rob Osborne for their very timely article last week on climate-change policies. The coalition of course has no real policies, and Labor’s and the Greens’ policies have lots of detail on the easy part, that’s the one-third of emissions from electricity generation. But they have very little on the other two-thirds, and what they do have is simplistic or poorly detailed. For example, Labor wants 50 per cent of new car sales to be electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030. That sounds good, but the other 50 per cent could (and probably would) be emissions-intensive 4WDs, most of which would still be on the road in 2050 and beyond, when we need to be at net zero emissions. What is needed is both an incentive to buy EVs and a disincentive to buy fossilfuelled vehicles. Remove GST from all vehicles, and collect the same amount of money by a sales tax based on emission
A little art
levels – no tax on EVs and an increasing level of taxation on more polluting vehicles? Similarly, why not reduce rego and CTP (compulsory third party) fees to a nominal level to cover administration costs, and recover the money by an increased fuel tax? No fees for EVs, increasing fees for fuel-guzzling 4WDs. These sort of signals need to be implemented now, to give a clear signal to consumers that EVs are the future, and fossil-fuelled vehicles will be not only more expensive to buy but also more expensive to run, and therefore not a good buy. As for charging points, if Giles Parkinson wants to find something he could always go the local library. Not only
do they still have books, they also have very knowledgeable staff, who could have pointed Giles to the charging station in the library carpark. Matthew Lambourne Mullumbimby
Electric dreams Mr Giles Parkinson, editor of Renew Economy, was reported in last week’s Echo saying that in Norway more than 50 per cent of new car sales are electric. The fact that Norway is 385,000 square kilometres in size compared to 7,640,000 square kilometres for Australia makes the current, limited range of these cars more suitable for the short distances people need to travel in Norway.
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.
As a former resident of Byron I’m still a keen observer of local events. I am impressed with the art installation on Ewingsdale Road. I believe it needs a suitable name. To me it suggests a flimsy structure holding empty promises, surrounded by blowflies. The name ‘Mr Mollison’s Election’ springs to mind. May 18 could be a good day for a naming ceremony. Harald Ehrlich Rozelle
BAYSIDE ACUPUNCTURE & HERBAL MEDICINE
Registered Doctors of Chinese Medicine Health Fund Rebates/Instant Claiming
Pass the nude Once again the letters section in both our local papers continues the ‘debate’ on ‘nude bathing’ in our Shire. As in politics, the protagonists try to describe the battlefield and the rules of engagement in their own terms and to their own advantage. This rarely leads to clarity. Firstly, we have the ‘nimby’ approach, which is fully understandable, as is the position of the people who wish to enjoy being naked at the beach (and anywhere else for that ▶ Continued on next page
David King
Eeka King
Becky Martin
Ryan Whatford
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A N O R PA P RO D U C T I O N 86 JONSON ST, BYRON BAY 6685 7662 therailsbyronbay.com
AND THE FAMOUS
RAILS kitchen
Thursday 18 April
LEIGH JAMES BAND
DREAMLAND COMING TO BANGALOW MAY 15–25 Joyful and poignant and potent … a richly engaging and cleverly crafted work. ArtsHub
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norpa.org.au | 1300 066 772 www.echo.net.au/byron-echo Byron Shire Echo archives
Friday 19 April
EPIC Saturday 20 April
PORT ROYAL Sunday 21 April
THOR PHILLIPS Monday 22 April
FINTAN Tuesday 23 April
JON J BRADLEY Wednesday 24 April
TAHLIA MATHESON żſĶō ǨǮǽ ǩǧǨǰ The Byron Shire Echo 17