IF A REGULATION IS BREACHED AND NOBODY COMPLAINS, DOES IT MAKE A SOUND? The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 34 #08 • Wednesday, July 31, 2019 • www.echo.net.au
WRITERS FEST LIFTOUT – see centre pages
Transparency lacking as cypress pine becomes Ǖ ſƆƐ ćƷżëƆƆ ĈëƆƖëōƐƷ Hans Lovejoy
ĕĈşſĎȒćſĕëŊĶŕī ǖ ĶīIJƐ Mark Rindel has set a record with a flight from Australia’s most westerly point to the most easterly. Photo Jeff Dawson Paul Bibby It was little more than a slowmoving dot in mid-morning sky – barely enough to make a cockatoo look twice. But the ‘nanolight’ that landed quietly at Tyagarah airstrip last Thursday was anything but insignificant. The plane and its pilot, Mark Rindel, had just completed a record-breaking flight across the country, travelling from Australia’s most westerly point to its most easterly tip, here in the Byron Shire. Rindel flew the tiny, 80kg plane up to six hours a day for more than a month, breaking the record for the lightest flight from one end of Australia to the other, and he is the first solo nanoflight pilot to cross the red centre. ‘It’s such a light plane – I was like
a cork in the ocean up there at times,’ the Melbourne-based pilot said. ‘I would get tossed around and thrown around – some days I just about wanted to give up,’ he said. ‘Other days, it was just absolutely serene.’ After leaving from Western Australia’s Shark Bay on June 24, Rindel flew the tiny plane for up to 300km a day – the maximum its matchbox engine could manage.
LëĶſƷ ŔşŔĕŕƐƆ There were more than a few hairy moments, including the flight over Tenterfield, where he had to soar to 6,000 feet to safely clear the Great Dividing Range. Thankfully, he was supported by a ground crew, led by his wife Penny, who accompanied the flight by car, carrying supplies of fuel, food, and water.
‘There is absolutely no way I could have done it without her,’ Rindel says. ‘There was a whole stretch of about 1,000km where there was nothing – just desert as far as you could see, so we needed to pretty much carry everything with us.’ The inspiration for the flight came from one of Rindel’s dear friends, who came up with the idea but never got the chance to bring it to fruition. ‘John unfortunately passed away, and one day I just thought: “What the hell – why don’t I do it anyway”,’ he says. ‘So I did. You’ve just got to do these things sometimes.’ Rindel is already planning his next nanolight adventure. ‘There’s an old postal route in the US, with white marker stones that are still visible,’ he says. ‘It’s another journey West to East. I’d love to give it a go.’
With residents claiming a cypress pine, paperbarks, and eucalypt trees have been destroyed in the first phase of the Butler Street bypass project, it’s emerged Council are undertaking the large project without a contamination report or providing proof that they have met extensive requirements of Land & Enviroment (L&E) Court orders. The L&E Court orders outline all management and reports that are required before undertaking the infrastructure project. Butler Street residents say the established trees unnecessarily came down last week and they are now without privacy screenings. Labor councillor Jan Hackett told The Echo, ‘I do not understand why the trees have been removed on the residential side of Butler Street. I have asked mayor Simon Richardson and staff to explain’. Throughout the project, the Greens and Labor councillor majority have supported the project while having virtually no involvement – all management has been palmed to staff to manage under delegated powers. Only a vague mayoral
minute asked staff, just prior to awarding the construction tender, to ‘identify areas of degraded wetland near the bypass and what the cost would be to do some restoration work’. This report is expected during the construction phase. Given the lack of transparency, The Echo asked staff why this project has proceeded given crucial documents have not been provided to the public. ‘Why is Council doing this, given any commercial developer doing a similar project would unlikely be allowed to proceed without this information?’ Staff replied, ‘Council is focused on building the approved and funded bypass. Current bypass testing results are part of working documents associated with the construction contract (compliance with consent conditions) and are not publicly available at this stage’. The Echo has also asked for the L&E Court orders to be provided – nothing is available on their website.
ōƐĕſŕëƐĶưĕƆȃ The long-running saga of what route alternatives were explored and why they were rejected ▶ Continued on page 2
Protests continue on Butler Street. Photo Olive Green
Byron Shire How technology Bruns Simple Greens councillors’ Butler Street The ethics of Council is hurting our Pleasures photo reply inadequate bypass debate eating – Good Notices ▶ p18 comp ▶ p12 says Cohen ▶ p14 rages on ▶ p17 kids ▶ p9 Life ▶ p18