Letters Time to renew In a recent column, Mungo described those who expect the imminent death of capitalism, thanks to the impact of the dreaded lurgi, as ‘utopian dreamers’. I’m inclined to agree given the enthusiastic resurgence of human greed and its attendant carpetbaggers after many major disasters throughout history. However, there is some hope for change in the fact that the smart money is on renewables. Charles Donovan, director of the grand-sounding Centre for Climate Finance and Investment, Imperial College Business School, notes, ‘Clean energy is not just affordable and reliable, it also offers the highest return on investment. Investors have a growing appetite to put money to work in sustainable finance. Governments need to re-write the rules so that they can.’ Mr Donovan is quoted in an Oxford University news release headed ‘Building back better: A net-zero emissions recovery’. A team of experts, including Joseph Stiglitz, and Nicholas Stern, assessed ‘the economic and climate impact of taking a green route out of the crisis’. The economists found that ‘green projects create more jobs, deliver higher short-term returns per dollar spent, and lead to increased long-term cost savings, by comparison with traditional fiscal stimulus’. More details here: https://bit.ly/3c9T90O. Hopefully governments, including ours, can tear themselves loose from their fossil-fuel donors and participate in the renewal. Is that utopian dreaming? Michael McDonald Bairnsdale VIC
Who runs Australia? In 1998 when Hong Kong went Chinese, the Rigg family left, and built a house in Myocum. Chris Rigg was leaving Hong Kong after a career in finance. He took several years out in Oz and had two kids here, but went eventually to London. We stayed in touch, and I met him annually when visiting my London family. Point is: he ran a serious big-league hedge fund in London, and he told me the finance whizzes of the City of London refer to Australia as ‘Treasure Island’, for obvious reasons. We’ve flogged the lot and made the ‘City’ rich. Ron Priestley Main Arm
Railway debate The idea of an inland railway is a foolish one and is just a device used by the National Party to indicate they care for their constituents. Every survey ever undertaken
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[on this issue] indicates it would never make a profit. As the majority of business and agricultural activity occurs along the east coast, governments would do a lot better to revive the railway along the Pacific coast, and build a link between Murwillumbah and Brisbane and revive, or even build, more feeder lines. Freight depots in the larger towns would increase employment in those areas. Governments are always claiming they are trying to encourage people to move to rural areas but they do little other than pork barreling by moving government departments to rural towns. If people were assured they could visit their local large centre in the morning, and return by evening, this would go a long way toward encouraging people to remain in more remote areas, and may even encourage people to move to these areas. Nowadays, such services could be remotely controlled – which would lower the costs further. David Gilet Byron Bay
West Byron It is interesting to note that the ‘local’ landowners of West Byron who have applied for this DA to build between 800 and 1000 houses on a fragile sea-level floodplain are somewhat non-committal about their plans and deliberations for the area. They don’t even seem to know exactly how many houses will be constructed there. If they were absolutely genuine in their hopes and aspirations for the longterm benefit of the community of Byron Bay and its residential community, surely they would be promoting their case at every opportunity. Wouldn’t they be singing its praises from the rooftops, running articles in The Echo about its possibly cuttingedge sustainable build quality? But they are not! Their silence is ominous! Covert and complicit? There is no doubt that these ‘local’ landholders are not embarking on this enormous development for fun, or as a philanthropic gesture to the town of Byron Bay. They are fulfilling all of the compliance regulations of due process and
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all of the various protocols under the Local Government Act 1993, but nothing more. This is a DA acquired by stealth. Christopher Wright Byron Bay
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Byron bypass Is the Mitchell’s Rainforest Snail edible? If it is, then someone should breed them. That’s the only way the snail can avoid extinction, like teosinte corn, which is extinct in the wild, but survives in gardens across the world. With fewer than 600 individuals remaining, extinction is certain over time, with or without the Byron bypass, unless we start eating them. So come on folks; Save the Snail. Eat some today. Warren Kennedy Mullumbimby
Media watch A lot of people are justifiably sceptical about the official narrative, and there’s good reason to doubt the credibility of mainstream media. We need only recall the lies that led to the war on Iraq to demonstrate that governments and corporate-controlled media can be complicit in large-scale deceptions and psychological operations against the general population. With this reality in mind, it behoves us to subject every official narrative to rigorous critical analysis. In so doing, we are bound to encounter flak from two main sources. Of course, we’re opposed by sponsors of the official narrative; the ruling elite, the one per cent, the establishment, the powers that be, whatever you want to call them. These are the high-powered antagonists of independent thought and diversity of opinion, they have the power to shut down critics and marginalise alternative viewpoints. We also face opposition from well-meaning but essentially incurious citizens who reflexively accept the official narrative; people who have no interest in researching the issues for themselves, and who view questioning authority as dangerous to civil society. And so we strive to intrigue and enlighten these people. John Scrivener Main Arm
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lëƷ ǨǪǽ ǩǧǩǧ The Byron Shire Echo 11