IT IS A MARK OF AN EDUCATED MIND TO BE ABLE TO ENTERTAIN A THOUGHT WITHOUT ACCEPTING IT – ARISTOTLE The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 35 #06 • Wednesday, July 22, 2020 • www.echo.net.au
Terry Agnew buys Villa World’s Byron property
Art placed in health spaces
Further to a recent story regarding Villa World’s Land & Environment court (LEC) case against Council over the West Byron development, representatives for wealthy Sydneybased developer, Terry Agnew, have told The Echo that his company, NSPT Pty Ltd, now owns all shares in Villa World Byron Pty Ltd. As such, NSPT Pty Ltd, ‘has full ownership rights and control in the application made in the name of Villa World Byron Pty Ltd’.
Paul Bibby
All ownership sold AVID Property Group CEO Cameron Holt said, ‘Given Villa World sold all ownership rights to NSPT in October 2019, it is unable to request any changes made to the application, or to amend the parties listed in the LEC proceedings. ‘Villa World will have no involvement in the LEC proceedings, as it is no longer a shareholder of the company that is behind the application’.
Artist Solveig has teamed up with Mullumbimby Comprehensive Healthcare Centre to establish a fresh new art exhibition space. Dubbed H’Art (short for Healing Art), the gallery’s exhibitions will rotate artworks approximately every six months. Local artists can express their interest via art@mullumhealthcentre.com. Photo Jeff ‘Arts Misplaced Since 1986’ Dawson
Avoid non-essential travel, social gatherings: Health Dept Paul Bibby
Skeletal remains not believed to be Theo Hayez
The recent case of COVID-19 detected at Ballina-Byron Airport appears to have involved a young woman wearing a face mask, raising hopes that the virus may not have spread into the community. Last week, a 20-year-old Northern Rivers resident tested positive to the virus, when she returned home on the last Melbourne to Ballina flight on July 12. The case was detected during a regulation
temperature check of all arriving passengers at Ballina-Byron Airport. The state’s chief medical officer, Kerry Chant, said the woman had been wearing a surgical mask when she exited the plane. ‘The person was wearing a surgical mask and was self-isolating,’ Dr Chant said. ‘We’re doing contact tracing in relation to that Jetstar flight, JQ466. ‘The individual was screened on arriving in Ballina airport and as I said, since arriving, they were in
Over 55s living proposed around Byron Hospital ▶ p3
Australians want drug reform, not ‘war on drugs’ ▶ p6
We are open! The Club has a COVID-19 Safety Plan in place to comply with all restrictions and keep the community safe.
the 14-day self-isolation.’ It has also emerged that the flight in question was only about 20 per cent full. The case was the first on the North Coast in 79 days, and brings the total number of cases in the region since the start of the pandemic to 56. At the time of writing, no new cases had been recorded since July 12. While this provides hope that the case may have been successfully isolated, there remain concerns that the spread within
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Byron Shire Council Notices ▶ p8
Sydney could extend to the Northern Rivers. The number of cases there has increased significantly over the past week, including a number of cases involving community transmission. ‘It wouldn’t take much for us to be in Melbourne’s situation, and we need everyone’s assistance,’ NSW Health deputy chief health officer Jeremy McAnulty said. ‘Everyone has got a role to play. Don’t be complacent’. ▶ Continued on page 5
The sight of multiple police cars parked near the bushland beside Tallow Beach last Wednesday afternoon sent a ripple through the surrounding streets. When the news filtered out that the officers had found human skeletal remains. Many people’s minds immediately went to the possibility that the remains belonged to backpacker Theo Hayez – an understandable assumption given that much of the search for the missing Belgian focused on the same area. But this was soon effectively put to rest by police. By 6pm NSW Police Media had put out a statement saying that the search had been conducted in relation to Thea Liddle, a 42-year-old woman who was reported missing by her family in January. While it could take weeks to formally identify the remains, this is by far the most likely scenario. ‘I would believe that it’s highly unlikely to be Theo Hayez’, said Detective Chief Inspector Brendon Cullen, referring to evidence previously submitted to the coroner regarding the young man. ‘Tweed-Byron detectives have been investigating the disappearance of Thea Liddle for a number of months and those investigations have led us to completing a number of searches in the area. ‘Those continued in the Byron ▶ Continued on page 4
Mungo MacCallum: Nation’s debt is climbing ▶ p10
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