Comment
For North Coast news online visit
Value our volunteers There have been no shortage of challenges in Australia in the last few years – drought, fire, flood, and now COVID-19. And we are already heading back into fire season with local crews currently on the ground in Duranbah and Stokers Siding. Richie Allen got a nice Without the essential contributions of volunteers surprise when Rebeka the country would have Dickson delivered some fared far worse. The value chutney and jams made from of volunteering in Australia his pawpaws. in 2012 was around $200 billion and by 2014 it had increased to an annual contribution of $290 billion, according to research by Associate Professor Dr Lisel O’Dwyer at Flinders University. ‘The economic contribution of volunteering to Australian society surpasses revenue sources from major sectors including mining, agriculture, defence and retail,’ said Dr O’Dwyer. If you want to find out how much value your actions can provide as a volunteer go to the volunteer calculator at: https://bit.ly/3jo1OjF. Volunteering can come in a myriad of different forms, from the SES and rural fire services to community groups like Rotary, the Country Women’s Association, Lifeline, and wildlife carers. During the recent devastating bushfire season, members of Melbourne’s Sikh community provided free food to bushfire victims, serving meals to hundreds of people. During COVID-19, musicians and artists, who are some of the hardest-hit members of the community, have volunteered their time to keep our spirits up. Locally, 93kg of green pawpaws were donated to the Bangalow CWA by Richie Allen. Not only were they able to make 200 jars of relish and chutney to raise funds, they were able to take a selection of the goods back to Mr Richie. For others it was a matter of camping out in Myrtle State Forest, south of Casino, on Sunday night to protect the forest and koalas from logging by the NSW Forestry Commission (see p3). Then there is the ongoing work and support provided to the community through the Mullumbimby and District Neighbourhood Centre and Byron Bay Community Centre with regular meals, showers, emergency relief and coordination during fire, flood, and pandemic, for those in need of help and resources. There is plenty that the government can do to support these organisations, from effective funding of our emergency services to ensuring that they listen to community concerns. While in a crisis donations come flowing in, it is the government’s responsibility to ensure that good quality equipment is available, training is provided, and that they are responsive to the communities’ needs. We need to value our volunteers for the strength they give our communities, and to also remember that each of us can be a volunteer, not only formally but also in the actions we take in our day-to-day lives. Sometimes it is the smallest act of kindness that can have a positive influence in the world around you. Aslan Shand, acting editor
What’s a little spin in a pandemic?
O
ne of the more dubious schemes devised by marketeers of real estate is known as ‘selling off the plan.’ By this they mean persuading customers to buy, and pay for, not actual property but the idea of it – the belief that some time, somehow, the developers will get around to constructing their luridly optimistic projections and turn them into at least a semblance of reality. In other words, hope will triumph over experience – much the same formula embraced by politicians at election time when they offer the voters a list of promises that may or may not come to fruition. Given Scott Morrison’s background it is entirely predictable that he has adopted this strategy in his latest attempt to convince the punters that not only is he in control of the COVID19 pandemic, but he has a plan – a genuine, rolled gold, concrete plan – to fix it. So last week he announced, with considerable fanfare, that Australia had made an agreement with the English firm AstraZeneca to supply an effective vaccine, to be manufactured locally and distributed free to anyone who wanted it – or indeed anyone who didn’t. The silver bullet had been found, relief was just around the corner. But, as with so many promotions, if that looked too good to be true, then it was. Sure, AstraZeneca’s research is promising, but even if all the tests are successful – and there is no guarantee that they will be – there is a lot to be done before actual production can begin. We are not talking about days or weeks, but many months. And we do not have an agreement, we have a letter of intent. In other words, we haven’t even got a ticket for a seat in the game – we have only applied for a place in the queue for a spot in the outer. The big players are well ahead of us – the United States and the United Kingdom both have firm commitments, not only from AstraZeneca, but from five other potential suppliers as well, and there are plenty more in line before we get to the front. Morrison is not offering a solution but a thought bubble, something to keep us going until some other rabbit
The Byron Shire Echo Volume 35 #11 August 26, 2020 Established 1986 • 23,500 copies every week The Echo acknowledges the people of the Bundjalung nation as the traditional custodians of this land and extends respect to elders past, present and future. Disclaimer: The Echo is committed to providing a voice for our whole community. The views of advertisers, letter writers, and opinion writers are not necessarily those of the owners or staff of this publication.
www.echo.net.au Phone: 02 6684 1777 Editorial/news: editor@echo.net.au Advertising: adcopy@echo.net.au Office: Village Way, Stuart Street, Mullumbimby NSW 2482 General Manager Simon Haslam Acting Editor Aslan Shand Editor (on leave) Hans Lovejoy Photographer Jeff Dawson Advertising Manager Angela Harris Production Manager Ziggi Browning
Nicholas Shand 1948–1996 Founding Editor
‘There are still plenty of exemptions for the fortunate and well connected, whether through institutions or individual ĶŕǕƖĕŕĈĕȁț Mungo MacCallum However, ScoMo has to be seen to be doing something, because the masses are getting seriously restive. The times when the necessary restrictions could be played as some kind of temporary boys’ own adventure are now long gone – the game has become tedious, and the more it drags on the more the resentment and division will fester. We are no longer all in this together, if we ever really were. Increasingly we are playing by different rules. The new contest is about cops and robbers, goodies and baddies. And we want the baddies exposed, shamed and punished; bring back the stocks. No more Mr Nice Guy. Those who have crossed forbidden borders or broken free from compulsory isolation are being seen not just as selfish, reckless and disobedient; they are criminals, fugitives who have escaped from the law. Fine them till the pips squeak, whack them in the slammer and throw away the key, show them no mercy. And as the popular mood swings away from sympathy towards vengeance, the need for victims grows, not always sensibly or even rationally, but to assuage the belligerent commentary. There are still plenty of exemptions for the fortunate and well connected, whether through institutions or individual influence. And they can be applauded for their success in gaming the system.
But those who miss out are to be regarded not just as failures, but as offenders. Inconsistent? Of course. But who said authoritarianism had to make sense? The victims are predominantly the young; schoolchildren have been given a caning, several canings in fact. Their sports days have been cancelled, also their music lessons, their end of year formals and anything else which edges outside the daily grind of the basic curriculum – although religious education remains compulsory. Good for discipline, perhaps. And as they gaze through their hermetically sealed classroom windows, the hapless students watch on as their elders play their sport, eat, drink and gamble and whinge mightily about not being allowed to do more. And the envious and angry come like the wrath of Thor if their fellow Australians cross the line. The enforcers like to pretend that isn’t really happening, that their draconian regime is one of caring and sharing. Thus they continue to refer to those incarcerated in their insalubrious hotels – and forced to pay for their detention – as guests, not as the prisoners they are. The punters, however, don’t care what euphemisms are used, as long as the bastards are securely locked in. And with borders – the harder the better. Evaders who cross the barriers must be ruthlessly tracked down, arrested, and sentenced –assuming they have not been lynched by mobs of the righteous first. But the great contradiction is that there is a constant chorus of complaint about Australia turning into a quasi-police state. Money, rather than people in real need, drives much of this. The ideology fits neatly into the neo-liberal demands of the hard right. Their freedoms are at risk; crossing state borders, for instance, is an article of our sacred constitution, not to mention a basic human right. So while we want those who break the rules scourged and reviled, we also insist that the rules be changed to let us all break free. Not entirely rational, perhaps. But such is the nature of politics in the time of the plague. And it will take more than a vaccine to jab us back into sanity.
MEET OUR LONGSTANDING DENTAL TEAM: Dr Rohan Wijey, Cathy Elliott, Dr Demetrio Pina, Rachel Andersson & Dr Roy Gamma
‘The job of a newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.’ – Finley Peter Dunne 1867–1936
© 2020 Echo Publications Pty Ltd – ABN 86 004 000 239 Reg. by Aust. Post Pub. No. NBF9237
8 The Byron Shire Echo ƖīƖƆƐ ǩǭǽ ǩǧǩǧ
can be pulled out of his well-worn hat of illusions. But the fact that it has already been dismissed as so much puffery by both AstraZeneca itself and by the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, who are supposed to deliver the product to the masses, is not encouraging.
call
02 6685 1264
book online
www.brunswickdental.net
Shop 6/18 Mullumbimbi Street, Brunswick Heads North Coast news daily in Echonetdaily www.echo.net.au