FOOD FOR THOUGHT The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 35 #18 • Wednesday, October 14, 2020 • www.echo.net.au
Vegetable connections return 5G-free activists step up pressure on Telstra Kim Sporton & Hans Lovejoy
Community development worker, Mel Williams, with Community Support officer, Pat Cosgrove. Photo Jeff ‘Veggies Please,’ Since 1986’ Dawson Paul Bibby The Mullumbimby Neighbourhood Centre’s community lunch is back in business, and the centre is encouraging locals to come along, tuck in and connect. Having been forced to take a lengthy hiatus owing to COVID-19, the lunch, known as More Than A Meal, kicked off again last month with a weekly barbecue to be held on Wednesdays. As of last week, the lunch is back to its regular timetable of four days a week, from Monday to Thursday. ‘The food is awesome – it’s super healthy and delicious – but it’s also a great chance to connect with your community’, said Mel Williams, who co-ordinates More Than A Meal.
Bringing more gender balance to the tourism sector ▶ p6
‘COVID-19 has been a tough time for many people. There’s been quite a lot of fear and isolation going on. ‘This is a safe and simple way for people to reconnect with the community, and while you’re at the neighbourhood centre, you can also connect with any services or support that you might need’. The meals are being served up in the neighbourhood centre’s courtyard, with the required social distancing and hygiene guidelines in place. The produce used is donated by local grocery stores and collected by the centre’s food recovery van. ‘We’ve expanded the food pick up to five days a week now which means we’ve got a stack of great, fresh produce to cook’, Ms Williams said. So much produce is now
Ballina news ▶ p8
being donated that the Centre is seeking help to sort through and store it each day.
Vollies welcome ‘We’d love a few extra volunteers to help us sort through all the fruit and veggies’, Ms Williams said. ‘It would just be a couple of hours in the afternoon from 2.30pm, and it would make a huge difference to us’. Those interested in volunteering are invited to call the centre on 6684 1286, or pop in for a chat between 9am and 4pm. More Than A Meal takes place between 12.30 and 2pm Monday to Thursday in the courtyard next to the Centre, which is located at 55 Dalley St, Mullumbimby.
Guest editorial by Helena NorbergHodge ▶ p12
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The Scoop ▶ p20
Strong resistance is growing from the business community who are in close proximity to a proposed 5G upgrade at 8 Acacia Street in the Arts & Industry Estate. A rally is planned on October 20 from 11am at Jing Organics in the Arts & Industry Estate. Guest speakers include actress Isabel Lucas. Submissions around the tower upgrade have been extended until October 28, according to Telstra. These can be sent to: community.consult@downergroup.com or by phone 0437 600 895. It comes as two daycare centres – located within 500m of the proposal – voiced their strong opposition in The Echo last week. Yet the Downer Group representative who is collating public submissions is yet to reply to The Echo regarding questions put by resident Emma Baker. She requested Telstra’s Duty of Care policy, and asked if there is a Telstra Public Liability Insurance document available, ‘and if so, does it refer to exposing children to EMR?’ Telstra’s acting regional general manager, meanwhile, said in a statement they take their ‘responsibilities regarding the health and safety of our customers and the community very seriously’. Josh Fulwood said, ‘Just to reassure the local community that 5G is similar to both 4G and 3G, when it comes to EMR levels, and both these technologies have been in operation in Byron Bay for many years’. He said anyone seeking details
about Telstra’s rollout of new mobile base stations could find further information at www.rfnsa.com.au. But that hasn’t allayed fears of those most affected by the proposal, with some local businesses urging a boycott of local landowners who allow mobile phone base stations on their property in exchange for cash from telcos.
Devastated by sell out ‘We are devastated by this sell out,’ says long time Byron resident, and mother of four, Claire. Claire’s husband, Trip A Deal CEO Richard, who has up to 120 staff, says, ‘The bottom line is, we didn’t ask for it, and we don’t need it. ‘Our internet already works fine here, and there is not enough independent research on this controversial new technology for us to take the risk of a new untested technology that is raising questions world wide. ‘We find it unacceptable that a telco company can go over the top of both Council and residents’ wishes by exploiting government loopholes and… throwing up huge, unsightly, unwanted towers in our town… [These are] towers that can have potentially catastrophic health outcomes for us, and the entire ecosystem’, said Claire. Northern Rivers for Safe Technology representatives say a poll conducted last week showed 100 per cent of the 30 businesses approached in close proximity did not support 5G. Multiple attempts to contact the landowner, Warren Simmons, were unsuccessful. Q Kim Sporton is a freelance journalist.
‘Art is the lie that enables us to realise the truth’ – Picasso Arts feature ▶ p24
What’s Mandy on now? ▶ p26