ART SHOULD COMFORT THE DISTURBED AND DISTURB THE COMFORTABLE The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 35 #26 • Wednesday, December 9, 2020 • www.echo.net.au
‘Overwhelming majority’ object to Dunoon Dam proposal
Virus inspires new art
Hans Lovejoy With public submissions on Rous Council’s proposed Dunoon Dam expected to be released Wednesday December 16, Ballina councillor and Rous chair Keith Williams told The Echo that submissions he has seen so far indicate strong opposition. Plans by bureaucrats to build an additional dam for the area sparked community concern, owing to it likley wiping out Aboriginal cultural heritage and destroying an endangered ecological community of lowland rainforest. While Mr Williams says he is yet to see the written report, he says staff presented the community feedback at a recent Councillor briefing. Around 1,300 submissions were received, he said, ‘consisting of approximately 350 online surveys and 950 emails/letters’. ‘The majority of these were from residents in the Lismore (Channon/ Dunoon) area, with a relatively small number of 100 from each of Byron Shire and Ballina Shire. ‘An overwhelming majority of the written submissions oppose the Dunoon Dam, and requested that Council do more in water efficiency and purified recycled water. Councillors and staff have been focussed on these aspects’. Mr Williams responded to claims by NSW Greens MP for Ballina, Tamara Smith, who said in her latest newsletter that she ‘continues to be denied access to ▶ Continued on page 3
Ballina news ▶ p7
Holed up in COVID-19 isolation, Space Cowboy, aka Chayne Hultgren, has produced a huge body of new work, which will be part of his new shows on December 18 and 19. Tickets for the 18+ gig are available at www.thespacecowboygallery.com. Photo Jeff ‘Steamed And Punked Since 1986’ Dawson
Out-of-towners drive housing demand Paul Bibby & Khaled Al Khawaldeh Locals had expected the auction of the five-bedroom house in the hills outside Lennox Head to be a wellcontested affair. But the events that unfolded raised eyebrows among even the most experienced real estate watcher. Straight out of the gate the
What plans are afoot to tinker with the Byron foreshore? ▶ p8
opening bid for 17 Fieldcrest Drive was a cool $1.5 million – $100,000 over the reserve. That bid immediately knocked some of the 10 registered bidders out of the running. But it didn’t stop there. When the hammer finally fell, the selling price was $1.841 million – way over the reserve and far above the median price for that part of Lennox.
Byron High students get active with biodiversity ▶ p9
Dramatic though it may have been, the auction’s outcome was far from an isolated event. According to local real estate agents, and data from Regional Australia Insights, the Byron Shire and surrounds is experiencing an unprecedented spike in demand, sending prices soaring into the stratosphere and creating a desperate shortage of rental accommodation,
Clarkes Beach erosion debate ▶ p18
leaving a growing number of people without a home. ‘I’ve been in this business for 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it’, said semi-retired local real estate agent and developer Graham Dunn. ‘COVID-19 has made people realise there’s a lot more to life than making money in a big office and ▶ Continued on page 3
Fa la la, fa la la... ’tis the Festive Season! ▶ p19–46
Arts and farts ▶ p62