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Get ready for shameless self-promotion by politicians this week – the long suffering Byron bypass project will be open to traffic from midday next Saturday February 27. Running through sensitive wetland south of Butler Street, it emerges next to Mitre 10 and is expected to alleviate around 20 per cent of traffic – for now. While it’s considered no ‘silver bullet’ to the town’s traffic woes, it cost the public purse around $24m. Meanwhile, Transport NSW are busy with their transport interchange project, located in the rail corridor and next to Butler Street. Q Q Q Q
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Good news for the little guys – it turns out Uber drivers are workers and have rights, according to a UK Supreme Court ruling last Friday. Meanwhile, The Transport Workers Union’s (TWU) test case against Deliveroo, for the unfair sacking of a delivery rider, will conclude Monday at its final hearing at the Fair Work Commission. TWU say, ‘Diego Franco was sacked without warning in April at the height of the pandemic. The case is the first of its kind against Deliveroo and follows a Dutch ruling last week that found Deliveroo riders are employees’. Q Q Q Q
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While the NZ PM says she isn’t getting the country’s first COVID-19 jab because others need it more, the hapless, empathy-free PM Morrison had compliant corporate media gush that he was one of the first to get the shot. It deflects nicely away from the (now) three alleged rape cases that have emerged from within his government. Q Q Q Q
It’s on! The Byron Surf Festival will be held around the town’s beaches and venues from Feburary 26 till 28. For full program, peak inside this issue or visit www.byronbaysurffestival.com.au. Photo supplied The cozy relationship between Murdoch and the Liberal-National party has been overlooked somewhat in Facebook’s removal of Australian news. It’s no coincidence that a political party, that prides itself on not interfering with the free market, interfered on behalf of its biggest supporter. Dan Stinton, managing director of Guardian Australia, told Mumbrella, ‘Obviously, Facebook is already struggling to moderate the mass of disinformation that is so prominent on its platform. The best antidote to this is the promotion of fact-based journalism, so this decision risks making the platform the permanent home of cat videos and conspiracy theories. Good luck to them’. Q Q Q Q
The popular lighthouse walk has been made safer, say Council, after they improved the pedestrian access at the intersection of Lighthouse Road and Brooke Drive.
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Horse trading, whereby a political party trades with another for desired outcomes, has resulted in the
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‘I’ll tell you what freedom is to me’, said Nina Simone, ‘No fear.’ Happy birthday Nina, she was born February 21, 1933.
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The logistics of waste collection for a one-way traffic trial on Centennial Circuit in the Byron Bay Arts and Industry Estate has led to it being postponed. Council’s place
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activation co-ordinator, Rob van Iersel, said, ‘The one-way traffic system makes waste collection on one side of the street impossible for trucks we currently use’.
Family Law Court being abolished – see page 7. The son of One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, was apparently the catalyst, after he had a rough time being dragged through court over DV accusations. Instead of improving the court with more funding, as experts suggest, it’s been subsumed into the overburdened circuit court. The Law Council of Australia published an open letter against the decision, signed by more than 155 stakeholders, including 11 retired judges and community legal organisations. Why are the political elite actively undermining society and making things worse on purpose?
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WHERE’S MY ECHO?
The closure of a site by our printer means that from the start of February we have to print our paper at a different time, and further away. As far as possible we’ll still try to distribute all 24,000 copies of The Echo by the end of Wednesday, but in some cases your paper may not arrive until early Thursday morning. We’re sorry!
FOR EARLY BIRDS Our daily online news site (revamped with a new look this week) will still be at echo.net.au each day. If you scroll down the home page, in the middle is the pdf version of the current edition (up normally from Tuesday evening).
North Coast news daily in Echonetdaily www.echo.net.au