NEWS THAT DOESN’T ZUCK – SINCE 1986 The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 35 #45 • Wednesday, April 21, 2021 • www.echo.net.au
Baes begone!
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A 5MW solar farm proposed for Myocum, located near the Byron Resource Recovery Centre, poses a ‘high degree of risk’, and could jeopardise funding for other large Council infrastructure projects, according to a staff report, to be tabled at this Thursday’s meeting. The Council project is part of its strategy to achieve a Net Zero Emissions target by 2025, along with the 0.5MW Bioenergy Facility. So far, ‘Council has invested $656,300 in actual and committed costs in the feasibility of the Dingo Lane Solar Farm overall’, says the report. Council expects that it will need to borrow the full $12m to fund the project, which would ‘increase debt level by 20 per cent overall and by 57 per cent in the General Fund immediately’.
Monday morning’s Main Beach paddle out attracted over a hundred locals who are not in favour of tax avoiding, giant US corporation Netflix exploiting Byron Bay through a reality TV show. See Mandy’s column, page 23. Photo Jeff ‘Protests And Paddles Since 1986’ Dawson Eve Jeffery Faster than a speeding reality TV producer, Byron locals have swiftly mounted a multi-pronged attack against the proposed ‘influencer’ based show Byron Baes, with two protests held since Netflix announced the program less than two weeks ago. Tess Hall said that she started a petition as soon as the show was announced. She said, ‘I wanted to give our community a voice and to ensure that the planned Netflix production is not granted filming permits that will allow them to film anywhere they please in our Shire and surrounds’. The petition attracted 3,000
signatures in the first day, and after a week, was well on the way to 8,000. Mayor Simon Richardson says he will move a motion that puts on record Council’s disapproval, yet also says there is nothing Council can do to stop unwanted film productions. Meanhile, Byron residents and business owners met at Main Beach last Friday to share their concerns about the series, which they say has been forced upon the town without any community consultation. Byron Bay General Store owner and Parkway Drive band member, Ben Gordon, said, ‘We’re not a commodity, we’re a community. We’re not just something for companies
Tony Barry’s next play profiles a political giant ▶ p4
Fresh meat for Council elections! ▶ p5
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to make money from. There’s a lot of people who have lived here for a long time, this is our home, and it is a very special and sacred place to us’. Local businesses represented included Bay LeafCafe, The Roadhouse Cafe, No Bones Restaurant, Di Vino Restaurant, Shromunity and The Bread Social. Arakwal woman Delta Kay was also present at the meeting. She told The Echo, ‘I grew up here. Grew up right across the bay here at the Belongil, and later over at Tallow Beach, so I have seen massive changes in my traditional homelands’. ‘Our elders have fought very hard to have a say over country, and to protect country. It took over 20 years
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Mob not consulted Ms Kay said no-one from the production contacted her or any other traditional owners. She said, ‘We have huge environmental issues, huge social issues here’. ‘I don’t want these influencers coming here and painting this fantasy picture that all is well in Byron Bay. It isn’t’.
Police accountability lacking despite court’s findings ▶ p10
Projects at risk Projects identified at risk of losing funding to the solar project include Byron Bay Bypass additional funding ($1.75m), Bio Energy – assuming no grant funding ($12m), Mullumbimby Hospital – post remediation (unknown), Byron Bay Hospital ($3.5m), Byron Bay Drainage Strategy – assuming grant funding ($5m), Sandhills Estate – assuming grant funding ($3.5m), Byron Bay Town Centre Masterplan, Rail Corridor – Reinstatement of light rail, Coastal Protection Works, Vallances Road Sustainability Centre, Lot 22 Mullumbimby Development, Byron Bay Memorial Pool, Relocation and renewal of Bayshore Drive Depot.
Feeling sporty? ▶ p17
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for our elders to get our Native Title’. She says native title means being able to look after country, have a say over country, and ‘ensure that we work together as a community so our community values and our environmental values are adhered to’.
In search of good health? ▶ p18
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