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▶ Continued from page 9
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expressed their dislike of the nuclear option. This is an attempt to slide it in under the table. We will have to pay the French for their lost business and then pay the Yanks for their technology. It will be two to three times the initial cost of the submarine project at least, probably much more after the inevitable extensive commercial litigation by the French. Nuclear subs were designed to carry nuclear missiles. They were an essential part of a defence strategy based on Mutually Assured Destruction. The acronym MAD suitably expresses the stupidity of such a defence policy. While our subs will not be able to participate in nuclear Armageddon, they will be able to sneak around and watch it happen. We should take great comfort from that, because that is all we will get for billions of dollars that could better be spent on ameliorating climate change. Vince Kean Murwillumbah
Back to bioenergy It is important to address the concerns of Bayshore Drive residents regarding increased truck traffic on an already busy road. Then
there are the larger concerns around the development of the proposed Bioenergy Facility within the Byron Bay Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). The public need to be aware of the threat that this proposed plant will have upon the existing sensitive bird species and their habitat. These wetlands are of national and global significance, as wetlands globally have rapidly diminished. The Byron foreshore (STP) wetlands form the habitat for threatened and migratory birds. It is well known that air pollution ranks as the highest cause of death of humans (and no doubt other species). Pre-pandemic Byron roads were choked with tourists and cars. Cars emit poisons detrimental to human health. Pollution is a killer. The public is entitled to further information should this plant be hosted upon the wetlands. Byron Environment Centre has, for over 30 years, articulated to Council the deep environmental concerns of civil society. In regard to the bioenergy plant it has supplied deep research to Council and asked questions
of public concern. Questions addressing remedy and transparency. To date, Council have not supplied the relevant information. This is to be expected as we experience the demise of democracy and the rise of corporate social secrecy (CSS). But is it right and proper that the public should adjust to this modus operandi and be socially imprinted with corporate socialisation? Should we cower in the face of human rights and public interest when addressing transparency in Council? Byron residents have a Charter of Human Rights which Byron Shire Council ratified (28 March, 2020). Therefore, accessing their locally recognised human rights, ratepayers and residents can demand from Council the need for a full environmental impact study (EIS) that addresses the impacts on the WHOLE site. That being: the bird habitat of wetlands, and the actual immediate residential proximity. Transparency is a right, and the community have valid ratified human rights when addressing the above. Jo Faith Newton
Èëƶ şŕ Ȉ Èëƶ şǔ Q In properly-scrutinised vaccination rollouts it is to be expected that vaccines are used as a device to protect the most vulnerable and otherwise to provide the most effective shield against spread of disease. In our federation the starting point is an equitable pro rata state allocation of vaccine. However, allowance should be made for targeting susceptible communities. These matters should be thrashed out at national cabinet. We should not have allocation unilaterally determined. However, decisions around allocation have been far from transparent. It appears that Lieutenant General Frewen has been saddled with the unsavoury responsibility of explaining the recent extra distributions to NSW, thereby giving less to other states. Lt Gen Frewen has allocated the extra supplies, including those from Poland, on the flimsy, implausible basis that ‘the GP clinics had recently come online’. Extra acquisition and supply-chain logistics are not justification for inequitable supply. An inequitable distribution should only be done by agreement with all states/ ▶ Continued on page 13
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