INJECTING CLINICALLY TRIALLED FREEDOM PLACEBOS SINCE 1986 The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 36 #34 • February 2, 2022 • www.echo.net.au
Back to school, with a RAT! Affordable housing
slated for Saddle Road Paul Bibby
Mullum Public School students Stevie, Ayla, Farah and Aisha are happy to be back after the holidays. Photo Jeff ‘School’s back, baby’ Dawson With students returning to school Tuesday, teachers and students are required to test for COVID-19 twice weekly. As part of the measures by the NSW Govenment, both parents/ carers and teachers will be provided with free rapid antigen tests (RATs). Yet unions are claiming that NSW school cleaners have been excluded from COVID-19 testing. The United Workers Union, The Parenthood and the NSW Teachers Federation are calling on Liberal Premier Dominic Perrottet to include them in the scheme. They said in a statement, ‘In other jurisdictions, such as the ACT where cleaning is not contracted
out and cleaners are directly employed, they are included in the return to school plans and will be provided with RATs’. Lyndal Ryan, United Workers Union Property Services director, described it as ‘disrespectful’ given cleaners are an integral part of a school community. Ms Ryan says, ‘They’ve been on the frontline of this pandemic, keeping schools open so other frontline workers can continue to do their essential jobs’. Meanwhile, NSW Liberal Premier Dominic Perrottet has announced vouchers worth $500 for beforeand after-school care.
Vale local bright star, Heeling Dean ▶ p3
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NSW minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell said, ‘Every family with children at a NSW primary school is eligible for one voucher per child, which will provide each child with approximately 60 sessions of free beforeand after-school care (BASC)’. She says it will be delivered through Service NSW, and will follow a similar premise to the current Dine and Discover vouchers. The government say parents will be able to apply for, and utilise, the vouchers from February 28 by applying ‘online via a MyServiceNSW account, in the app, or by visiting their nearest Service Centre’.
Local sports News from news around the ▶ p4 North Coast ▶ p6
Three group homes for single mothers facing homelessness would be built on the former Eco Village site in Brunswick Heads under a plan proposed by local developer, Brandon Saul. The proposed not-for-profit development would be the pilot project for a much larger plan to address Byron’s housing and homelessness crisis through the creation of a community land trust. Mr Saul bought the former Eco Village site on Saddle Road last July for $10 million. He is now planning to donate part of the 52-hectare site to the housing trust to build permanent group homes for single mothers and their children. Several rooms would also be made available for older women. ‘There’s a growing number of single mums who have been forced out of the rental market,’ said Mr Saul. ‘This particular impact is something I haven’t seen before in the Shire – hundreds of women and children living in cars, quietly moving from carpark to carpark. ‘In many cases they’ve got jobs, kids in school – their lives are here, and they’re a part of our community.’ Mr Saul says if approved, each home would have ten bedrooms, including three small, clustered cabins to allow for flexible living arrangements. Each cluster would also have shared kitchen, laundry and lounge areas. ‘This is not the type of temporary group home where people go after being in an institution – we’re
Gigs! There’s music and art to be found… ▶ p16
not concentrating people with problems in one area with no services,’ Mr Saul said. ‘It’s dignified, permanent, low-cost housing for ordinary people with jobs.’ With Mr Saul having donated the land for the project, the focus has now moved to the financing and planning process. One local, who wishes to remain anonymous, has already donated some funds, and the Northern Rivers Community Foundation has agreed to help raise the remainder. Once the plans and financing are organised, Mr Saul says a Development Application would be submitted to Byron Council for assessment.
Land trust Mr Saul and others involved in the pilot project hope that it will provide a scalable model that can be replicated across the Shire with different types of housing for different groups such as young people and older women. It’s not the first attempt at setting up a land trust to address the housing crisis in the Shire. The model is also being explored by Council after being proposed by former councillor Paul Spooner. The model has had considerable success overseas, particularly in northern Europe, and in the US where Bernie Sanders set up a highly successful scheme in Vermont. ‘We’ve done our homework, it looks like it’s possible, and we’ve already got some money in the bank. ‘With a bit of luck, I’m hoping that in the first quarter of this year we’ll get it off the ground.’ ▶ Continued on page 2
Mungo’s crossword, cryptically placed in the Service Directory ▶ p37
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