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ëōōĶŕë żƖƆIJ Īşſ ǖşşĎ żſşƐĕĈƐĶşŕ żōëŕ News from across the North Coast online
www.echo.net.au Lismore Flood Appeal money available for residents Lismore Council’s Flood Appeal Committee has finalised its approach to the distribution of the $1.3 million it has raised so far, to support Lismore’s most flood-impacted community members.
Reactivating Lismore with markets The eerie space that is the centre of Lismore following the floods is about to receive a boost with two of its largest markets coming to Lismore’s CBD to help reactivate local economy and sense of community.
Regrets for treatment of Wardell CORE? After Ballina Council’s recent decision, at its Finance and Facilities Committee Meeting, to effectively evict the Wardell Community Organised Resilience Effort (CORE) from the War Memorial Hall, in mid flood-recovery, some were having second thoughts at their Ordinary Meeting yesterday.
Tweed Council ‘opt in’ to States agritourism – with conditions The State government is driving the move behind allowing an increase of activities on farms throughout the state including weddings, camping, farm door tastings and more but Tweed Council is concerned at the way it has been developed and the lack of community consultation. The Tweed Councillors were once again working through the concerns over the SEPP.
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Story & photo David Lowe Flooding was back on the agenda at Ballina Shire Council’s last meeting, with councillors agreeing to adopt a flood protection strategy that was in the works well prior to the 2022 flooding crisis, but has now acquired new urgency. Discussion was preceded by a deputation from Burns Point Ferry Road resident, Marilyn Chaseling, an area which she described as ‘probably the worst affected of the flooded areas in Ballina’, although according to Council, ‘we were only 13 or 14 in the list of problem areas’. Ms Chaseling said what she’d warned of in previous submissions had now come to pass.
Flooding near Ballina Fair, March 2, 2022. ‘That flooding has occurred, and we’ve been all very, very badly affected in that area.’ She said the ongoing threat of development on flood-prone land opposite would make the
situation even worse. Motion 10.2 urged Council to adopt the Ballina Island and West Ballina Overland Flood Study and Flood Protection Feasibility Study and Plan. This was moved by Cr Rod Bruem and seconded
by Cr Simon Chate. Cr Bruem endorsed the study, noting the high level of public input and the issue being ‘uppermost in everybody’s minds’. There was some confusion in the chamber about the status of the study, which has already been on public exhibition, attracting a large number of comments. Cr Bruem said he hoped the public engagement process would continue ‘so that we can get the right outcome, and then work with State government in particular to do the necessary things that need to happen to ensure that we are ready for the next one. ‘And that people will be safer and that we can respond accordingly.’
A teenage boy has been charged with murder, say NSW Police, following the death of a youth and the wounding of another, on Sunday, in Casino. Emergency services were called to KFC on Centre Street, Casino, at about 5.10pm, responding to reports of a brawl. Officers from Richmond Police District attended, along with NSW Ambulance, and found youths suffering stab wounds. Police say a 17-year-old boy died at the scene, while an 18-year-old man was taken to Lismore Base Hospital for treatment. He remains in a stable condition. A teenage boy, also aged 17, was arrested and charged with murder, reckless wounding, and affray.
ſşīſëŔ īſëŕƐƆ Īşſ ëƐȒſĶƆŊ ƷşƖƐIJ 0ŕĕſīƷ ĈşƆƐƆ Ɛş ſĶƆĕ Aslan Shand Three charities on the Northern Rivers have received almost $300,000 in support for projects for disadvantaged and at-risk young people. Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation says they have distributed grants totalling $834,00 among 11 regional charities and community groups that included the Northern Rivers groups: Northcott Fair Go AFOs (ankle-foot orthoses); Autism Camp Australia Helping Hands Project; and Rainbow Club, Bringing Rainbow Clubs to Northern NSW. Jennifer Leslie, Chair of Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation, said, ‘These grants will directly support thousands of people from the Central Coast to the Central West and Northern
Rivers, across projects that range from the day-to-day practicality of providing meals through to cuttingedge medical programs.’ For young people with cerebral palsy and dysplasia, local access will be available from Northcott for localised ankle-foot orthoses (AFO) treatment rather than being required to take yearly trips to Sydney for assistance. Meanwhile, the Bringing Rainbow Clubs to NSW has received $60,000 to assist teaching children with disabilities about water safety through tailored lessons. This also assists in creating pathways for them to participate at mainstream sporting outlets with greater confidence. The final Northern Rivers grant of $87,000 goes to the Helping Hands Program
Autism Camp. This is specifically aimed at isolated and financially disadvantaged families, who don’t qualify for NDIS funding, to participate in Autism Camp Australia’s (ACA) capacity and resilience building programs. ‘Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to take a trip through regional and rural NSW to see first-hand the amazing work some of our partner organisations are doing each and every day,’ said Ms Leslie. ‘It was a truly humbling and inspiring experience, and served as a reminder of why the work of the Charitable Foundation is so important in ensuring people in need in our communities receive the support, opportunities and respect they deserve,’ added Ms Leslie.
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) last week approved significant electricity price increases starting this month. Energy prices, according to AER, are regulated under the Default Market Offer (DMO) prices, which is ‘the safety-net price cap that ensures consumers are protected from unjustifiably high prices’. In a statement on www. aer.gov.au, they said, ‘From July 1, the DMO prices in NSW, south-east Qld and South Australia will increase for households (between 1.7 per cent and 8.2 per cent above inflation) and small businesses (0.2 per cent and 13.5 per cent above inflation), largely owing to significant rises in wholesale electricity costs over the past year’. Meanwhile, a former Origin
Executive says NSW and Qld residents are seeing the biggest per cent increases, ‘because they still rely heavily on expensive gas and coal, and their old coal power stations increasingly fail’.
ōĕëĎƆ ſĕŕĕƱëćōĕƆ Andrew Stock, who is also a former Director of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, said in a press release, ‘South Australia, which has much more renewable electricity, sees far lower increases, and expensive gas is the main reason for the increase there too.’ ‘The previous federal government stalled the transition to renewables wherever possible, causing investment in large scale new renewable capacity to collapse, [and they] backed fossil fuel expansion, and put off coal closure’.
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8 The Byron Shire Echo `Ɩŕĕ Ǩǽ ǩǧǩǩ
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