Ballinas last council meeting was short and sweet, with no motions from councillors for the first time in memory. There were some important decisions made though.

Following a deputation from the irrepressible Robyn Hargrave, council greenlit a new historical plaque recognising 100 years of Lennox Head Village, and there was an arm wrestle about Newrybar, which will hopefully improve things for residents and visitors, if not quite in the way that local business people were hoping.

The Finance and Facilities Committees recommendations were adopted, with funding approved for items including:

• new public toilets for Lennox Head Surf Club ($146,000).
• implementation of Lake Ainsworth Coastal Management Plan after flood delays ($938,000).
• new playgrounds and open spaces for Ocean Breeze Reserve ($181,000), Montwood Park ($180,000) and Lakefield Park ($55,000).
• completion of Lennox Village Vision ($850,000).
• new Lennox Head Rural Fire Shed ($610,000 the old shed will become a new carpark to help with Lennoxs parking problem.
• green light for Sharpes Beach Masterplan ($1,300,000).
• new footpath for Montwood Drive ($210,000).
• road widening to improve safety along Ross Lane ($2,227,000) and planning for flood mitigation of R...

The Nimbin Aquarius Festival in May 1973 was part of the zeitgeist and a cornerstone to the emerging character of the Rainbow Region that has come to be an essential part of the Northern Rivers. This year from 12 to 21 May, the Nimbin Aquarius Festival will celebrate 50 years bringing together many people who attended the first event as well as those who will come to celebrate and learn from the merging of ideas new and old. 

Born out of the Aquarius Festival of university arts events in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra and the emerging alternative culture of the Northern Rivers, Nimbin hosted what became a town-changing event. The little town of Nimbin contained a small school, a bowling club, a showground, and residential dwellings extending for five hundred metres along Sibley, Cecil, and Thorburn Streets. Mulgum Creek snaked its way around the northern edge of the town where an abandoned milk processing factory stood, and with the collapse of the once dominant dairy industry, the town had seen better days, Gary Opit, who travelled to the town for the 1973 festival, reminisced.

Unlike the first Aquarius festival held in Canberra, this was a festival of creation, creativity and anti-consumerism, the focus was on creating culture rather than consuming it. It did not promote well known artists and did not advertise through mainstream media. Instead it relied on word of mouth for its promotion. 

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Opening tomorrow at Northern Rivers Community Gallery in Ballina are four new exhibitions from local artists.

The May show spans painting, sculpture, print and mixed media, with artists repurposing found and organic material, and conveying new perspectives on historical events, figures, objects, and environments.

A protester who suspended herself in a tree on a 25m high platform by a rope attached to three NSW Forestry machines in Doubleduke State Forest in April has had her case adjourned until next week.

Lismore law student and forest protector Kashmir Miller faced court today after stopping work in Doubleduke State Forest near Woodburn earlier this month. The forest was then placed under a stop work order by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).

Forestry Corp given the green light to log

A band that began it life as the Ballina Brass Band is turning 140 years old this year. The band was first formed in 1883 and is one of the longest continuous serving bands in Australia.

The New South Wales local councils peak body Local Government NSW (LGNSW) says the newly-elected NSW Government has kicked off its first term in the worst possible way by sending NSW council budgets into meltdown, forcing them to shed jobs, close services and scrap infrastructure plans.

Local Government NSW says the decision to apply sky-high increases in the Emergency Services Levy (ESL) would be catastrophic for many councils, and could see some become insolvent.

Wipe out IPART-approved rate rise

LGNSW says that for some councils the unexpected cost hit would all but wipe out any IPART-approved rate rise, shredding budgets already under massive pressure from the combined impact of the pandemic, extreme weather events, high inflation and wage increases.

The ESL is a cost imposed on councils and the insurance industry to fund the emergency services budget in NSW. The majority is paid as part of insurance premiums, with a further 11.7 per cent picked up by councils and 14.6 per cent by the state government itself.

Blatant cost shift

LGNSW President, Darriea Turley, says the ESL is an absolutely blatant cost shift by the state government. To make things worse, the ESL has seen stratospheric increases year-on-year to make up for the governments unfunded workers compensation liability for

Now it appears councils are being asked to fund massive rises in emergency services budgets, including a 73 per cent increase in the budget allocation to t...

With some people still unaware that Newrybar is even part of Ballina Shire, the historic village received some focused attention at the latest Ballina Council meeting.

The background to the debate was a proposal from a consortium of Newrybar business owners in 2018 to rezone the village to RU5 (Rural Village Zone) from 7(c) Environmental Protection (Water Catchment) under the Ballina Local Environment Plan.

After this was rejected, there were more representations to council regarding commercial expansion, diversification, subdivision, services, parking and streetscape issues.

Yesterday was the official end of the 2022-2023 Bush Fire Season for New South Wales after the Bush Fire Danger Period was extended several weeks.

Commissioner of the RFS Rob Rogers said the Bush Fire Danger Period was continued at the end of March in parts of the state owing to high fuel loads and warmer than average temperatures.

We saw an increase in activity late in the season, with significant fires in Narrabri, Mudgee and Upper Lachlan LGAs, said Rogers. Across the season, firefighters have worked on more than 24,800 bush and grass fires which burnt through over 116,000 hectares.

March the busiest month

March was our busiest month, with firefighters responding to over 2,800 incidents, which accounted for almost 50 per cent of the total hectares burnt across the whole fire season.

Commissioner Rogers said that sadly eight homes were lost as well as 15 outbuildings and hundreds of livestock across firegrounds. However, hundreds more homes and buildings were saved owing to the actions of firefighters and landholders.

While the bush fire season has ended, this doesnt mean the risk of fire has, with the shift from recent wet weather to drier conditions already being seen across much of NSW.

Commissioner Rogers also reminded landholders and residents about the importance of maintaining their property throughout the year and to be vigilant when using fire on their property.

A warm and dry winter predicted

With a warm and dry winter predicted, there is a real risk of fires occurring across the cooler months this year, he said.

Landholders must know their obligations if conducting burns and know the costs if you do the wrong thing, but most importantly, if a fire does get out of hand, make sure you report it immediately to Triple Zero (000).

Commissioner Rogers noted that the 2022-2023 fire season has been the busiest period of fire activity since the 2019-2020 Black Summer fires.

Over two very wet years, our members worked tirelessly alongside other agencies to assist the NSW State Emergency Service responding to flood and storm events.

I would like to thank each and every RFS volunteer for their hard work and dedication to communities across New South Wales.

Our volunteers could also not do what they do without the support and encouragement of families, friends, colleagues and employers and so I thank them as well.

The post A busy end to NSWs the Bush Fire Season appeared first on The Echo.

Yesterday on the Gold Coast, Queensland came out the winners of the first-ever Surfing State of Origin.

The event held at Burleigh Heads, was a showcase for the best 16 clubs from New South Wales and Queensland, with eight boardrider clubs from each State.

The recent swell that has graced the Gold Coast over the past few weeks allowed the competitors to perform at their peak. The conditions at Burleigh Heads were excellent with 5-6ft of easterly swell and light westerly winds for the duration of the competition.

Flawless ten-point rides

With exceptional surfing on display, Kobi Clements (NSW) and Maddy Job (QLD) managed to both score a flawless ten-point ride in their heats. Maddy Job scored his ten-point ride in the final heat of the day.

It was a neck and neck grand final with a total of four heats, combining the points of each state division to determine the victor. Either State could have been the winner, until the final heat of the day, where Bede Durbidge and Maddy Job solidified Queenslands victory.

Its amazing! You dont ever really get to surf with your state unless youre a junior, said Durbidge. Getting to surf with Maddy was a sick moment. He dropped an insane ten-point ride to finish off the heat and we won against New South Wales.

Scarborough Boardriders

Despite N...

This coming weekend will see the giant joint rolled out for the MardiGrass, Nimbins annual cannabis law reform protest and gathering.

MardiGrass Organising Body president Michael Balderstone says, theres quite a lot of excitement over getting Legalise Cannabis MP Jeremy Buckingham elected in NSW. We plan on doing our own coronation with him next weekend.

Balderstone says there is a terrific program of speakers on all things cannabis at four different venues, in particular, the Northern Rivers Hemp Growers Co-op new bus...