The vibrant and lively Nimbin Aquarius Festival caravan, adorned with an array of bells, whistles, and rainbow flags, made its way to the Channon Craft Market last Sunday, marking a momentous celebration of both the Aquarius 50th Anniversary and the cherished occasion of Mothers Day. The 50th celebrations continue throughout the coming week with a range of art, music and discussion. 

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The risk that legacy and zombie development approvals on floodplains represent is significant, yet local councils appear hamstrung to take any real action on the issue without significant financial risks to individual councils. 

At tomorrows council meeting (Thursday, 18 May) Tweed Shire Mayor, Chris Cherry, has put forward a notice of motion (NoM) to seek legal advice on what if anything can be done to bring legacy developments consents into line with current development standards.

Tweed Shire Council (TSC) considers developments approved between 1980 and 2010 that have not been constructed and are of a higher order development than a residential house or alteration to a house as legacy developmen...

Byron Shire-ites loved it and hated it, but we got used to having it around and it became part of the Byron Shire landscape, but this morning organisers Secret Sounds have announced that there will be no 2023/2024 Falls Festival over the new year period.

The festival, which started in 1993 with a small one-day concert held in Lorne, Victoria, attracted nearly 11,000 people.

In 1995, the event adopted a two-day format and an additional event was added in 2023 at Marion Bay, Tasmania. 

Byron began in 2013

The Byron edition of the event was introduced in 2013 and ran in the same week, with artists being exchanged between locations.

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Rare sightings of a dugong in the Tweed River over the last year have led to the belief that the dugong may have relocated to the Tweed River.

Boat operators are being urged to take special care in the Tweed River, with several sightings of a dugong reported to Council over the past 12 months.

While dugong are known to occur in Moreton Bay, the presence of one of these marine mammals in the Tweed is both unusual and exciting.

Flood 2022

Councils Team Leader Coast and Waterways Tom Alletson said it was believed the dugong may have relocated to the Tweed following the impact of the 2022 flood, perhaps having been displaced from Moreton Bay due to poor water quality.

Dugongs feed on seagrass beds and are entirely dependent on these habitats being extensive and healthy, Mr Alletson said.

So far it appears there may only be one individual dugong in the Tweed, and it is not known if it has been here permanently since the first sighting in May 2022. The most recent report to Council was received just last week and included a brief video.

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State Member for Lismore, Janelle Saffin, says the NSW Country Womens Association (CWA) voted at its recent AGM to oppose waste-to-energy incinerators.

A waste-to-energy incinerator proposal for the Richmond Valley Jobs Precinct in Casino prompted local resistance, after a similar plan was rejected in Western Sydney owing to air pollution impacts. The Casino proposal, under the previous LiberalsNational government, came without any community consultation.

Additionally Casino, Lithgow, Goulburn and Parkes were locations excluded from a state-wide incinerator ban by the then NSW government.      

Ms Saffin said the Tabulam branch put the motion, which was one of several successful motions from the North Coast Group at the AGM in Bathurst this month.

She says, The CWA has adopted a policy to advocate for the newly elected NSW government to rescind its decision to establish waste-to-energy incinerators, and instead immediately introduce technology and waste reduction programs that use methods...

Residents are again up in arms over Reflections Holiday Parks blocking public access along Simpsons Creek in Brunswick Heads.

The NSW government-run corporation operates the towns Terrace Reserve Holiday Park, among others, and the issue has been ongoing for over a decade.

Local NSW MP, Tamara Smith told The Echo the issue has come about because a privatised entity (Holiday Park Trust) that makes profit from the holiday parks is the same entity that puts forward a so called community map of the footprint of their park.

They set the boundaries of the holiday park and obviously have a vested interest in pushing the boundaries as far as possible. 

When councils managed the parks, it was less of an issue because the parks could not be sold off to private developers.

However, sinc...

Investigators have renewed calls for information after a number of shots were allegedly fired into a home at Ballina last month.

About 9.15pm on Monday, 10 April, 2023, emergency services were called to a home in Brunswick Street, Ballina, following reports of shots fired.

At the scene, police were told that shots had allegedly been fired into the front of the property. No one was injured.

Initial inquiries have led police to believe the incident is a case of mistaken identity.

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A successful request by Byron Shire Council to reclassify itself from Regional Rural to Regional Centre may well pave the way for an increase in pay for councillors and the mayor.

All councillors have to do is vote for their own pay rise.

The Local Government Remuneration Tribunal determines pay rates, and according to its April 2022 report, the maximum pay for a councillor in a Regional Rural Council (currently Byron Shire Council)is $21,100 pa, while the mayor can receive up to $46,040 pa. 

Extra perks 

Yet there are perks, benefits and extra allowances available. 

For example, a councillor who is a member of water utility Rous County Council can earn an extra $10,550 pa, while the mayor can receive an extra $17,330 pa as a member of Rous.

Both Mayor Michael Lyon and councillor Sarah Ndiaye are Rous County Council members.

The maximum a councillor can receive under the Regional Centre category is $25,310 pa, while the mayor can earn up to $62,510 pa.

According to the Local Government Remuneration Tribunal Determination 2023 document, the tribunal received four requests for recategorisation: Liverpool, Byron, Tweed and Burwood Councils. 

Reaching the population threshold

Byron Shire Councils argument for the reclassification was that based on ABS 2021 census data, with a population of 36,077, it is on the cusp of reaching the population threshold of 40,000 residents. 

It reads, Council believes they meet several other additional criteria that supports their case for reclassification. Councils request is based on the following grounds: Non-resident population of 4,817 travel from surrounding locations to work in the LGA; A population growth increase of 7.2 per cent over the last five years, which is above the state increase of 5.3 per cent; Proximity to Gold Coast and Ballina-Byron airports; Byron being home to internationally renowned hinterland region; Byron being home to a large number of festivals and events. 

The tribunal say that Tweed Shire Council will be reclassified to Regional Strategic Area.

The pay for executive council staff is pegged consider...

Byron Council doesnt have the money to pay the $260,000 increase in the Emergency Services Levy foisted on it by the state government, and will have to consider cutting programs or staff, Mayor Michael Lyon says.

The ink was barely dry on Councils draft budget earlier this month, when the new Labor state government announced that the 128 councils across the state would be hit with levy increases.

The increases are the governments attempt to pay for a 73 per cent rise in the State Emergency Services budget and an 18 per cent jump in the Fire and Rescue NSW budget.

Cash-strapped mayors across the State are up in arms over the eleventh hour increase, and have rallied together to try and fight it, sending a flurry of letters to the government.

Byron Shire Council resolved to join the letter writing club at its last meeting.

It will tell the government that its decision will lead to a reduction in important local services and the deferral or cancellation of necessary infrastructure projects.

There will also be a call for the government to decouple the levy from the cap on Council rates so that councils can recover the full amount from residents.

But so far, these demands appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

Its unconscionable really, Cr Lyon said during last weeks Council planning meeting.

We dont have the money.

I know it doesnt sound like a lot. For the State Government $260,000 is a pittance, but its not for us. For us $260,000 is three or four staff in key critical positions.

Obviously, we need to see an increase in the emergency services budget, but Im not sure why councils should be footing the bill for that.

Speaking four days after the meeting, Cr Lyon said if the government refused to back track on the levy increase, Council would be left with the unenviable task of finding further savings in its budget.

Weve already had to make savings in so many areas owing to the...

The Foundation for Rural Regional Renewal has awarded $785,794 in grants to 23 local groups for community projects designed to strengthen community capacity and resilience in the Clarence Valley and surrounds.

These grants, which are funded through The Yulgilbar Foundation Fund program, are the final tranche of a $2 million commitment awarded over the last three years.

In the wake of the 2019-20 bushfires and subsequent disasters including floods and COVID, these grants will support local groups to foster community connection, education and wellbeing across the region.

The federal government has pledged $236 million over 10 years to fund a national flood warning network, in a bid to protect communities from the types of flooding which took place last year in the Northern Rivers.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the funding would be used to purchase and upgrade flood gauges in disaster-prone areas, such as the North Coast.

For almost a decade, experts have been telling us that we have to upgrade Australias flood warning infrastructure, Ms Plibersek said.

Weve seen really terrifying examples in recent years where communities were left with not enough information; they were unprepared during floods because of broken or outdated flood gauges.

Ms Plibersek said the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) owned about a third of Australias flood gauges, but the rest were operated by state or local governments or private entities.

Many of them are old, they have to be read manually, so youre sending people out into dangerous weather to read flood gauges, she said.

The roll out of new flood gauges will start in Queensland, and come under the a...

In a familiar story of Ballina Shires human population putting their own desires ahead of the natural environment, the DA notice for the proposed child care centre at the corner of Hutley Drive and Byron Bay Road in Lennox Head is now on public exhibition.

The child care centre is set to accompany a new fire station for Lennox Head on what was once a small residential block surrounded by natural vegetation, including fragmented littoral rainforest.

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