Over 450 Northern Rivers locals are coming together next week to support the conversation and raise awareness around perinatal trauma, with a free event at Lennox Head Cultural Centre on Tuesday 18 July at 10am.

During Birth Trauma Awareness week (running 16-22 July) national charity Hygieia Health Ltd has partnered with the local Lismore hospital team and birth community experts from all over Australia to create a community event designed to raise awareness about birth trauma, and importantly, discuss ways to prevent it.

Birth trauma is gaining a lot of focus at the moment with the NSW state-wide enquiry being established on 21 June 2023 (chaired by the Hon. Emma Hurst). Registrations to this event filled in record time, attesting to the seriousness of the issue, enabling those involved to strive for better care, better practices and better birth experiences for all birthing women.

The three hour live event at Lennox Head Cultural Centre on Tuesday has been pulled together in collaboration with Dr Tane Luna, Head of Obstetrics at Lismore Base Hospital, who is dedicated to supporting staff and birthing families to have positive birth experiences.

Incredible opportunity

The event will be focused on compassion, self-awareness, prevention and treatment of birth-related and perinatal trauma. This is a great opportunity for the community to gather together to share their stories, support birthing families who have experienced perinatal trauma, and raise awareness about the issues and the effect birth trauma has on mothers, babies and the wider community.

Participants will look at what needs to be done in the Northern NSW Health District, and beyond, to prevent birth-related trauma.

This is an opportunity for maternity consumers to have a voice and ask for chang...

In their latest quest to find out what the community wants for the Tweed Shire, Council is seeking feedback to help inform the development of a new coastal management program to help preserve and protect the much-loved Tweed Coast and its estuaries.

A Tweed Coast and Estuaries Coastal Management Program will be progressed over the next 18 months, based on research and consultation with experts, stakeholders and community members.

The challenges faced by coast and estuaries

The management program aims to address the challenges faced by our coast and estuaries and will outline a framework to guide actions to help preserve the area for generations to come.

Councils Manager Sustainability and Environment Jane Lofthouse said coastal management was the planned, strategic management of coastal areas which takes into account social, economic and ecological systems and values.

We are at the early stages of developing a Coastal Management Program (CMP) for the Tweed Coast and estuaries, said Ms Lofthouse. This means we are building our understanding of what our community loves about the coast, what they would change and their ideas for the future.

In 2019, a scoping study was undertaken and was the first of five stages in the CMP process. The scoping study reviewed the history of managing...

The Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital (BBWH) faces possible closure, after a NSW government panel recently deemed the facility did not demonstrate value for money in its funding application.

The rejection was supported by NSW Environment Minister, Penny Sharpe (Labor), with her office telling The Echo the decision was at arms length from the panel.

This is despite BBWHs proven expertise and experience in providing veterinary and rehabilitation services for native animals in the region, something that was also acknowledged by the government in its rejection letter to BBWH founder and CEO, Dr Stephen Van Mil.

Dr Van Mil said in a statement, We are extremely disappointed and surprised at the announcement, but native animals are the biggest losers in this decision.

Since operations began in January 2021, the hospital says over 4,000 animals have been treated, and over 1,000 in 2023 so far.

A BBWH spokesperson said, On February 6, 2023, the then NSW coalition government announced it had reserved funding of $6 million over four years for BBWH to continue its vital work.

At the time, Northern Rivers-based MLC, Ben Franklin (Nationals), said he believed it was nation-leading, and an exemplar of what can be done across the country.

A BBWH spokesperson said, In January 2023, the NSW Governments Expenditure Review Committee approved funding to be reserved for BBWH, based on a strategic business case.

The NSW Farmers Association Government has been awarded $185,310 to support a program empowering women in the Lismore electorate to start and run successful small businesses through the Women in Business Networks (WIBN) grant.

This funding, granted by the NSW Government, will support the Empowering Women in Farming Businesses program to host up to 10 events across regional NSW to provide support to regional, rural and remote women in businesses.

The valuable contribution of women to agriculture

The program recognises the valuable contribution of women to the agriculture sector and aims to provide focused networking and skill development opportunities to further develop their confidence and support systems.

Other communities set to benefit from this project include Armidale, Lake Macquarie, Upper Hunter, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Newcastle, Central Coast, Eurobodalla, Orange, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga.

Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin MP said the WIBN grant would provide more economic opportunities to enterprising women in the Northern Rivers region.

Delivering more opportunities

Women make an outstanding contribution to the Lismore community and we are backing the NSW Farmers Association to deliver more opportunities for women to advance their agriculture business prospects.

More women in business means more innovation, new ideas and greater employment opportunities for people in the Lismore region. 

The Minns Government is committed to closing the gender pay gap in New South Wales and this will only be possible if we have more women leading and owning businesses across this state, she said.

Despite the prevalence of small businesses in New South Wales, only one-third of these businesses are owned by women. The WIBN grant bolsters the NSW Governments commitment to support women in small business and entrepreneurs, as outlined in the 2022-23 Womens Opportunity Statement.

Making connections

The programs will help connect women in small business or those who are looking to start a small business with the right resources and support. They will include training, workshops, networking, peer support and industry mentoring.

Rebecca Reardon, Vice President of the NSW Farmers Association, said that women perform a critical function in many farm businesses and deve...

In her work at the Byron Youth Service (BYS), youth worker, Deb Pearse, began to notice that many young people are really concerned about the plight of the environment and its wildlife.

The Young and Wild project

Ms Pearse told The Echo the girls groups at the BYS Cottage in Mullumbimby started having conversations, and began a process of creating images; and the Young and Wild project began. 

Each participant picked a wild creature that they were interested in, and we began drawing each week, Ms Pearse says. I was amazed to see the work the girls did, and when I showed my manager, Christian Tancred, and other people, they were amazed too.

Global Ripple

The next step was working out how to get the images seen in the community, and after a meeting with Jacqui from Global Ripple, she agreed to place two large murals at the shop, one insi...

Essential works to resurface Ballina-Byron Gateway Airports main runway have almost been completed, with a large team of workers doing a series of night shifts since early June to finish the mammoth task. The airport has continued operating normally during each day.

Its been ten years since the last runway overlay work was done, and it is expected that the current works will extend the lifespan of the runway for another ten years.

Airport Manager Julie Stewart told The Echo that Ballina-Byron Gateway Airport is the third busiest in NSW (after Sydney and Newcastle) and is expected to get even busier over the next few years, with a big boost of visitor numbers since the height of the COVID pandemic.