THE BYRON SHIRE ECHO Advertising & news enquiries: Mullumbimby 02 6684 1777 Byron Bay 02 6685 5222 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au http://www.echo.net.au VOLUME 21 #26 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2006 22,300 copies every week $1 at newsagents only
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Superdisco aims Forget snakes on a plane, for carbon neutral it’s irony on a train Story & photo Lou Beaumont Jonathon Russell, aka DJ Rock Hardson, aka DJ Rock Solid, is starting something that will hopefully see his New Years Day event Electric Sunshine Superdisco (formerly Super Freaky Kinky) become a carbon neutral event. In partnership with Brunswick Valley Landcare, and with the support of Byron Shire Council and the Mullumbimby Leagues Club, the Superdisco is funding the planting of 200 trees along the banks of the Brunswick River bordering the Leagues Club.
Jonathon said, ‘My current goal is to make Superdisco a carbon neutral event as quickly as possible. But the new trees are just the beginning. From there, I hope to expand this concept to the event as a whole, as they have done at Peats Ridge Festival, by introducing sustainable energy options and eco-friendly suppliers. ‘I hope to make our event fit in with the local community as much as possible by minimising our social and environmental impact.The riverbank planting helps with the latter continued on page 4
Tweed National Party candidate for the seat of Tweed, and Karin Kolbe, President of Trains On Our Tracks (TOOT) at the unused Byron Bay railway station.
Solid Gold DJs Rock Solid, background, and Gopher Gold turn the first sod with the help of Judy MacDonald from Brunswick Valley Landcare.
Story & photo Hans Lovejoy Members of a Northern Rivers public transport advocacy group TOOT were forced to drive to Tweed Heads to meet with a politician when the bus service at the centre of their dispute ran two hours late. The delayed Casino to Murwillumbah service was just the ammunition the public transport devotees needed. After presenting petitions to Liberal member Catherine Cusack MLC calling for the reopening of rail lines in the Northern Rivers region,Trains On Our Tracks (TOOT) president Karin Kolbe used the day’s scheduling snafu to drive the group’s point home. ‘This surely illustrates the dire straits we are in,’ she told The Echo. ‘The state government has been systematically eroding the service to the point of it being inefficient. The result is that fewer people use it therefore the government justifies
cutting the budget more.’ Ms Kolbe also claims that studies have proven that there is a noticeable drop in rail patronage around a month after a service runs unreliably. NSW transport minister John Watkins had nominated Thursday November 30 as a deadline for the federal government to agree to a joint $150 million funding proposal for restoring the XPT rail service to the Casino-Murwillumbah rail line. ‘How can the NSW State government be serious about rail if they’re building a bus interchange in Casino?’ Ms Kolbe said. ‘Mr Watkins continues to hide behind a secret report and won’t even provide the federal government with the full details of the proposals.’ Ballina MP Don Page is critical of the NSW government for stalling and shifting the blame to the Federal government. ‘The NSW government has failed to supply the
Federal Minister for Transport and Regional Services Mark Vaile and his predecessor Warren Truss with a detailed project proposal report and a copy of the engineering study, despite requests going back to July this year,’ Mr Page said. ‘This is further proof that the NSW Labor government is not serious about putting trains back on our track.’ Mr Page also claims the state government’s own engineering report summary states it will cost $21.7 million to repair the lines and reinstate the trains. ‘If this government was fair dinkum about putting trains back on our track, Mr Watkins would stop playing politics and get on with the job by using the $75 million he says he has on the table.’ Tweed National Party candidate Geoff Provest told The Echo that a Coalition state government would reinstate the rail service.
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