THE BYRON SHIRE
WHATS NEW?
Volume 28 #14 Tuesday, September 10, 2013 Phone 02 6684 1777 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au www.echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week
Inside this week
PAGE 16 REMEMBER TO WIND YOUR CLOCK BACK 60 YEARS
CAB AUDIT
Mungo’s election post mortem – p10
More blues over the booze – p14
Cape Byron LDRU Local artists Steiner Spring Fair on Safari celebrate – p26–27 – p18 creativity – p23
Byron Shire Council Notices Page 41
Mullum to weigh up Shearwater flowering into spring EME pros and cons In the same week that two meetings have been called to debate possible health implications and economic benefits for a free public-access wifi internet throughout Mullumbimby’s CBD, Telstra have announced that a new tower for the town has been installed and is operational. A Telstra spokesperson says that the area will now experience improved mobile-coverage with a new dedicated mobile phone base station. And when asked by The Echo what levels of radiation to expect, Telstra’s media spokesperson replied, ‘Electromagnetic Energy (EME) emissions are an issue of concern for some residents. When it comes to EME, we rely on the expert scientific advice of national and international health authorities including the Australian Radia-
tion Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) for overall assessments of health and safety impacts. The maximum EME the base station will emit is 0.08 per cent (the maximum allowable limit is 100 per cent).’ Recently an electromagnetic radiation (EMR), or EME tower proposal, sparked concern just west of the Shire. The Nimbin Good Times has reported that communities in Lillian Rock and Barkers Vale have been stirred into action after a 50-metre tower was proposed nearby. The Times says, ‘residents from Homeleigh through Barkers Vale have been undertaking a full blood count through health professionals to form a baseline to refer to should continued on page 2
On a working holiday from Rome, Marianna Lannotti made herself a flower crown with Shearwater preschooler Clover Dixion to celebrate spring at Saturday’s Shearwater Spring Fair. Photo Jeff ‘Petal’ Dawson
Labor retains seat after Greens prefs Nationals fail to claim one Byron Shire polling booth despite winning popular vote in Richmond Hans Lovejoy
Byron Shire has bucked the nationwide trend to vote conservatively in the the lower house, with Greens candidate Dawn Walker taking 12 of the 18 polling booths. And while Labor’s Justine Elliot claimed six Byron Shire booths, Nationals candidate Matthew Fraser failed to secure even one, despite gaining the majority of Richmond’s primary vote. The federal electorate of Richmond spans from Tweed Heads down to Lennox Head and west to Nimbin (excluding Lismore). With 27,822, or 37.69 per cent of
the primary votes, Mr Fraser beat Labor’s Mrs Elliot at 24,877 or 33.7 per cent. However, Greens preferences brought her comfortably past the post. In fact, the Greens improved their performance locally from the 2010 election by 1.36 per cent with 12,928, or 17.51 per cent of the vote. Ms Walker had a particularly strong showing in Mullumbimby (960 votes to Elliott’s 596) and in Federal (206–128). And newcomer Phil Allen from Palmer United Party attained 7.51 per cent while John Ordish of the Christian Democrats and independ-
ent Kevin Skinner earned 1.4 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively. Preference counts for the senate, or upper house, have yet to be finalised. Without a strong Greens vote from Byron Shire and surrounding towns, Richmond may well have seen a conservative win as in the electorate of Page, located south of Richmond. Page includes Ballina, Casino, Kyogle, Yamba, Lismore and Grafton. Long- serving Labor MP Janelle Saffin has been ousted from that seat by Nationals’ Kevin Hogan, who gained 46.92 per cent of the primary vote to Saffin’s 38.82 per cent.
Pictured above is just a snapshot of Byron Shire polling booth results for primary votes in the federal lower house last Saturday. Tweed Heads and its surrounding areas instead polled a strong Nationals primary vote. Statistics sourced from vtr.aec.gov.
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