THE BYRON SHIRE
Byron Bay Film Festival Program in this issue
Volume 28 #36 Tuesday, February 18, 2014 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
CAB AUDIT
S O C I A L I S T B Y N AT U R E , C A P I TA L I S T B Y T R A D E
Mandy and Farwell Norma, Living is the Hier ist There’s a new red lipstick the Bruns Propagandaland Volksspray best revenge – see Seven Pictures lady – p9 – p14 – p11 & 13 doco – p10
Byron Shire Council Notices Page 35
Another NSW Pumped and puffed in pink govt rort? New rural services for landowners are ‘unconstitutional’ and of ‘no value to rural landowners’ Hans Lovejoy
While NSW government services for rural landowners morphed into Local Land Services (LLS) on January 1, a class action against LLS claims the revenue collected is unconstitutional and is not value for money, especially for those who don’t run stock or grow crops. The centralising of services is the ‘biggest change to agricultural services in 60 years’, says the body representing NSW Farmers, and has seen the LLS replace the Livestock Health and Pest Authorities (LHPA) and Catchment Management Authorities (CMA). The class action comes as Goonengerry resident Howard Furner faces a pre-trial court hearing in Lismore on February 25 over unpaid LHPA rates for his property. Furner’s land has been reforested after years of cattle use, and therefore is without livestock or food crops. He told The Echo, ‘I don’t even open their letters any more because they don’t provide any services.’ Apart from LHPA failing to help with the wild dog crisis in the shire around 2011, Furner claims that LHPA annual returns show millions were spent on consultants. Russell Preston is in a similar situ-
ation, because his land doesn’t run stock or grow crops. The Brisbane-based theoretical physicist owns 12 hectares in The Pocket, and told The Echo he refuses to pay LHPA rates ‘as it is of no value’. And as Preston found out, the state government has the power to claim private property for unpaid rates. ‘Despite registering my property in a voluntary conservation agreement, the then-Rural Land Protection Board (RLPB) put my property up for sale for unpaid rates in 2003. It was only averted moments before an auction was to take place.’ He added that ‘no politicians have been any use’ with his cause. A recent survey conducted by NSW Farmers revealed 56 per cent of respondents say that LHPA is not value for money.
Class action
So is the new LLS an unwieldily bureaucratic behemoth acting illegally? ‘This is bigger than the Titanic and no media are reporting on it,’ says 75-year-old landowner Trevor Kirk, who has set up a class action against the LLS (http://llsclassaction.com). The retired corporate accountant describes himself as a ‘habitat and fresh air farmer’ and has been continued on page 2
The Brunswick SLSC hosted their 19th annual masters carnival on the weekend, with competitors from around the region enjoying this year’s event in overcast conditions. Fellow competitors couldn’t resist photo bombing Currumbin SLSC’s Chris Maynard (in the green and white cap), after his line honours win. Photo Eve Jeffery
Progress Association weighs in on Bruns parks fiasco ‘Unacceptable’ is how The Brunswick Heads Progress Association describes the state government takeover of its public parks, picnic grounds and Crown reserves, and the comment comes as public submissions for the draft plans of management (POM) for the town’s parks and reserves close this Friday. Included within its submission, the group is calling for the town’s three public caravan parks to be re-
turned to council control. Community anger still brews over the contentious proposals to fence the parks off from the town and to continue blocking public access along the foreshore at the Terrace. Sean O’Meara from the Foreshore Protection Group (FPG) told The Echo that the NCHPS is wrong to claim that the public will still have access to the foreshore at the Terrace Reserve Holiday Park. He says the
Terrace POM indicates that ‘around 300m will be taken from the public as well as the closest swimming spot for half the town’s population.’ ‘There is very restricted access through the back blocks of the Terrace but not to the foreshore and Midden Beach. The POM also states a security fence and total restriction of access will be acceptable if and when park management see fit. continued on page 3