THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 28 #49 Tuesday, May 20, 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
Pages 24-25
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CAB AUDIT
Inside Mungo: Would you like budget and lies this with that? – p10 week
Greens hold large event in Mullum – p5
Don Page defends himself – p11
Living: better than the other thing – p17
Belgian bluegrass – p26
Byron Shire Council Notices Page 40
Brutal budget fallout Youth services just one victim of Abbott’s budget cuts Eve Jeffery
Rubber hits road for Bangalow derby The 20th annual Bangalow Billy Cart Derby held on Sunday was again a runaway success – not only does it bring the community together, but it brings out the child in everyone. It even keeps some, like the oldest competitor, 88-year-old ‘Bangalow Bill’, going strong every year. Q See the video of this story at Many people young and old have competed in the derby every year since it began 20 years ago after the Pacific Highway was re-routed – www.echo.net.au/?p=95652 away from the main street. Photo Jeff Dawson
Last week’s federal budget has left a country largely dazed and confused. Questions are now being asked about the legitimacy of a ‘fiscal emergency’ given the inequity of ripping into the most vulnerable while the wealthiest are left largely untouched. Prime Minister Abbott’s radical plans have yet to be passed by the Senate – or upper house – and if blocked, a double dissolution could trigger an election. Some of the current plans will hit future generations, with youth programs set to be slashed, and local youth organisations are bracing themselves for the austerity ahead. Youth Connections is just one of the local programs to go, with funding being cut as of December this year. Youth Connections runs out of Byron and Mullumbimby Byron Youth Centres (BYS) and they support young people at risk of disen-
gaging early from school, and also helping them to transition into vocational training and work. ‘Our Early Intervention and Prevention Program is funded to continue until at least 2015/16’, says Peter McGlennon, director of Byron Youth Service. ‘This supports another 70 young people at risk at any one time for a variety of reasons. Street Cruise is currently unfunded and at risk of closure or reduction. This would take youth workers off the street at night and leave young people at greater physical risk and also greater risk of engaging in or becoming victims of crime. The funding for our Links to Learning Program is unknown as of the end of the year.’ Meanwhile the NSW minister for family and community services, Gabrielle Upton, told The Echo that helping the vulnerable is a key priority for her government. continued on page 3
North coast celebrates gas mining suspension Staff reporters
Residents of the north coast have successfully defended – for now – against the aggressive gas industry expansion in the region. Thursday’s announcement by NSW energy minister Anthony Roberts of Metgasco’s licence suspension at Bentley sent the company into free-fall, with it halting trade on the stock exchange for 48 hours. Additionally, Metgasco has been referred to the commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) following receipt of information concerning
shareholdings and links with tainted Obeid-related company Australian Water Holdings. The decision has also halted NSW government plans to send up to 800 police to take on thousands of protectors at, or near, the property of National Party member and former Lismore City councillor Peter Graham. A ‘failure of community consultation’ by Metgasco was Mr Roberts’s reason for the suspension, and came just two days after around 40 of Mr Graham’s neighbours stormed out in disgust from a meeting with government department heads last Tuesday.
The Echo gained exclusive access to that meeting, which saw the Office of Coal Seam Gas (CSG) director Rachel Connell and NSW Land and Water commissioner Jock Laurie try to convince the landowners that the operation was safe. But the bureaucrats were unable to provide satisfactory answers, with residents appearing better informed and educated than the government reps themselves. Held at the Goonellabah Sports and Aquatic Centre, the invitation-only event was promoted as a workshop for concerned residents, focusing on ‘providing a better un-
derstanding around groundwater and well-integrity issues, fracture stimulation.’ And the invitation said that without any media attention, it will, ‘help ensure that local landholders and local members of the Casino community have a chance to hear information.’ It is unclear however why a media presence would hinder a ‘chance to hear information’.
Meeting meltdown The meeting began to break down after Ms Connell admitted her office approved Metgasco’s
Bentley operation as ‘conventional gas exploration,’ despite its own assessment that it was a tight sands project, which carried greater environmental risks. ‘We are not responsible for how the company chooses to promote itself,’ she said. Temperatures rose further when she was grilled over why her office continued to approve Metgasco operations, despite the company having been responsible for well blow-outs and contaminated-water spills. ‘We acknowledge that’s an issue’ she replied. The red rag to the bull, however, continued on page 2