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THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 29 #14 Tuesday, September 16, 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
‘THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ARE TERRORISTS TOO’ ALERT EDITION
Sport by How to get the bootful a bypass – p17 funded – p11
Mungo back Looking for a from the night out? dead! – p10 Gig Guide – p30
Shark victim’s wife speaks A week after a shark claimed the life of Paul Wilcox, his wife Victoria has told The Echo that despite her deep grief she would like to stay in the area and is wanting to resettle. ‘I want to reach out to the Byron community,’ she said. ‘I don’t blame the shark, or the town or anyone,’ she says. ‘The beach is such a health giver.’ Mr Wilcox, 50, died on September 9 at around 10.40am after he was mauled by a shark, possibly a great white, while swimming about 15 metres off Clarkes Beach in Byron Bay. Mark Hickey, who is a Newcastle lawyer, was praised by police for risking his life to pull Mr Wilcox to shore. Subsequently a large strip of coastline, from Broken Head to South Golden Beach, was closed for 24 hours. And contrary to all media reports, Victoria says she was not on the beach when the attack happened. ‘Our daily ritual included a swim for Paul and a run to the lighthouse for me’, she said. ‘I came to the beach continued on page 2
More of The Good Life – p20–23
Hans Lovejoy
– George Bernard Shaw
Pam Brook (Brookfarm) and Clayton Donovan (ABC TV’s Wild Kitchen) were just two of the many chefs giving a sample of our region’s celebrated food at Saturday’s Sample Food Festival. Co-organiser Remy Tancred said the event drew record crowds. And as for next year? ‘One “big name” guest has already been locked in and program planning will begin early in the new year,’ she said. For more visit www.samplensw.com. Photo Eve Jeffery
But still refuse to release key docs relating to the West Byron development ‘Unfair and unbalanced’ is how director of public affairs at the Department of Planning and Environment, Mathew Jones, described last week’s story on the lack of transparency in his department and the release of key West Byron documents. Yet despite repeated calls, The Echo has not seen withheld docu-
ments from a freedom of information request which was lodged by the Byron Residents Group. Those documents include reports or comments to the planning minister on the Belongil Estuary, acid sulfate soils and traffic management. The freedom of information refusal comes despite a backdrop of ICAC findings against various NSW Liberal MPs, who received illegal funds from property developers.
When asked why his department refused to listen to the community’s wishes regarding deferment of West Byron zoning at December’s public meeting, Mr Jones replied, ‘The Department of Planning and Environment has not been formally asked by the community reference group or Byron Shire Council to defer the project.’ ‘The community reference group sought an extension to the exhibi-
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Investing ethically unavailable
‘There is no love sincerer than the love of food’
NSW planning staff strike back Hans Lovejoy
Byron Shire Council Notices
tion period by two months; however an extended exhibition of nine weeks had already been provided to account for the holiday period and so this was not supported. ‘In its most recent correspondence, Council requested that the minister for planning consider a number of matters before making a decision on the proposal, but did not seek a deferral of the proposal.’ Q Letter from Mr Jones, page 11
The question of whether NSW councils should be able to invest their cash reserves ethically has drawn an evasive response from the new local government minister, Paul Toole (Nationals). It comes as Byron Council’s finance manager recently told The Echo that current state government policy prohibits ethical investments. Council’s James Brickley said, ‘While Council would like to consider ethical investing as per the standing resolution, it is not able to due to state government direction; plus Council has no power to direct financial institutions where it places its funds for investment.’ ‘[This is] due to the current Ministerial Investment Order (MIO) prohibiting councils from investing in such products, and as a result there are no financial institutions offering ethical investments to councils.’ MIOs were revised in response to the issues related to Collateralised Debt Obligations (CDOs), according to minister Toole’s office. The Echo understands that the revision occured after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and some councils were affected by subprime mortgage investments linked to the US financial system But the minister’s office declined to answer whether it was concerned that the state’s 152 councils are prohibited from investing ethically. According to Byron Council’s schedule of investments, most of its cash reserves are in Australianowned banks and building societies.