The 115th annual
THE BYRON SHIRE
BANGALOW
Volume 29 #22 Tuesday, November 11, 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
SHOW
N E V E R B E L I E V E A N Y T H I N G U N T I L I T ’ S O F F I C I A L LY D E N I E D
ON THIS SAT & SUN
Pages 16 & 17
AUDIT
Wesley the Local artists Cr Ibrahim’s logic North Byron Mungo remembers behind putting rocks Parklands in wallaby on the at work – p20 hop – p14 on beaches – p8 focus – p13 Gough – p10
West Byron rezoning approved by state govt Hans Lovejoy
The largest-ever rezoning of Byron Bay was announced on Friday by an anonymous Sydney-based planning spokesperson. West Byron, a 108-hectare housing/industrial/retail proposal on Ewingsdale Road, will now proceed to the development application stage. NSW planning minister Pru Goward’s office did not reply to The Echo as to why her name – or any name – was not included on the press release, despite its upbeat politicised message that it ‘is a good outcome for Byron Bay’s unique natural environment.’ But it’s a blow for the hundreds, if not thousands, of locals who put their names to petitions and protested against the proposal, which had been refused by Council for ten years. At www.thepetitionsite.com, 65,305 signatures were collected, while hundreds of locals put their name to a petition at westbyron.org. Complaints ranged from a lack of public engagement, transparency, planning inconsistencies, inadequate reports and NSW planning staff bias towards approving the rezoning. Additionally Labor and the Greens were critical that the rezoning was decided by the state and not Council, despite the coalition’s pledge that planning would be ‘returned to the community’ after winning office in 2011. Previously, local MP Don Page (Nationals) defended his government’s policy – in this case the developers applied directly to the NSW government for a state significant
Byron Shire Council Notices Page 41-42
Kidding around at the Mullum Show
site rezoning, not under the repealed Part3A assessment. According to www.planning.nsw.gov.au, ‘[Part3A] has been replaced by the state significant development and infrastructure assessment systems which commenced on October 1, 2011.’
Conditions As for rezoning conditions, there’s very little that’s new. NSW planning staff say environmental protections will increase from 35 to 40 per cent for the 108hectare site, and will include Belongil Creek and wetland buffer zones. The NSW planning staff press release also claims that the planned Butler Street bypass will make a ‘significant dent in local traffic congestion’. But that appears at odds with traffic studies which suggest it would remove less than 20 per cent of through traffic and will not solve congestion in the long term. But the spokesperson preferred to quote another study; they said, ‘The traffic study prepared in support of the rezoning proposal confirmed that the bypass would significantly reduce queue lengths along Ewingsdale Road and improve traffic within the town centre.’ Other conditions include koala management and acid sulfate soils plans, along with a development control plan (DCP), which will be developed by both the state and Council. ‘Under the adopted planning controls, a development application (DA) cannot be approved before the DCP is finalised,’ said the spokesperson. And as previously announced, upon subdivision, $7,000 per lot continued on page 2
See the video on this story at Truck parades, live music, shearing demonstrations, animal petting, pie-eating comps… it’s all too much to mention here. This year’s Mullum Show, held last weekend at the showgrounds, proved again what good oldfashioned family fun country shows are all about. Pictured is four year old Maayan Visdi, who plays chicken with the kids at the show’s petting zoo. Photo Jeff ‘I Kid You Not’ Dawson
NSW Business Chamber supports CSG The NSW Business Chamber has come out in support of expanding the state’s gas industry to mitigate price rises owing to deregulation and overseas exports. CEO Stephen Cartwright claims it is likely to have a serious impact on the business community as higher costs are passed along the supply chain. He said, ‘NSW chief scientist, Mary O’Kane, recently delivered a blueprint for the safe development of the state’s abundant gas supplies, and it is now up to the NSW government to implement a robust but timely approvals process for CSG projects that ensures the viability of energy-using industries.’ Meanwhile, manager of the north-
ern rivers NSW Business Chamber, John Murray, is unsupportive of a reservation policy, which would aim to protect domestic consumers from international deregulation. Similar mechanisms are in place in the US and Canada.
Gas reservation policy unsupported He told The Echo, ‘Keeping the price of gas at artificially low rates for domestic use runs the risk of exacerbating demand in the short term and increasing the likelihood of shortages over the long term.’ ‘As identified by the Grattan Institute, there is also no clear evidence that the gas reservation policy applied
in Western Australia has delivered lower gas prices for users, with Western Australian gas prices currently higher than those on the east coast.’ But a campaign launched in September by the Australian Workers Union (AWU) is calling for a domestic gas reservation policy, claiming that tens of thousands of workers’ jobs are at risk. AWU’s Scott McDine says on their website, www.awu.net.au, ‘Australia is the only gas-exporting nation in the world without laws to ensure its domestic consumers are not damaged by the linking of gas to global markets. ‘Australians have a right to know their rapidly rising gas bills are actually completely preventable.’