THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 29 #23 Tuesday, November 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
LIFTOUT PROGRAM – see centre pages
C A P I TA L I S N ’ T
CAB AUDIT
G20 circus makes Too much planning? Abbott the Never! – p7 monkey – p10
Man bashed and robbed at home
Mullum Shop Local this Christmas – p18 –19
The public cost at Belongil – p11
Unbearable lightness of Sport – p17
Even more about You – p20–21
Bangalow’s beehive weekend
Eve Jeffery
Police are still conducting an investigation into the attack on an elderly man in his Byron Bay home in the early hours of Friday last week. The 70-year-old was alerted to the presence of an intruder in his Tennyson Street residence when he heard noises at about 2.45am. A man had entered the premises, on a street near the town centre, and upon being discovered used an ashtray stand to attack the resident. Tweed/Byron duty officer inspector Greg Jago says that the occupant was physically attacked by a lone man. ‘The intruder struck the man a number of times’, said Inspector Jago. ‘The intruder then located an amount of money then left’. Inspector Jago went on to say that the elderly man was treated at the scene by ambulance officers before being taken to Byron Bay hospital where he was later released. Anyone with any information regarding this incident can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or the Byron Bay police on 6685 9499.
Byron Shire Council Notices Pages 50–51
Coalition resets CSG policy Big changes to the NSW coalition government’s CSG policy have been announced, entitled the Gas Plan. Based on the recommendations of a report by the state’s chief scientist and engineer, Prof Mary O’Kane, the gas industry will be required to ‘buy back’ all the state’s existing petroleum exploration licence (PEL) applications. Additional measures include removing petroleum exploration titles from national parks and compensating landowners. In response, Labor announced that if elected, it plans to impose a moratorium on all CSG activity ‘until the industry is proven to be safe, until we have mapped the aquifers, until we understand the impacts that have been highlighted by the chief scientist in her report. This work needs to happen before CSG is allowed to proceed’.
‘Red carpet’ Beehives made a comeback at the Bangalow Show this year – Miss Beehive, Imogen Hendrichs, not only did her mum Bridgette’s ‘do’ but did her own as well. Held over the weekend, hundreds flocked to enjoy the family atmosphere at the showgrounds. See www.echonetdaily.net.au for more show photos. Photo Jeff Dawson
The great G20 escape: QLD residents fill Byron Darren Coyne
Byron Bay was bulging with Queenslanders last weekend as Brisbane residents escaped their city owing to the G20 summit of world leaders. The Byron Visitors Centre told The Echo that the influx of northerners is not completely unexpected. ‘We were almost booked out completely a couple of weeks ago and there have been only a few cancellations here and there,’ the Visitors Centre’s Julie Durberville said. For those looking for accommodation, Ms Durberville said the options
were limited. ‘It’s always busy here and accommodation can be as scarce as hen’s teeth but it’s not usually this busy. The closer we get to Christmas the more hectic it becomes but at the moment it’s like peak season [with the Brisbane influx].’ With heavy security, street lockdowns and potential clashes with protesters scaring many of the city’s residents away, business owners reported that the state’s capital was like a ghost town. Maybe it was the fear of snipers on every rooftop, the possibility of being fined up to $5,500 for entering restricted zones, or the threat of Russian
warships bearing down on the city? But it hasn’t all been one-way traffic out of town. A contingent from the Nimbin Hemp Embassy rolled into the big smoke, calling on world leaders to include cannabis on the G20 agenda. Hemp Embassy president Michael Balderstone said although the ten-metre big joint was banned by police, the contingent had one-metrelong baby joints to make their points. ‘Cannabis is the biggest cash crop on Earth according to UN figures, $300 billion per year,’ he said.
Opposition leader John Robertson warned that premier Mike Baird had ‘rolled out the red carpet for unrestrained CSG mining across NSW’ and was ‘squarely on the side of the industry and not local communities’. Currently 43 per cent of the state is covered by PELs, say the government. NSW Farmers Association president Fiona Simson said she was pleased the government was supporting all 16 recommendations from the chief scientist’s report; however, Labor’s Luke Foley claims that recommendation 12 – to appoint an expert advisory panel – is not part of the Coalition’s gas plan. To view the NSW Gas Plan visit: www.resourcesandenergy.nsw.gov.au. Q Editorial page 10