THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 30 #12 Wednesday, September 2, 2015
www.echo.net.au Phone 02 6684 1777 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week
COMMIT TED TO ACTS OF JOURNALISM
CAB AUDIT
Dear koalas, we need to talk – p10
Phillip Frazer Arts & Industry explains the end feature of privacy – p9 – p18–19
Fathers Day ideas – p20–21
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netdaily Labor, unions push on with Heydon fight
Online in
www.echo.net.au/labor-unionspush-on-with-heydon-fight
A fine evening for wet dining Koalas become a
political football Hans Lovejoy
A brief light shower during mains served only to wet, or whet, the appetite for diners on Mullum’s main street last Saturday. Mullum Chamber of Commerce secretary, Obi McDonald-Saint, thanked the Mullum community for making the night a success. ‘We blocked off the main street and fed 180 people a three-course meal at one long table. Thanks to the local businesses for supporting the event and leaving their lights on. Thanks to Mullumbimby High School and their brilliant hospitality students. And thanks to the Coolamon Tree Bistro and The Other Italian Joint for their delicious food. And the biggest thanks of all to Jenelle Stanford for dreaming big.’ To get involved for a possible next event, visit www.mullumbimby.org.au and subscribe to the mailing list. Photo Jeff Dawson
Metgasco stalls talks, legal action likely Darren Coyne
Embattled mining company Metgasco announced Tuesday that they had paused formal discussions with the NSW government and have indicated they will initiate court action for damages over the suspension of the company’s 2014 drilling program. Metgasco chief executive Peter Henderson said it would prepare for a judicial review to have PEL 426
renewed around Grafton, and for the award of a production licence for PPLA 9.
Police protection Mr Henderson is also pushing to conclude contractual agreements for a seismic acquisition program to the east of Lismore and for the drilling of the Rosella project near Bentley. Metgasco’s website claims that its ‘tenements cover an area of
approximately 4,556 km2.’ ‘We expect the government will provide all necessary police protection to allow the lawful activities to be undertaken safely and securely and we were given assurances in this respect as part of our discussions with government,’ Mr Henderson said. ‘Metgasco would have preferred to settle its claim for 2014 suspension damages with the NSW govcontinued on page 2
The controlling rightwing Byron Shire Council faction have again delayed action on saving the region’s dwindling koala population, citing their inability to understand a key document aimed at the marsupial’s preservation. Additionally, ‘glaring errors’ and legal issues were claimed by Cr Di Woods, along with its potential to ‘lock up land’. Four years in the making and at a cost of $60,000, the Koala Plan of Management (KPoM) outlines legal parameters and sets a course to improve local koala numbers, which are estimated to be below 200. The KPoM was prepared by Biolink consultants Douglas Jardine and Dr Stephen Phillips, with input from a Project Reference Group comprising key stakeholders and state and local bureaucrats. But at last Thursday’s meeting, Crs Hunter, Woods, Cubis and Wanchap outvoted Crs Dey, Spooner and Cameron (Crs Ibrahim and Richardson were absent) in adopting the long-awaited plans. Staff also recommended adopting the KPoM. Instead, a peer review will be commissioned, with a ‘preferred’ competing consultancy named: the Koala Ecology Group, based at the QLD Uni. No costs associated were discussed. Cr Woods told the chamber that while she was ‘determined we will have a comprehensive koala plan of management. When we do it, it will
be a workable document, and not 78 pages long.’ She then accused the authors of ‘glaring errors’ and said, ‘The suggestion to use [instead] the QLD Uni consultants is to get it away from NSW, as result of legal advice we have had.’ When pushed by Cr Spooner to reveal specifics, she said that advice was confidential.
Locking up land She said, ‘I have major concerns we will be challenged many times over unless we get it right. Our area is huge, and I read a report last night from NSW Local Government. ‘Our Shire wasn’t even mentioned as a critical area… we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing here, we are just locking up land.’ Similarly, Cr Wanchap challenged the KPoM, arguing that it focused too much on the loss of habitat while not paying attention to other factors that are leading to koala deaths, such as disease. But it’s a position unsupported by the NSW Office Of Environment & Heritage. Their website www.environment. nsw.gov.au/animals/TheKoala.htm states, ‘loss and degradation of habitat’ is the ‘main threat’ to koala populations. Additionally, leading koala conservation groups hold that view. Regardless, Cr Wanchap told the chamber the answer is to create a sanctuary on two hectares of West Byron land to house the remaining continued on page 2