EDUCATION & ENROLMENTs
THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 25 #22 Tuesday, November 2, 2010
page 18 L E AV E B R I C K B AT S A N D B O U Q U E T S H E R E
Cohen slams Aboriginal heritage ‘reform’
Women march for freedom from fear Story & photo Eve Jeffery
Over 200 local women took to the streets of Byron Bay when they participated in Reclaim the Night, the global women’s protest against men’s sexual violence, held every year on the last Friday in October. Women, children and men gathered near the Peace Pole on Main Beach Byron at dusk to show support for women’s safety issues and for each other. Women from across the community joined together to celebrate the right of women to be free from fear. Before the march, there were performances by local hip-hop and choral artists as well as badge making and face decorating. With this year’s theme ‘shining a light on domestic violence’ in mind, an array of lanterns were available to be decorated and carried during the march. Mandy Nolan spoke to the group about what she says is the right of all women to present themselves in a way they choose without fear or recriminations and, to demonstrate this, she dressed accordingly. ‘I am wearing the shortest miniskirt I own,’ she said. ‘Women should be able to dress in whatever they like without it being considered a sexual invitation to men.’ Led by MC Zenith Virago, the parade walked from the surf club to
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A poignant reminder of who they were marching for. As the sun set and the streets became dim, three year old Lucy sat peacefully at mum Jessica’s feet while she sang with the choir, free from fear of the night.
Marvell Street where they were escorted by police, who stopped traffic at the Jonson and Lawson Street roundabout which the marchers circled thrice, making as much noise as they could with bells, whistles and
horns to let everyone in Byron Bay know that women want the freedom to feel safe in the streets at night. Neroli Jager from the Women’s Resource Service says the return of the event was a success. ‘We were
really pleased with how it went and especially that we had such a diverse crowd,’ said Neroli after the march. ‘The response from people in the street was welcoming, warm and supportive.’
NSW Greens MLC Ian Cohen has introduced a motion to Parliament to disallow changes to the way in which harm and destruction of Aboriginal objects can be defended in court. ‘The introduction of a range of defences that can be employed when Aboriginal objects are harmed or destroyed demonstrated [that] recent NSW reform is merely window dressing rather than real protection for Aboriginal heritage,’ said Mr Cohen. ‘The new National Parks and Wildlife (Aboriginal Objects and Aboriginal Places) Amendment Regulation 2010 will allow individuals who have destroyed Aboriginal heritage objects to claim a defence that the destruction involved a “low impact activity”. ‘Some of these activities include major excavation works by mining companies, road works by the RTA and installation of large scale irrigation infrastructure. ‘These are not low impact and may result in destruction of Aboriginal heritage.” ‘I am sorry that the same Parliament which just recently voted in the long overdue constitutional recognition of Aboriginal people is willing to stand back and allow the wanton and widespread destruction of what little Aboriginal heritage remains in New South Wales.’
Wheelchair access on a downward slope in Byron Shire Matt Hartley
Over the last 20 years, wheelchair access has declined markedly in Byron Bay. The excellent work put in by Mark Bazely and volunteers has been largely destroyed, and I personally am finding it increasingly dangerous and often impossible to access much of the town. Council staff are completely uninterested in this matter, but for me it is becoming life and death. I spend more time on the roads than ever, in increasing traffic, and deal with
increasingly dangerous footpaths. I was concussed in mid 2010 trying to get up a recently rebuilt footpath. I’m not talking about hills or private property. I’m talking about flat, level public footpaths which I can no longer use and which make a joke of ‘Australian Standards’. One in 14 gradients with a level entry point? As if. The ramps, newly created out of formerly flat footpath at the Shirley Street Woolworths petrol station, have cut off my access to the footpath, not to mention the cycle track. On the western end it rises 150mm over 1.1m, then
continues 260mm over 6.6m. At the eastern end it rises 100mm over 9m from the gutter. To those gradients can be added the inclines down at the sides of the road, creating steep crash points. Nice. The cinema complex on Jonson Street took over the public footpath years ago, leaving us with a third-world rough finish ‘ramp’ rising 260mm over 2.8m and also a weird, uneven camber. How does a public footpath get mutilated like that? Well, needless to say I can’t go south of the cinema. No hardware store for me.
Byron Street has been cut off east of the Great Northern, because a formerly flat footpath now rises 160mm over 2m, while sloping sideways 264mm over 3.3m. The corner of Marvell and Fletcher streets has been cut off. The footpath in both directions from the laneway adjacent to the pedestrian crossing in Jonson Street north is inaccessible. (I have fallen from my wheelchair twice in this location.) So are both sides of the pedestrian crossing. So are the crossings on Lawson Street at the main roundabout and also the Lawson
Street/Fletcher Street roundabouts. I could go on. I could add the bloody pedestrian crossing outside the council chambers. So, how can this happen? Why am I forced into the traffic by works that fail to comply, but no-one can be required to comply? How is public property transferred into private hands without consequences? I have never asked for things to be made easier. Byron Shire Council is making things impossible. Three concussions: two at the laneway, one hit by a car reversing. Not bloody funny.
ABN 82 087 650 682
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