THE TWEED
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Volume 2 #36 Thursday, May 20, 2010
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LOCAL & INDEPENDENT
Milne dumped in shock move Ken Sapwell
Tweed Shire Council has terminated Greens councillor Katie Milne’s appointment to its Aboriginal Advisory Committee (AAC) in a shock move believed linked to her outspoken comments on planning issues. Councillors voted 4-3 to axe her as a delegate to the AAC following a mayoral minute which was tabled after the start of this week’s meeting urging them to take the unprecedented action. Mayor Warren Polglase failed to give any explanation for the shakeup, saying only that councillors had discussed ‘the operation, performance and proper functioning of the ACC’ at a closed-door meeting last Thursday.
Mayor’s view ‘It is my view which I believe is shared by the majority of councillors, that the ACC is not performing in a way that can deliver council’s objectives in supporting the Tweed’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community,’ he said in a brief mayoral minute . He then successfully urged the council to rescind the appointments of Cr Milne and Dot Holdom as delegates to the ACC and elect new ones. Cr Holdom, who along with Cr Milne was appointed as a delegate following the election of the new council in September 2008, was immediately re-installed while former mayor Joan van Lieshout was made an alternative delegate. Cr van Lieshout’s appointment is certain to re-ignite tensions among Aborigines which surfaced after she refused during her 12-month term as
mayor to read out a statement traditional at the start of council meetings acknowledging their presence and their connection with the land and waterways. The councillors who voted to dump Cr Milne – Crs Holdom, Polglase, Lieshout and Phil Youngblutt – also offered no explanation for their radical decision apart from referring to a need to follow certain planning processes. But the three who voted against the move appeared perplexed by the popular councillor’s sudden removal despite claims it had been discussed at last week’s secret meeting. It has also bewildered members of the AAC who said they believed they had a good working relationship with Cr Milne . Cr Kevin Skinner said the reasons put forward for her termination were ‘very vague’ and called for the status quo to remain until he could ascertain exactly what the problem may be. Cr Barry Longland said he also believed that no changes should be made until he was able to canvas others in a bid to understand exactly what problems had occurred to precipitate a change of delegates. But Cr Milne was more blunt, saying she had no doubt it was related to several planning issues she had raised with the AAC which she believed relevant to indigenous cultural and heritage matters. They included suggestion that the AAC should make submissions to the new LEP and request the council to carry out a cultural heritage assessment before it goes ahead with plans to turn Arkinstall Park into a regional sports centre.
Lupus sufferer on a wing and a prayer Erin-Louise Povey, known as the ‘Lupus Butterfly,’ at Barneys Point Bridge earlier this week on her way south to raise awareness of lupus disease. Photo Jeff Dawson Luis Feliu
The ‘Lupus Butterfly’ travelled through the Tweed earlier this week to raise awareness about lupus and the one in 700 Australians living with the little-known disease. Erin-Louise Povey, 26, of Sydney, who was diagnosed with lupus about two years ago, is driving the campaign with her bridge-to-bridge challenge, aiming to walk from Brisbane Story Bridge to Sydney Harbour Bridge. She left Brisbane on May 9 and walked through Tweed Heads on Monday. One of her supporters, Cabarita local Kelly Davidson, told The Echo that Erin’s walk provided a great opportunity for people to learn more about lupus, how it affected sufferers, their friends and family, the path to diagnosis and where they could go for information, counselling and support. Kelly, 30, also a lupus sufferer, joined Erin on part of her walk from continued on page 2 Tweed to Byron on Tuesday.
Least recognised disease ‘The butterfly has long been the symbol of lupus in reference to the butterfly shaped facial rash that affects many sufferers. ‘It is a sad fact that this disease is Australia’s least recognised major disease. It can take years of pain and suffering before a diganosis of lupus is made. In this time, the patient is at risk of serious, and sometimes life
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‘Erin-Louise has learnt, as have all of us living with lupus, that a big part of the difficulty of living with lupus is not actually the pain but is more the social isolation that comes from lack of awareness and little to no understanding of the disease,’ Kelly said. ‘She hopes to change that with her journey from Brisbane to Sydney, walking around half of the 1,000km journey dressed as a Monarch butterfly, stopping along the way to speak with other lupus patients, and to speak with members of the general community in an effort to raise awareness about living with lupus.
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threatening, damage being caused to major organs such as the kidneys, lungs, heart and brain.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Kelly said she was diagnosed with lupus nephritis (affecting her kidneys) in late 2003, about two months before she was to be married. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;It took nine slow, painful months to reach a diagnosis, during which time my symptoms got increasingly worse, until I landed in hospital requiring massive doses of IV steroids and a blood transfusion. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I was forced during this time to quit my full-time employment with a Murwillumbah law firm and from then on I became home-bound, almost bed-bound, except for frequent trips to doctors, specialists and the hospital where it seemed nobody knew what was happening to my body.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Kelly, her husband and her graphic design business have pledged $700 towards Erinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s campaign, supported by the Lupus Association of NSW. For further info or to donate visit www. bridgetobridge.net.