Byron Shire Echo – Issue 26.02 – 21/06/2011

THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 26 #02 Tuesday, June 21, 2011 Mullumbimby 02 6684 1777 Byron Bay 02 6685 5222 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au www.echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week

CAB AUDIT

The Echo’s Silver Anniversary Souvenir Liftout – centre pages

A S T E R N WA R N I N G O F T H I N G S J U S T H A P P E N E D

Woolworths opens in Mullumbimby

Sculpture for words’ sake

But not for local fresh food, people Ray Moynihan

The ‘fresh food people’ will not actually be selling any fresh local fruit and vegetables from this region when Woolworths opens for the first time in Mullumbimby this week. Manager of the new Mullumbimby store Wayne McInerney told The Echo, he’d tried to source local produce, but a lot of it ‘didn’t quite make quality control’ standards. Woolworths will employ 30 casuals in addition to the 23 permanent parttime positions transferred from the old Mallams store, and it will feature a small local grocery section including coffee, corn chips and other products. For the past six years, controversy has dogged the development on exrailway land, which was approved by the state government over the strong objections of a local residents group and the Byron Shire Council. Mayor Jan Barham – who asked

Woolworths to consider selling fresh produce at their proposed supermarket more than three years ago – says she does not plan to shop at the new store, and will continue to support small local businesses at farmers markets and elsewhere. The Mullumbimby Community Action Network (CAN) is not calling for a boycott of Woolworths, but is understood to be helping develop ideas for new buy-local schemes. While the campaign to stop Woolworths failed after final government approvals last year, there has been on-going concern about impacts on local businesses, noise and the almost year-long street closure in the centre of Mullumbimby. Asked about the street closures, Council’s planning chief Ray Darney told The Echo Council would have ‘much preferred if they were quicker’, and that it had concerns for some of the local businesses affected.

Commenced in June 2010, the roadwork and disruption was expected to take 18 weeks, but ultimately took close to 52 weeks, raising speculation from some residents that Woolworths was using the long-term street closure for its own convenience. Mullumbimby pharmacist and publican Craig Watson – who’ll directly compete with Woolworths – says, ‘its inevitable big brother will move in’, but believes locals ‘will see through a lot of the hype.’ Mr Watson stressed the value of his sponsorships in the town including rugby, golf, bowls and even some schools. ‘I sponsor everything that moves in Mullum,’ he said. Woolworths – which has 830 stores and sales in excess of $50 billion annually – will also sponsor local groups. Activities for the Mullumbimby Giants rugby league club, and Lions Club barbecues, will take place this Wednesday and Saturday outside the new store.

Daniel Clemmett’s Venus-like sculpture ‘Embracing the Plateau’ is one of 43 works accepted for this year’s Byron Bay Writers’ Festival. Curator Dev Lengel said, ‘The selectors had a challenging time with a large number of entries from across Australia. In the end it was the sculptures that best represented the festival’s theme of Passion, from the literal to the metaphorical, that continued on page 3 made the cut’. Photo Jeff ‘Torch This’ Dawson

Clubs set to fight federal govt pokie plans Eve Jeffery

The federal government’s mandatory pre-commitment technology on poker machines will cost local clubs at least 882 jobs according to Peter Newell, the President of Clubs Australia. Mr Newell was at a meeting of Far North Coast clubs held at the Mullumbimby Ex-Services Club last Thursday to discuss the impact of poker machine technology the federal government has agreed to introduce in return for the support of the Tasmanian IndependStore manager Wayne McInerney – a local who has been with Woolworths for a quarter of a century – said if any producers in the area could supply the ent MP Andrew Wilkie. The new technology would see all store in volume, his ‘door was open.’ Photo Jeff ‘Green Miles’ Dawson

gamblers, even casual punters, register and be given a licence stating the amount of their self-imposed gambling limit. These licences would need to be inserted into poker machines before they would operate and those without a card would be excluded from playing. The licence-to-punt technology will cost local clubs $73 million to install, says Clubs NSW, and their income is expected to fall by a further $74 million annually as a result of the legislation. The plan includes forcing people to register for a licence to gamble before they can play a poker machine.

‘This could mean the death knell for all clubs from small ones like Mullumbimby to large ones on the Tweed,’ said Mr Newell after the meeting. ‘What was demonstrated at the meeting was a determination to fight this proposal with everything we have. We have the support of Clubs New South Wales and Clubs Australia. We will be holding several meetings in key electorates over the winter recess of parliament. We are going to fight this.’ Mulumbimby Ex-Services Club President Ken Cartner says that the continued on page 3

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