Writers Festival liftout feature in this issue!
RELYIONG ON ACCURTE SORCES SINCE 1686 The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 37 #11 • August 24, 2022 • www.echo.net.au
!ëōōƆ Īşſ Splendour ĶŕưĕƆƐĶīëƐĶşŕ
DĶſƆƐIJëŕĎ ǖşşĎ ëĈĈşƖŕƐƆ şŕ ǕōŔ
Premier secretly visits Mullum’s żşĎ ǕëƆĈş Hans Lovejoy
Paul Bibby Splendour in the Grass should be the subject of an independent inquiry covering the ecological, safety and social impacts of the troubled festival, a Byron Councillor says. As the Department of Planning continues to investigate North Byron Parkland’s traffic safety breaches during the rain-soaked event, Independent councillor, Cate Coorey, is calling for a farreaching, independent review of the entire festival. Cr Coorey has moved a motion, to be debated at this week’s Council meeting, proposing that Council write to Planning Minister, Anthony Roberts, expressing its serious concerns about the event and requesting that he initiate the review. It would include the event’s ‘ecological, health and safety, social, public amenity, and business impacts, and any other impacts on the Shire’. ‘Several resolutions of Council have expressed multiple concerns surrounding the approval process and the final permanent approval given to the owners to hold increasingly large and more frequent events at the site,’ Cr Coorey said in her Notice of Motion.
Council unsupportive ‘Council never supported the use of the site, as per the 2019 approval determined by the Independent Planning Commission… and does not currently support it.’ ▶ Continued on page 3
Filmmaker, Olivia Katz, says being up to your butt in water is easy when it’s not full of sewage, debris, chemicals and mud.
Photo & story Eve Jeffery Local flood film, Out of the Mud, is a feature-length documentary featuring firsthand accounts from local Northern Rivers residents following the catastrophic floods of 2022. The film’s makers are seeking support for its release, which they hope will happen over the next couple of months. Bangalow resident and filmmaker, Olivia Katz, says Out of the Mud has captured stories of harrowing rescues, heartbreak, and incomprehensible loss, balanced by evidence of these communities’ astounding strength, generosity, resourcefulness, humility and
Meet your local climate scientist ▶ p5
Vale Maggi Luke ▶ p6
kindness amidst the continuing chaos of this disaster. Katz says there are just so many people still suffering. ‘We are in crisis. The heart of this project is to bring more awareness and more support to the region’. ‘People living here mostly know what’s happening – the water has receded – but some people are living in gutted houses with one power point, no water or no hot water and no access to a kitchen and proper bathroom facilities.’ While most of the filming is done, there are production costs associated with the completion of the film, including editing, sound and distribution with an estimation
Julian Assange’s father interviewed ▶ p16
of at least $45,000 to get the project over the line.
Dedicated to survivors Katz says the film is dedicated to the survivors, rescuers, the helpers, and the givers, who continue to show up, day after day, to help one another. ‘What will ultimately come out of the mud is an unfinished story. The fate of the Northern Rivers is yet to be decided, and while its future looks murky at the moment, it is without a doubt that positive things can come from this disaster; from Out of the Mud,’ she says. To support the film, visit www. gofundme.com/f/the-heart-atlas.
Industriously arty ▶ p22
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet (Liberal) quietly inspected temporary pod construction works in Prince Street, Mullumbimby last Thursday. The Echo understands he was invited to the area by local MP, Tamara Smith (Greens), as he was in the region to release the Independent Flood Report. When asked why the visit was kept secret, Ms Smith told The Echo it was a request from his office. Ms Smith told The Echo, ‘I was appreciative that the Premier came to see the kinds of cruel decisions that our community is being forced to make because of bureaucratic short-sightedness. Why should vulnerable people, who are flood victims and desperate to be housed in temporary housing pods, be pitted against other flood victims?’ ‘I raised the Prince Street issue with the Premier as emblematic of what happens on the ground when bureaucracies do not consult early, and often, with the community. A few people on Council is not the same thing as consulting broadly across the community to see potential problems, but also potential solutions. ‘Apparently, the proposal was originally for relocatable pods on wheels, and no landfill. Apparently, Council was only asked to nominate Crown land in Mullum – which is all flood prone. What the heck?’ Ms Smith added, ‘With billions of dollars being spent on recovery, this cannot be the best that our community deserves.’
Seven celebrates Wear it Purple Day ▶ p25 9
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Curate your space ▶ p37
Friday Night
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