REMEMBER: WHEN YOU EMPTY A VACUUM CLEANER, YOU BECOME THE VACUUM CLEANER The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 38 #48 • May 8, 2024 • www.echo.net.au
ǟǝǟǟ ǖşşĎ ĎëƐë will not be incorporated into Council planning ‘at this stage’
Biggest little town alive with colour
Hans Lovejoy With the recent release of local flood data from the devastating 2022 floods now public, Council staff have told The Echo there is no budget this year to apply for funding to incorporate it into their planning instruments. The Echo asked Council staff whether there would be any analysis or summary of the report made public by Council’s flood engineers/ hydrologists, yet that also appears to be not forthcoming. The Post 2022 Event Flood Behaviour Analysis – Brunswick River was quietly published on the SES website recently, and came without any announcement by the NSW Department of Planning & Environment. The Echo also asked whether/ when ‘this report will be incorporated into Council planning instruments’. A Council staff member replied, ‘The NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water Flood Report has now been publicly released on the SES website and Council will shortly be sharing the link to it on our website’.
Floodplain management plans need updating
Tiana on bubbles and Stella and Raffia on stilts showered Mullum’s main street with rainbows, love and colour for the Laneways Festival, held over the weekend. The event filled the streets and venues, and thankfully the rain held off. Photo Jeff ‘Without Rain There Are No Rainbows’ Dawson
Student HECS debt to be cut, say federal Labor
‘While the report’s findings provide various recommendations that Byron Shire Council support, we will not be making any changes to our planning instruments at this stage. ▶ Continued on page 2
Two new major initiatives to support current and former higher education students have been announced by the federal Labor government. Last week, The Echo asked local Federal Labor MP, Justine Elliot, what she thought of the expected increase of HECS loans, which were set to soar by 4.7 per cent on June 1.
Artificial intelligence used for beach safety? ▶ p4
Multicultural fest lights up Byron, May 12 ▶ p7, 17
She referred to a reply by PM Anthony Albanese; during the week, he announced that more than three million Australians would have their student debt wiped, equating to around $3 billion. Mrs Elliot said in a press release on Tuesday that it will benefit 20,000 people with tertiary debt
Shhh, don’t mention the environment to Labor ▶ p12
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on the North Coast. She said, ‘The government will cap the HELP indexation rate to whatever is lower out of the Consumer Price Index or the Wage Price Index with effect from June 1, 2023, and backdate the relief to June 1 last year. This will benefit every person with a HELP debt, fixing the issue of
Support local and love Byron ▶ p21
last year’s spike in the CPI indexation rate of 7.1 per cent…’ The other changes that will ‘make a big difference to locals on the North Coast’, will be a $319.50 per week payment for those undertaking mandatory work placements for teaching, nursing, midwifery, and social work qualifications.
Scoop up something good ▶ p22
Tales of hope and survival ▶ p23, 6