MAY YOUR TROUBLES LAST AS LONG AS YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 39 #30 • January 1, 2025 • www.echo.net.au
Home invasions, thefts continue around region
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sixteen-year-old boy will appear in children’s court on January 10, charged with offences related to an alleged home invasion and car theft at Lennox Head early Friday morning. Police say three unknown people allegedly entered a home on Gibbon Street and threatened the occupants, two men aged 36 and 37, with a knife. They are accused of demanding keys to two cars parked at the property, and then stealing them. A police chase led to Casino, where the occupants of both cars allegedly fled on foot. Police say the two vehicles have been seized for forensic examination and that investigations led to the arrest of the boy.
2025 beach party!
Byron break and enter Meanwhile, residents around Byron Bay continue to report on social media that break and enters are continuing. Belongil Crescent resident Anna Ockert confirmed her online post with The Echo, in which she says her husband woke to two men in their bedroom at 2.40am on Saturday, December 28. ‘They took house keys, car keys and his wallet. They then tried to steal our car’, she says. ‘Gates, security lights and a locked house didn’t stop them’. ‘We were very grateful to the two police cars that were here in five minutes, and that our family are safe. [It was] horrific that we felt it was a matter of time, as our two ▶ Continued on page 3
Fire engulfs Mullum auto shop ▶ p2
From Sydney to Byron Bay – Anna, Jude, Heli and David were just one small drop in the chilled masses on Byron Bay’s Main Beach. Like many visitors to the area, they were heading to Soul Street in Byron for a big night out. Photo Eve Jeffery
Tourism operators accused of overcharging taxpayers to shelter the needy Mia Armitage As reported last week, local tourism operators running hotels and motels have been accused of charging the state government higher rates to accommodate some of the most vulnerable people in the state in the lead-up to Christmas. NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson (Labor) said she was pleased to advise that one of her
Mullum’s new-look retro Carsburgs ▶ p3
department’s commercial providers in the Byron Shire had agreed to negotiate their rates, which will mean those seeking temporary accommodation in Byron Shire will be sheltered over Christmas.
Bookings continue Minister Jackson said, ‘Based on this new rate, Homes NSW will continue to undertake bookings with them’. ‘All current clients will remain
Bangalow: 10% more people by 2035 ▶ p5
until a longer-term housing option is identified.’ Previously, NSW Housing and Homelessness Minister Rose Jackson said the government was no longer prepared to let private business operators rip off taxpayers and exploit a declared housing crisis. ‘In some cases hotel owners were charging the NSW government substantially more than what they are charging tourists,’ she said. ‘This is not acceptable to me or
David Lowe slips into the void ▶ p11
Hello summer,, my old friend ▶ p18
BREATH & CEREMONY
YOGA & MOVEMENT
WORKSHOPS & TALKS
WELLNESS MARKETS
VEGAN CAFE
PSYCHICS & HEALERS
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SOUNDBATHS
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North Coast gig guide ▶ p26 TH
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anyone in our community’. The minister’s comments come in response to a Byron Shire Council media release last week in relation to an alleged loss of temporary housing providers in the Shire. Anna Lockwood, of the Ending Rough Sleeping Collaboration Byron Shire, was also quoted in Council’s release, saying less than two per cent of local housing stock was social housing. ▶ Continued on page 3
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