STRONG WOMEN DON’T HAVE ‘ATTITUDES’, WE HAVE STANDARDS’ – MARILYN MONROE The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 40 #26 • December 3, 2025 • www.echo.net.au
Tight vote moves Byron’s SEP forward despite community objections Aslan Shand Voting on whether to ‘progress’ Byron‘s Special Entertainment Precinct (SEP) by Byron Shire councillors was an indecisive affair – Cr Jack Dods’s arm popped up and down like a jack-in-a-box as he changed his mind repeatedly, eventually voting against the motion he seconded, to ‘pause’ the SEP. However Mayor Ndiaye’s subsequent motion to ‘progress’ the SEP to gateway determination with the concession of reducing the SEP footprint by one zone won the day (5-4) with Crs Sarah Ndiaye, Jack Dods, Asren Pugh, Janet Swain, and Michelle Lowe in favour and David Warth, Michael Lyon, Elia Hauge and Delta Kay against. 90 per cent of community responses were against the SEP. Cr Warth had put the motion to pause the SEP and associated documentation ‘to allow councillors and the community to collaboratively develop a clear vision for the Byron Bay Town Centre with respect to entertainment, cultural activation, events, and night-time trading’. The motion also sought ‘to identify funding sources for the programs and initiatives required to support a trial SEP’ before going to gateway determination. However, Mayor Ndiaye then foreshadowed the motion to move the SEP forward, with a change to the size of the SEP, to gateway determination (a state government check that a proposal has merit to proceed) telling the meeting that did not mean the SEP was going to trial. Confusion appears to have been ▶ Continued on page 9
Schoolies injection spiking concerns ▶ p7
Byron Sandhills Wetlands now open to the public
The Byron Sandhills Wetlands were opened on Monday, 1 December, following a significant restoration project. The original wetlands site had been sandmined in the 1960s and was then left in a degraded state for more than 40 years. Three wetlands of varying sizes have been recreated on the site with a network of paths meandering through them which connect the town centre to the Jarjumirr Skate Park and up to Walgun Cape Byron walking track and the Lighthouse, encouraging nature-based recreation for people of all ages and abilities. The wetlands will improve biodiversity on the site, improve water quality at Clarkes Beach, and create a space for our community to connect and enjoy. Photo Jeff Dawson
ëŕīëōşƱ ĈşŔŔƖŕĶƐƷ īſşƖż ŕĕĕĎƆ ȡǞǝǝǽǝǝǝ Ķŕ ë ƱĕĕŊ Ɛş ǕīIJƐ Īşſ şƱōş Aslan Shand The Bangalow community came together on Sunday for a public meeting to receive updates and create a community campaign to have the Banglow Bowlo returned to the community. The Save Bangalow Bowlo
Season’s reasons to be hopeful ▶ p10
Steering Committee (SBBSC), joined by representatives of the Bangalow Advisory Committee updated the 120-strong crowd gathered at the Bangalow Showgrounds on their negotiations with Norths Collective to return the Bowlo to the community – a process mandated under the Memorandum of Understanding
Press freedom in peril – Kerry O’Brien ▶ p14
(MOU) signed during the 2022 amalgamation. The irony that in fact the Bangalow Bowlo would have been the ideal venue for the community gathering if it had not been locked and declared unsafe by Norths Collective on 24 October was noted by several members of the community.
Mono inducted into Hall of Champs ▶ p16
Murbah magic ▶ p17
Norths’ have told the community there is a ten-day deadline for the Bangalow community to raise tens of thousands of dollars and present a fully costed, viable business plan to take back the Bowlo into community hands. ‘Norths took nine months to ▶ Continued on page 7
It’s a festive Shop local and win! season shopping ▶ p24 bonanza ▶ p28
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