Byron Bay articles of interest.

This July Byron Youth Service is celebrating 25 years as the primary provider of youth services in the Byron Shire.  Yay!  We figure that’s reason enough to put on a few special events and activities to celebrate and acknowledge that “Young People Matter” in our community. As many adults would recall, the teenage years are often a time of great change and turbulence for young people.  Not only are their bodies and brains rapidly developing, but their social networks and views of the world are forming also.  They are making sense of a rapidly changing and often challenging world.  They are thinking about their future and their place in the community – what they might like to ‘do’ or ‘be’ [...]

A heavy police presence helped to improve behaviour last year. A CRIME report on Byron Bay has reinforced the need for a CCTV system in the CBD, with the town’s rate of drunken assaults well above the state average. But cameras may be a while off yet with no funding currently available to Byron Shire Council. Last November, The Northern Star reported on Tweed Byron Local Area Command (LAC) police and Byron Shire Council working to tackle alcohol-related assaults in the Byron CBD. Police put forward CCTV as a solution. Last month, council released their draft Safer Community Compact strategy for 2012-2016. It showed that Byron Shire ranked 11th in NSW for non-domestic related assaults in 2010. Forty-seven per cent [...]

Max McPherson (14), of Kingscliff, Merryn Anderson and Dianne Styling, of Sydney and Molly McPherson (10) got their hands dirty to save the Byron Shire Markets. WHEN Suzie Mylecharane started her clothing business 32 years ago it was the local craft markets that were her business training ground. Starting with just two clothes racks and learning the ropes at each monthly Byron Community Market, the Myocum designer has built up her business, Ku Clothing, to the point where she wholesales around Australia. Ms Mylecharane believes the supportive market culture that gave her such a head start is under threat with a new Byron Shire Council draft market policy and tender process currently on display. The draft policy will potentially allow [...]

BYRON Bay Friends of the Library, which has campaigned and fundraised for the past 20 years to see a new library built in the area, has welcomed the news that Byron Shire Council has awarded the construction tender to Badge Constructions (QLD) Pty Ltd. To be built at a cost of $3.78 million, the construction company will take possession of the new library site early next month. “We’re delighted it’s going to happen,” Byron Bay Friends of the Library president Bob Levett said. “We are excited at the prospect of participating in the many varied and enjoyable activities ahead of us.” Mayor Jan Barham said there would be a lot of excited and relieved residents. “After many long years of [...]

LESS than a month remains for people to nominate a hard-working volunteer they know in NSW or the ACT for a NRMA Helping People Award. NRMA President Wendy Machin said NRMA Helping People Award nominations for volunteers from a charity or not-for-profit organisation close on Friday 29 July. “Communities can’t function without volunteers, so if you know a volunteer who deserves some recognition for the help they are giving don’t delay, nominate them now,” Ms Machin said. “The four winners will receive a great Australian getaway for two and a $5,000 donation will be given to the charity they volunteer for. “We have already received 280 nominations for some incredibly dedicated individuals who volunteer in their communities. “The volunteers nominated [...]

The aftermath of the tornado. AT 8.15am today, the Lennox Head community will get together for an important event – a tree-planting. But this tree-planting is unlike any other. It is being done at the sand dune opposite Lennox St, where the first tree was taken out by the tornado that hit the village exactly 12 months ago. President of the Lennox Head Chamber of Commerce, Louise Owen, said it was hard to believe it had been a year since the “terrifying tornado ripped through” the village. She said the tree-planting was about the community showing “resilience, strength, courage and growth”. “We saw the carnage, felt the tumultuous emotions, stared in disbelief, helped in the clean-up, raised over $60,000, but [...]

A 60-DAY moratorium on new exploration licences for coal seam gas mining was announced over the weekend, following months of debate between mining companies, farmers, councils and environmentalists. Lismore, Ballina, Byron and Kyogle councils, Rous Water and Northern Rivers Tourism have all pushed for the moratorium. Just last week Federal Page MP Janelle Saffin also backed the calls, saying the community deserved more information about the “potential damaging effect on the community, environment and agriculture”. She said the 60-day freeze on new exploration licences, announced by NSW Planning Minister Brad Hazzard on Friday night, was a good step forward. “My approach has been that we need to put the brakes on a bit,” Ms Saffin said. “We need some breathing [...]

Members of the Roundhouse Action Group say they will continue their fight to keep the Roundhouse site at Ocean Shores as a community asset, despite the council’s decision yesterday to have it subdivided and sold. “A BETRAYAL of the community’s hopes” is how Ocean Shores residents have described Byron Shire Council’s decision to subdivide and sell the Roundhouse site. At yesterday’s council meeting, Byron Shire Mayor Jan Barham used her casting vote to go ahead with the sell-off, despite objections from community groups who wanted to see the Orana Rd site used for an arts and cultural centre. The cash-strapped council deemed the centre proposed by the Roundhouse Action Group presented too great a financial risk, instead deciding to spend [...]

This week Byron United launch their Byron Naturally campaign unveiling the one ‘face’ that has been chosen to represent our entire region. I’ve watched with interest as women with faces (those too off their face were immediately disqualified; can’t have the face of Byron pulling on a bong) have competed not to be the face of a new generation but a new generalisation. This is the one face that is supposed to speak to the values and diversity of our entire community. Tolkien could have been working for Tourism NSW, because it would appear it’s his strategy that’s been employed to haul in fresh tourist meat. ‘In the Land of Byron Bay, where the shadows lie. One face to rule them all, one face to fi nd them, one face to [...]

Jan Barham RUMOURS of a Coalition policy to force the Byron and Ballina shire councils to merge are just “scare tactics”, according to Ballina MP Don Page. Byron Shire Mayor Jan Barham yesterday said many people in the community had approached her with concerns that the council would be sacked if the Coalition won government at this weekend’s election. “There are a lot of concerns within the community at the moment with a possible change of government,” she said. “People are saying that the council will be sacked, that we’ll be forced to amalgamate. “This is an ongoing issue. “Yes, Byron Shire Council is under extreme pressure. “But I think Mr Page has given his commitment that forced amalgamations will [...]

Renee Simone was forced to move from Byron Bay to Lismore to live after it became impossible to find a property to rent or buy. IN HER last six years living at Byron Bay, Renee Simone moved house 15 times and was homeless three times. Then things got hard. Ms Simone fronts popular local band Blackbirds and has sung backing vocals for Xavier Rudd, she is a qualified occupational therapist and, during those six years between 2004 and 2010, worked with young people at the Byron Youth Service. But a decent job, solid qualifications and brushes with fame are not enough to put a roof over your head at Byron Bay. At least, not any more. Ms Simone told a [...]

BYRON Shire residents are being robbed of basic services like road maintenance due to inequities in the State Government’s land tax and grant systems, a local councillor says. Figures obtained by Byron Shire Councillor Patrick Morrisey show the State Government has collected almost $86 million in land taxes from the Byron shire over the past five years – the highest rate in NSW for comparable-sized rural shires – yet received the lowest of amount of Commonwealth Financial Assistance Grants per capita for a comparable council in NSW. The state-administered Financial Assistance Grants are an important source of funding for local councils, which spend the money on priorities like local roads, parks and pools, libraries, community centres and waste services. To [...]

Byron Bay’s peak business lobby group Byron United and the Byron Bay Community Association are at loggerheads over the association’s push to establish asecond permanent monthly market in the town. BYRON BAY’S peak business group, Byron United, and the Byron Bay Community Association are facing off over plans to make the trial second Byron Bay monthly market a permanent fixture. Byron United says a permanent second market “is not acceptable” to its members, while the community association, which manages the market, says it is “disappointed” with Byron United’s stance. A trial second monthly market has been held at the Butler Street Reserve during summer, with the trial due to end after the March 20 market. Byron United president Sevegne Newton [...]

Troy Cassar Daley will be the feature act of the Ballina Coastal Music Festival. BALLINA has joined the ranks of regional towns that recognise the cultural and community value of holding a music festival. The organising committee of the inaugural Coastal Country Music Festival has announced funding from Ballina Shire Council for an October festival, with Australian country music legend, singer/songwriter Troy Cassar-Daley, confirmed as the headline act. Ballina Shire Council has allocated $20,000 for the festival, and agreed to a street closure and central stage area at the end of Fawcett Park. The park will serve as the focal point for the planned free community and family entertainment planned to run over the long weekend between October 1 and [...]

Facility co-ordinator Jordan Robinson (left) and manager of community services Paul Tsikleas inside the main auditorium of the Lennox Head Community Centre. IN about a month, the long-awaited Lennox Head Community Centre and skate park will be finished. Yesterday The Northern Star toured the facility, which includes a main auditorium, several meeting rooms, an activity room, playgroup area, the library and 60 car parking spaces. The Country Women’s Association building has also been integrated into the centre. Ballina Shire Council’s commercial services manager, Paul Tsikleas, said it was great to see it coming together after a difficult start. “In the past month or so we’ve really seen everything taking shape,” he said. “The main auditorium can fit 400 to 500 [...]

‘Walk in Her Shoes’ fundraising walk for CARE Australia, to raise some money to help empower impoverished women all over the world. Millions of women and girls walk over six kilometres a day in search of food, water and firewood. This leaves little time for school, accessing health services and earning an income. Byron Bay team, ‘Byron & Beyond’ are organising a walk on Monday 28 March from 5.30pm-6.30pm from Main Beach to the Pass and back, as part of CARE’s Walk In Her Shoes challenge. Either become a sponsor and donate some funds, or join the team, do some fundraising and the walk and help break this cycle of poverty. To donate to Byron’s own Team for this challenge, [...]

Bangalow Chamber of Commerce vice-president Carol Mitchell and president Michael Malloy in the main street of Bangalow ahead of the rescheduled Christmas Eve celebrations in March. BETTER late than never. After rain washed out their annual Christmas Eve celebrations last year, Bangalow’s Chamber of Commerce has decided to replace the event with Christmas in March. Santa Claus won’t be making an appearance – that could bewilder the children – but the celebrations will be just as festive as those usually held on December 24. The popular annual Christmas Eve carnival has been running for 40 years and has rarely been cancelled, so the wet weather at Christmas was disappointing for both residents and organisers. It also cost the chamber $2000 [...]

BYRON Bay has become a slave to the dollar, is putting its own people last and has lost the ‘magic’ for which it was once renowned. That’s according to Byron Shire Mayor Jan Barham, who is becoming increasingly frustrated with what she sees as an imbalance between the rights of residents and the power of economics. She says the dominance of the tourism industry in Byron is hurting long-term locals – the people who gave the town it’s ‘edge’ and attractiveness in the first place – and it’s time the town looked beyond the tourism dollar. Her comments have incensed the president of the town’ s chamber of commerce, Sevegne Newton, who is currently preparing to launch one of Byron [...]

Lismore Mayor Jenny Dowell. PROMISES to solve the lack of transport in the Northern Rivers are still vague with just six weeks to go until the State election. The Northern Rivers Regional Organisation of Councils is yet to hear from any of the local candidates about their plans for integrated regional transport. The Minister for Transport has told NOROC he is interested in working their respective integrated transport plans for the Northern Region together. But that was months ago. “We want to see a commitment from all candidates that they commit to delivering a transport plan to meet our growing needs,” NOROC deputy chair Jenny Dowell said. “We have a submission for a plan. We wanted one done like the [...]

Hi Everyone, On Tuesday 10th August 2010, community groups across the country will be holding candlelight vigils as part of a nationally coordinated action, to highlight the need for mental health reform. These candlelight vigils will be held to remember those who have been lost and those who still suffer needlessly because of our underfunded mental healthcare system. As part of this campaign, myself and other members of my community are holding a local vigil because we are deeply concerned about the inadequacy of the mental healthcare system, and we want to put pressure on our local candidates for better policies on this issue. This national initiative is being facilitated by GetUp, an independent, nonpartisan, grassroots movement, and is being spearheaded by Australian [...]

Byron Youth Service director Di Mahoney (right) and Kate Reed, the new co-ordinator of the service’s Project U-Turn. Working with traumatised women and their children in the violent slums of Nairobi for five weeks this year revealed to counsellor Kate Reed just how deep she could “dig”. It gave her, she said, a new sense of perspective of what in life might ‘rattle’ her and how to deal with different situations. Part of a Healing Hands team, Kate said some of the stories she had heard from women in the slums were ‘indescribable’. “The stories the women told me will stay with me forever,” she said. “There is so much violence over there. They are in physical danger every day. [...]

Aboriginal education officer Carmel McGrady (left), Tabulam Public School principal Lesley Mills, Cabbage Tree Island Public School principal Dyonne Anderson and Aboriginal education officer Delia Rhodes with achievement awards. TWO local schools have won a prestigious national award for leading the way in Aboriginal education. Cabbage Tree Island Public School and Tabulam Public School were both recipients of a Dare to Lead high achievement award, which only four other schools in the country received, at a presentation in Brisbane recently. Dare to Lead is a Principals Australia government-funded project that aims to improve educational outcomes for Aboriginal students. Tabulam Public School principal Lesley Mills is a strong advocate of the Dare to Lead program and is honoured her small school [...]

THE BYRON BAY BREWERY BLACK TIE BALL in support of local artists will now be held on Saturday the 10th of July 2010 !!! This inaugural event offers our colourful community the opportunity to dress up and get down to raise funds for our local artists and entertainers and we invite our funky friends from all over the world to join us !!! Each corner of THE BYRON BAY BREWERY will offer local Amazing Artists the opportunity to paint and perform live on the night with silent auctions offering works of art for sale there and then !!! STEVE SAX’S Byron Big Band SOUL’D will headline the event in the ballroom with a 10 piece musical masterpiece and special guests [...]

A SHARP spike in assaults in the Byron Shire was the stand-out anomaly in an otherwise good report card for the Northern Rivers from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics. The report released this week showed crime across the region last year remained stable, or fell across a range of major offences. While reported sexual assaults in the Byron Shire were up 79 per cent, Tweed-Byron crime manager, Inspector Shane Diehm, believes the statistic was the result of more people coming forward to report incidents. “We’ve been working closely with groups like NSW Health and youth services in Byron Shire to encourage people to report sexual assaults,” he said. Insp Diehm said that in most cases the victims knew the [...]

Update: In the past few days, we secured funding to help 20,000 young Australians who experience mental ill health. Now we have the opportunity to use our combined power, and our momentum, to make an urgent intervention into a refugee debate that is fast spiralling out of control. A life of constant fear and violence. Your own brother kidnapped and held ransom. A father makes a heart-wrenching decision to save his son and a young teenager makes a dangerous journey with only one goal: to live. Most of us can’t imagine such a life, but this is Riz Wakil’s story. He’s one of a small number of men, women and children who come to Australia seeking our help. Isolated in detention [...]

Byron Youth Service is pleased to be able to invite you to their inaugural ‘Young People Matter’ Event – AN EVENING WITH JONTI BUSH 2009 YOUNG AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR When: Tuesday 15th June 2010 Where: Byron Youth Activity Centre, 1 Gilmore Crescent Byron Bay Time: 6pm – 8.30 RSVP: Rosalie Bryant on 02 6685 7777; rosalie@bys.org.au by Tuesday 8th June Anti-violence campaigner Jonty Bush shows us how one person can make an incredible difference, and that passion can be powerful in realising our goals and dreams. Using her darkest hours as inspiration, Jonty has developed a remarkable list of achievements, and in her address, Jonty will share her views on overcoming adversity to create the life you want for yourself and others. Jonty joined the Queensland [...]

Further to the article that was posted on this site on April 20th 2010, the following was received from GetUp on April 21… to those that responded to the call… Well done! Yesterday your actions helped improve the lives of 20,000 young Australians. You were among over 10,000 GetUp members who inundated our state and territory leaders with faxes and twitter messages on the weekend, as they prepared for the COAG health meeting. Your actions helped secure $116 million for community mental health in the Government’s health care announcement. It’s not enough, but it’s a start — and it means 20,000 more young Australians will receive the help they desperately need. Even more importantly, the Government committed to a national overhaul [...]

Mental ill health is the leading killer of Australians under 45 — and the leading cause of disability for all Australians. But with the biggest health reforms in decades up for negotiation on Monday, mental ill health may be forgotten – unless we act now. In just 48 hours, the Prime Minister and the leaders of every Australian state and territory will sit down in Canberra to negotiate a new plan for health care across the nation. In their offices across Australia, our state Premiers and territory Chief Ministers are working all weekend in preparation for Monday’s meeting. They are deciding where to push hard, and where to compromise. We’ve found the office fax number for NSW Premier, Kristina Kenally [...]

Tour de Cure is a registered charity dedicated to raising funds for the fight against cancer. Read more about us. Just about every Australian has been on the back of a bicycle at some stage in their life. The Tour de Cure team take this message of fitness and wellbeing to the community through sponsored tours between the major capital cities of Australia. Tour de Cure has raised over $2 Million dollars for the fight against cancer. In May, the 2010 Tour will see a team of 90 ride from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast, a total of 1,400kms. Some will ride, some will help to keep them safe on the road and the rest will keep them going in one way or another.  They [...]

So it seems that alcohol is the big thing on the list of conversations I had had this week. It was the topic of my first conversations of the day yesterday and also the last and many in between. There are a lot of people talking about alcohol in Byron Bay at the moment. Why? Probably the biggest reason right now has a lot to do with the news that Woolies are putting a Dan Murphy’s Superstore liquor outlet smack bang right in the middle of town. There seem to be a lot of adults excited at the thought of having this giant 1000 square metre alcohol SUPERmarket come to town and just as many totally disgusted at the thought. [...]

With regard to the assorted articles on pages 6 & 7 of the Northern Star on Saturday, February 13, 2010: When it comes to all the articles that are being published in the newspapers at the moment in this region about alcohol-fuelled violence and it’s consequences, I think we are really missing the point when the conversation within these articles turns to how best to promote Byron Bay as a tourist destination. The thing that is sorely missing in these types of articles is the fact that stupid behaviour is what leads to these problems and behaviours are something we learn from a very young age and primarily at home. It is a great idea for the business community to [...]