WOOLWORTHS SEWER AT COUNCIL AGAIN

NEWSLETTER 50 - 1 July 2009

BSC TOMORROW: WOOLWORTHS SEWER-ON- A BOG s68: The 12 questions asked of council staff about the s68 meeting the required standards/policies/guidelines have not been answered satisfactorily in our view; the answers were ambiguous, incomplete and a gift to Woolworths. Tom Tabart will be raising this matter again tomorrow at Council’s meeting on 2 July. Garry Scott will speak during public access between 9-10 am.

TELSTRA SITE in Station Street, Mullumbimby, will also be up for discussion at Council meeting tomorrow. Will the Telstra Site be awarded to the Sustainable food Network for their market??? (see next item).

CONGRATULATIONS to local sustainable food people bringing 7 councils together to create sustainable food network called “Northern Rivers Food Links”. They have been awarded grant of $2m from NSW Dept Environment and Climate Change to develop new approaches to food growing and distributing to protect communities from climate change.

WWS & COLES BLOCK GROCERY CHOICE SCHEME: “This was the site the big supermarkets didn’t want you to see…” Choice CEO Nick Stace said about the scrapping of the Grocery Choice Scheme after Woolworths and Coles apparently would not co-operate with providing the data to the website, so shoppers could search for best prices. Scrapping the new website also scraps Kevin Rudd’s election promise to force grocery prices down. http://www.smh.com.au/national/grocery-choice-project-in-tatters-20090626-czot.html

EATING OIL
“Industrialised, globalised agriculture is a recipe for eating oil. Oil is used for the chemical fertilizers that go to pollute the soil and water. Oil is used to displace small farmers with giant tractors and combine harvesters. Oil is used to industrially process food. Oil is used for the plastic in packaging. And finally more and more oil is used to
transport food farther and farther away from where it is produced.”
(Vandana Shiva: “Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in a Time of Climate Crisis” (2008) South End Press, Cambridge, MA, USA.
(I would add to that list the post-harvest chemicals and the pesticides)

REPCO CAR RALLY: How would you like it? Tweed and Kyogle areas are targeted.
Sign petition http://www.petitiononline.com/NRG01e/petition.html also see blog by Julie Boyd of Hastings Point jboydedu.wordpress.com/

NEW TRAFFIC FINES FROM TODAY: I called Highway Patrol, Byron Bay, about the Left Bank Road traffic problem yet again, and the Sarge told me about new fines.
Less than 10 k over speed limit: 1 point $84 fine
More than 10 k 3 points $197
20k over limit: 4 points $338
30k over limit: 5 points $647
45k over limikt: 6 points $1744

STILLNESS IN ACTION RETREAT Ballina 24-28 July www.stillnessinaction.net

Please note you can put up your own event on our website calendar www.mullumaction.org

Cheers
Deborah