About 12.30am yesterday (Saturday 13 March), the 17-year-old boy was walking with friends along Botanical Circuit when the unknown car pulled up near them.

As the vehicle started driving away from the group, the teenager jumped on the back; however, as it gained speed, he lost his grip and fell backwards onto the roadway, striking his head and briefly losing consciousness.

The driver of the vehicle – possibly a green, late-model Mitsubishi Lancer – did not stop at the scene.

Police from Tweed/Byron Local Area Command and NSW Ambulance paramedics attended the scene.

The injured youth was taken to Tweed Heads District Hospital in an agitated state. His condition deteriorated and he was transferred to Gold Coast Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, where he remains in a critical condition.

Investigating officers are now seeking public help to locate the vehicle and driver involved in the incident.

They concede the driver might not have known the teenager had jumped on their car and then fallen off.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information that might assist police is urged to contact Tweed Heads Police Station via Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Mr Cohen said that according to figures provided by Tweed Tourism, in September 2009 – the month of the Repco Rally – there was an increase in visitor nights by only 867 compared with September of 2008 and an increase in takings from all accommodation by only $850,000 compared with the previous year.

“In the house today I asked the Minister whether he would agree that the Rally’s Socio-Economic Impact Assessment was grossly overstated. The Rally’s SEIA claimed the event ‘is estimated to increase tourist visitor nights by up to 92,000′ and would bring $30 million to the area,” Mr Cohen said.

“I also asked whether the Minister would agree that, comparing visitor numbers recorded by Tweed Tourism in September 2008 and September 2009 – an increase of only 626 people across the whole month – is a negligible impact unlikely to generate the touted $30 million in revenue for the area.

“The Minister responded by saying that he was committed to the Rally for another nine years and again crowed about what a great event the 2009 Rally was.

“The hype and spin the Minister continues to put out about this Rally defies the reality. Whilst some local businesses made good money over a three-day event, I don’t believe this will equate to the $30 million profit the Rally’s promoters had been touting.

“Given the data I have been receiving about what a blip this event was on the Tweed Tourism spreadsheet, I look forward to a full and thorough review of the Rally’s financial impact before we see nine more years of it. Given the Minister’s enthusiasm for future rallies prior to the review’s findings I don’t hold out much hope for proper process.”

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Saaid Zaiter was last seen at Chinderah on Tuesday, 16 December, 2008.

Mr Zaiter’s remains were found in bushland near The Pinnacle lookout in the Border Ranges National Park, west of Murwillumbah, exactly one year later.

Strike Force Rohan was established by State Crime Command Homicide Squad and Tweed/Byron Local Area Command detectives to investigate the circumstances surrounding the 47-year-old man’s death.

Yesterday (Tuesday 9 March), a 28-year-old Tweed Heads man was arrested at his Kennedy Drive residence and taken to the local police station for questioning.

He was subsequently charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder and refused bail to appear in Tweed Heads Local Court yesterday.

The man – who is the seventh person charged by police in relation to Mr Zaiter’s murder – has been remanded in custody to appear in Lismore Local Court on 16 March 2010.

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Mayor of Tweed Councillor Warren Polglase recognised the commitment to the Tweed from the Member for Richmond, Justine Elliot.

“The four projects are important to improving our community infrastructure and without this funding, these are activities that council would otherwise not be in a financial position to complete,” Councillor Polglase said.

The projects are:

Playground Audit and Fencing $67,500
Implement the recommendations from the Playground Audit including fencing and signage upgrades.

Chinderah Rock Wall Revetment $180,000
Revetment of the remaining 430 metres which is predominantly fretting at the intertidal level. Detailed design is complete and approval for construction has been granted.

Tweed Heads Auditorium $152,500
Install improvements to ageing infrastructure including curtains, trusses and staging, flooring and new furnishings.

Southern Fingal Boat Harbour Upgrade $150,000
Provide improved amenities including shaded seating and barbeques, drinking fountains and a playground facility.

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About 2.20pm, the 27-year-old woman and a male friend were cycling north along the shoulder of the Pacific Highway at Duranbah when the incident occurred.

Police have been told the pair was on a training ride from Southport in Queensland to Byron Bay and back when the woman hit the rear of a red four-wheel-drive which was parked on the shoulder.

The driver of the car and the woman’s friend rendered first aid to her before emergency services were called and she was taken by ambulance to The Tweed Hospital.

She was later transferred to Gold Coast Hospital suffering serious head injuries, fractures and internal bleeding and is listed as being in a critical condition.

Police from Tweed/Byron Local Area Command attended and conducted examinations of the scene. They have also spoken to a number of witnesses and will continue to monitor the woman’s condition in hospital.

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The public relations representatives, who arrived in Byron Bay this week (25 February), work to promote Australia as a tourism destination internationally and domestically. They are making the most of their first visit to Byron by undertaking a famil of Byron and the broader Northern Rivers region.

They will meet with more than 30 tourism operators in Byron Bay, Bangalow and the Tweed as well as visit the Green Cauldron, one of the eight experiences in Australia’s National Landscapes program.

Stretching from Byron Bay to the Gold Coast and west toward the Great Dividing Range, this vast caldera shelters a huge diversity of rare flora and fauna, subtropical rainforests and a breathtaking rim of mountain ranges.

“The Byron at Byron has been working hard to promote nature-based and wellness tourism, both domestically and internationally for many years,” said Kerry I’Anson, Manager Global Public Relations from Tourism Australia.

“They are very supportive of Tourism Australia initiatives including our visiting journalist program. We are happy to be here now experiencing the resort and the Green Cauldron region for ourselves.”

The Tourism Australia representatives will spend time meeting with local identities and business people to get a feel for the identity and issues of the region.

“Having Australia’s peak tourism marketing organisation in the Northern Rivers is a great privilege,” said Russell Mills, Chief Executive Officer of Northern Rivers Tourism.

“We’ve put together an itinerary that we hope will give them plenty of story angles to pitch to the world’s travel media and in turn generate positive publicity for the region”.

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“My office was alarmed to hear that Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), the company contracted to review the Repco Rally, was not going to be undertaking an economic cost benefit analysis. Mike Cahill, the managing director of IMC, confirmed this in correspondence with a resident in the Rally area,” says Ian Cohen.

“I asked the Minister in Question Time today why IMC was not doing an economic analysis and how IMC could possibly recommend the continuation of the Rally to the Minister if such an analysis has not been done.

“The Minister’s initial response was his usual bluster about what a great event it was and how local businesses did such good trade over that weekend.

“Such anecdotal assertions are spurious and mean nothing if not supported by a full economic analysis of the event. I have heard of businesses that actually suffered as a result of the event.

“A proper analysis is the only way to determine if the event was financially viable.

“I have reservations as to how we will discover the real cost benefit of the Rally, since the amount of funding given by Events NSW to the Rally organisers has been kept secret under ‘commercial in confidence’. If we don’t know the initial outlay, how can final figures be determined?

“Many local people fear the review process will go the way of the ‘community consultations’ that took place before the event. Locals were consulted then their concerns overridden by the special legislation that enabled the event and switched off all planning and environmental laws that would have prevented it.

“The Minister must have consulted his own Act and remembered that he is bound by Section 25 of the Motor Sports (World Rally Championship) Act that says, ‘The Minister is to conduct a review of the impact in the Northern Rivers region of the rally event to determine whether future rally events should be conducted in that region’.

“Minister Macdonald announced to the House at the end of Question Time that there would be an economic analysis of the Rally. Whilst an economic analysis is important, the real concern about the Rally is the impact it has had on the environment and the community and the likely negative impact any future rallies will have.”

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NPWS Pest Management Officer, Lisa Wellman, said prior to the start of each program, which began in 2006, advertisements are placed in local newspapers advising people.

“The program is undertaken twice a year in autumn and spring and looks for evidence of wild dogs, which can then be controlled,” Ms Wellman said. 

“Control programs are based around baiting programs, and monitoring is also undertaken after control to determine how successful the program has been.

“Neighbours of these reserves are notified of this program and areas that are baited are signposted.

“Our monitoring allows us to target wild dogs in specific areas where they are found and in the past has shown that control has been effective.’
 
“We have received very positive feedback from the community in response to our programs. We encourage park neighbours to report wild dog incidents to the NPWS and the LHPA.

“Local LHPA Wild Dog Management Plans outline where and when wild dog control should be undertaken and have a central objective to reduce the impacts of wild dogs on agriculture and biodiversity.
 
“The local LHPA Wild Dog Management Plans are to be reviewed in 2011 and this provides an opportunity for the community to have input into the priorities for wild dog control in the region.

“The reserves to be targeted this autumn are Maryland, Toonumbar, Richmond Range, Mebbin, Mt Jerusalem, Bundjalung, Nightcap and Goonengerry National Parks, Whian Whian State Conservation Area and Bungabbee and Muckleewee Mountain Nature Reserve.

“Landholders in areas nearby who wish to conduct baiting on their own properties should contact their local Livestock, Health and Pest Authority.”

For information on where wild dog control programs are taking place, contact your local NPWS office: Kyogle Area 6632 0000, Tweed Area 6670 8600, Richmond River Area 6627 0200.

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“This is especially important in times of emergency,” said Cr Jenny Dowell, president of the Northern Rivers Regional Organisation of Councils (NOROC).

“Although the new system will show roadworks and scheduled road closures on an everyday basis, it will come into its own during a flood or in other emergency event.

“It is the experience of most councils that the information people request most is ‘what roads are closed?’ and ‘how can I travel from A to B?’

“This new system will put that information at their fingertips.”

Travellers will be able to view a map of the Northern Rivers region, from Clarence Valley in the south to Tweed in the north and out to Kyogle in the west which shows ‘roads closed information’ with markers placed at the location of the closure.
This visual guide will indicate the most reliable routes for travel across the region.

The RoadInfo website, www.myroadinfo.com.au, will be launched at the NOROC meeting on Friday, 26 February at 11am.

The initial idea came up during the post-flood review conducted after the January 2008 flood.

Councils applied for and received $14,000 from the Natural Disaster Mitigation Programme courtesy of the NSW Department of Emergency Services in May 2009.

The past nine months have been spent designing and developing the website.

The development of the website has seen strong collaboration between Lismore, Ballina, Kyogle, Richmond Valley, Tweed, Byron, and Clarence Valley councils.

Cr Dowell said, “It is really good to see our Councils working together, especially to provide such a useful service. This project shows just what can be achieved by us working together.

“We have shared resources and kept the cost down to an absolute minimum. I would like to thank all the councils for their hard work.

“Giving people across the region easy access to road closure information will be a real benefit to the whole Northern Rivers community, and although during a flood people should keep their travel down to a minimum, this new website will help to keep people safe when travel is essential,” she said.

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Already, partner organisation Southern Cross University has 78 staff and student members registered with the scheme and using it regularly, following a successful pilot program last year.

The local government-funded, web-based scheme aims to create a network of NSW North Coast commuters, from the Tweed Shire to the Clarence Shire, who have similar travel patterns, so they can reduce their travelling costs and share their travel time with compatible people.

The Northern Rivers Carpool Project will be officially launched at 11am on Thursday, February 18, 2010, at the John Crowther Carpark on the corner of Dawson and Woodlark Streets, Lismore.

“Most cars on the roads have only a single occupant,” said Northern Rivers Carpool co-ordinator Gillian Edwards, “so it makes sense to share the journey by filling up the car seats. It’s also a great way to make new friends and even halve weekly fuel bills.

“Priority parking is available for registered carpoolers in many public car parks across the Northern Rivers and this is yet another great reason for people to get involved in this fantastic initiative.”

Southern Cross University sustainability officer, Kirsty Howton, said she was delighted with the take-up of the scheme among staff and students.

“An extensive pilot program was undertaken in 2009 and this was particularly popular with our staff and students as well as with staff from the North Coast Area Health Service. People involved in the pilot have already experienced the benefits of carpooling, with more than 220 members already registered on the website,” she said.

“Transport is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in Australia, so carpooling to work or study is an effective way to reduce our carbon footprint for the benefit of our community in tackling climate change.

“Additionally, with fewer cars on the road, we are reducing the resources required to maintain our roads and our cars – yet another win for the environment.”

Northern Rivers Carpool has been funded by NSW Transport and Infrastructure, six local councils (Lismore, Ballina, Byron, Clarence, Richmond and Tweed), Southern Cross University, North Coast TAFE and North Coast Area Health Service.

For more information on the Northern Rivers Carpool project please contact Lismore City Council, phone: 1300 87 83 87 or go to www.lismore.nsw.gov.au

The Carpool Project is a free and easy web-based service that matches travel details of like commuters. The website is located at www.nrcarpool.org

PICTURE: Southern Cross University staff carpoolers Sophie Kemm (at the wheel) and Kirsty Howton.

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