Byron Bay Australia

Not just another tourist destination. Some people actually live here!

There's enough tourism based websites in Byron Bay already. So we've got a new plan for byronbaynow.com.

The truth is, Byron is extremely diverse culturally. We figure the best way to show people exactly how diverse, is to grow byronbaynow.com to include more timely information about the issues facing the people of Byron Bay and the Shire. So in the coming weeks you'll see some changes around here. The next generation of the site will shift in focus to the issues that makes Byron Bay unique.

We'll be sure to keep the information our visitors already find useful - such as accommodation and other guides.

If you'd like to chat to some locals - feel free to pop over the forum at Bayweb and say G'day.

Byron Bay Community Issues & News

Tuesday, November 01, 2005
No sympathy for Rex

I can understand Rex Hunt's distress at having a cut head from his recent encounter with a "gang of youths" in Byron Bay on Friday night, but his confusion and self-contradiction engenders no sympathy from Byron Bay residents, or even credibility after he failed to report his alleged attack to police.

Mr Hunt's confusion in his various media reports that the problem lies with the "anti-tourist attitude in Byron Bay, with lack of local police and with teenagers that "police can't touch" is illustrative of his lack of understanding of the issues.

The Northern Star, ever eager to report bad news about Byron Bay, launched into the attack by publishing a front-page picture of Mr Hunt, supposedly bloodied, and saying he had been "held back by two little brats [while] watching a bloke kicking [his] son in the head" (Northern Star 1.11.05 p1). The brats in question must have been of a certain size, as Rex Hunt, according to his son Matthew is "six foot four (193 cm) and quite a big man at 110-odd kilos".

Mr Hunt said after the incident that anti-tourist attacks were "common in Byron Bay" and that he thinks "Bali is safer than Byron Bay at the moment" (Daily Telegraph 1.11.05). Those of us living in Byron Bay see this as a gross insult to the people of Bali and all victims who have endured horrific terrorist attacks. Australia simply does not know what terrorist attacks are on its own soil, and to compare the shenanigans of a street altercation to the real suffering of the Balinese and their guests is gross egotism at its worst.

The one-eyed picture of Rex Hunt published in the Daily Telegraph (1.11.05) is purely a "look what they've done to me" expression that will get the has-been footballer no sympathy in Byron.

We all agree that there should be more police presence in Byron, but this is a state-government decision and beyond our control. And yes, we'd like young people to behave more responsibly, but is this a problem confined to Byron Bay?

Like Mr Hunt and his family, we like to be treated with respect. We feel we've earned it, as we share our town and surrounds with hundreds of thousands of law-abiding visitors a year.

posted by katharine @ 4:10 PM