Rant 1 - Alcohol-Related Violence

Rant 2 - Good Representation

Rant 3 - Equitable Treatment

Rant 4 - Lismore Farmer's Market

Rant 1

I spoke about alcohol-related violence during Big Rob’s Rant 0005 when I described my first experience in this area where I was a victim. I also mentioned how witnessing excessive violence has become an unwelcome regular part of my life. Here are some brief recollections regarding a small number of major incidents I have witnessed.

One of the first, and possibly the biggest incident I have witnessed, was what was described by many as a brawl on the night of one of the Indigenous football knockouts held in Lismore. It was a night where there were numerous small fights breaking out in the street over a period of thirty to fourty minutes. Police were nowhere to be seen until the very end. Many of those fighting spent the night drinking in the streets and were heavily intoxicated.

When I say fights breaking out in the street, I literally mean in the street. Vehicles faced obstruction as they tried to navigate through the fights - if they dared. The Keen Street and Woodlark Street intersection was one to be avoided. There were scuffles on three corners. One male pulled out a pair of scissors to use against another male but was quickly disarmed by his friends and the scissors were thrown away.

In one scuffle, punches and kicks were being thrown as two guys went each other for a number of minutes. Crowds were building to watch the various incidents. A fight then broke out in one of the late night food businesses and the crowds converged. It appeared as though someone grabbed a knife to try to use it on someone else.

Things were chaotic and many more calls were made for urgent police assistance. The street security did very little. Further scuffles broke out in the street and one guy was even pulled aggressively to the ground being flipped backwards over a railing just for trying to stop some of the fighting. Another guy who was stopping some of the fighting was later pepper sprayed and arrested for no apparent reason when the police finally showed up. A number of people were arrested and charged as a result of that night.

Another major incident occurred following a night of mixed martial art action at the Lismore Worker’s Club. It was a great night with lots of people out and about enjoying themselves. Everyone hit the clubs after the event and the drinking went on.

As the night was coming to an end and the clubs were winding down, a large number of people spilled onto the street from one of the clubs. There were a group of mixed martial arts fighters and many locals. It is not clear how it started but a fight followed.

This fight started at the intersection of Keen Street and Woodlark Street and continued well up Keen Street towards Magellan Street. Some huge punches and lots of kicks were being thrown. One guy was literally picked up and thrown into the front of one of the business premises in Keen Street. Fortunately for him, it was a roller door frontage and breaking glass did not become an issue and cause more serious injuries.

Police, security from the licensed premises and street security went in to stop the melee. There were people everywhere. At one point, police and ambulance vehicles with lights flashing blocked the street. It was such a horrible site to see the aftermath. Many more were arrested and charged following this incident.

A third major incident was remarkably similar to the mixed martial arts melee. The main difference was that instead of MMA fighters, this melee involved cowboys who were in town for a weekend of rodeo at Alstonville. They hit the Lismore clubs to have some fun but were confronted with violence.

The melee again broke out towards the end of the night as everyone spilled out of the club onto the streets. The violence again moved up Keen Street towards Magellan Street. Instead of someone being thrown into a shopfront, one cowboy was thrown into one of the vehicle barrier poles that line the footpaths and seriously damaged his knee. He was carried away to hospital by his friends. The poor guy was due to perform the next day at the rodeo.

Police finally arrived to assist security who was trying to break up this melee. It was quickly controlled and the crowd was dispersed. I never found out if people were arrested and charged as a result of this melee.

I could speak for days describing so many more incidents but I will leave them for other nights. Alcohol seems to be the major issue causing these problems. A different approach may be required.

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Rant 2

Good representation is something every one of us hopes for. At the local level, we expect good representation from our local Councillors to reflect our many, and often competing, needs and wants.

It is often said that Party politics do not play a role at the local level and so it shouldn’t. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case in our area. Various Parties are registered with some of their members having stated that they vote any way they like on each issue. This also does not seem to be the case.

Lismore City Council is represented by eleven Councillors. Each seat symbolically represents just over 9% of the voters and the proportion of seats won should equal the proportion of votes cast. This is known as proportional representation. The question must be asked if what the voters want is reflected in what they get and if the majority of voters even understand the process. It is certainly far more complicated than many people think.

When looking at our representation, we see those in major parties include Mayor Jenny Dowell with Councillors Isaac Smith and Ray Houston from the Country Labor Party and Councillor Vanessa Ekins from The Greens. There were also two minor parties which include Councilor Simon Clough from Our Sustainable Future and Councillor David Yarnall from Roads and Services. The rest of the candidates ran as independents.

The results of the last election reflect some very interesting results. The Country Labor Party secured 18.08% of the votes but took three seats controlling 27.27% of the Council. The Greens secured 12.14% of the votes but only got one seat controlling only 9.09% of the Council. The most interesting is independent Councillor Neil Marks’ ticket which secured 13.67% of the votes but also only got one seat controlling only 9.09% of the Council. It seems the Country Labor Party really knows how to work the system for maximum return.

It is my position that Party politics should not play any role at the local level and the registration and use of Party names should be banned altogether. A good example is the use of the ‘Labor’ name. This alone seems to secure a lot of local votes from the diehard Labor supporters who support Labor at the State and Federal level. A similar situation arises using the name ‘Greens’. A clever name also seems to work some magic when looking at the names ‘Our Sustainable Future’ and ‘Roads and Services’. It is time to level the playing field.

What is also very interesting is that the Councillors who secured their positions through the use of parties seem to also vote together. Together they form a majority of six which have often been termed the ‘six pack’. The six pack seem to be a group of left wing environmental type representatives. The remaining five Councillors are considered right wing business types. We effectively have a two party local government with one side having a single seat advantage.

Whether our current representation is good depends on who you ask. I believe the question has been clouded by such issues as the inundation of anti coal seam gas sentiment in recent months and moves by the Mayor to take advantage of that sentiment through her coal seam gas poll publicity funded by ratepayers.

Single issue voters who, for example, believe that coal seam gas mining is a local issue will all vote for whoever shows public support for their cause. I believe these are all wasted votes since, in this example, coal seam gas mining is a State issue and not one that local councillors should campaign on. Councillors may support your State or Federal issue but, like each of us, they have as much power as we do to change it. They also have a single vote at State and Federal elections. While they get your vote, we may continue to have poor roads, poor services and mismanagement.

Make your vote count. Look at the candidates, look at what they have actually achieved if running for another term, look at what they are promising and make an informed decision based on many local issues. Do not waste your vote.

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Rant 3

Big Rob’s Rant 0006 saw me ranting generally about inequitable treatment. Inequitable enforcement was addressed in Big Rob’s Rant 0007, Equitable treatment is now becoming an issue being taken up by Councillors.

Councillors Marks and Meineke have proposed a motion to be put to Council next week. The motion addresses various issues raised as a result of the operations of the Lismore Farmers’ Market. I will discuss the Lismore Farmers’ Market more later in the show.

Under the proposed motion, Councillor Marks said the idea is to regain control of market policy if it is agreed they are not working as envisioned. A section of CBD retailers who no longer support the market have expressed various concerns. These extend to such issues as equitable treatment in relation to being provided with the same services or opportunities as those being afforded to markets.

Allowing one business to operate with very little restrictions or without fear of enforcement because they are considered ‘much-loved’ by a part of the community is repugnant to the concept of equitable treatment. Taking it a step further and providing them with opportunities and services that are not made available to other businesses compounds the problem.

When equitable treatment is not a basic underlying principle in all council decisions, inequities are the natural result. One such inequity is that currently being considered by the Australian Human Rights Commission relating to access in Magellan Street for those with visual impairments when markets are operating. Instead of resolving the inequity, council staff responded with attempts at justifying the ongoing inequity.

Lismore City Council’s manager of development and compliance, Peter Jeuken, has determined that an ‘event’ that is scheduled every Thursday and Saturday for the next year or so, and which has already been operating for about a year and a half, somehow falls under the access guidelines for temporary events.

Even the temporary events policy requires the provision of unobstructed footpath areas for the movement of pedestrians of 1.5m with an absolute minimum of 1.2m. I am not sure why the two distances are provided, since the minimum distance would be the one most likely to be chosen, but even this is not provided for the movement of pedestrians.

I am yet to hear of anyone with a visual impairment that requires the use of a mobility aid to be able to successfully navigate the markets in Magellan Street using the shoreline technique when they are operating on a Thursday afternoon. I cannot see how it would be possible without colliding with obstacles. If there were a large number of visual impaired voters, this inequity would have long been resolved.

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Rant 4

Issues relating to the Lismore Farmers’ Market have been popping up in the media and around town in recent months. The official name of the operator of the market is Lismore Farmers’ Market Inc. which was registered on 29 October 2010. They operated as a not for profit business which simply means everything they make must be spent by the incorporated association. They are not a charity.

The Lismore Farmers’ Market received their first approval which allowed them to commence operations in Magellan Street Lismore on 23 December 2010. They were to operate between the hours of 4:30pm and 8:00pm on Thursday only. This approval lapsed on 28 February 2011.

It is unclear if there was an official name change but it seems their name changed to Lismore Produce Market Inc. which was registered on 11 February 2011. The previous name was deregistered on 12 September 2011.

Lismore Produce Market Inc. received their first approval which allowed them to commence operations at the Lismore greyhound track on Saturday mornings between 7.30am and 11:00am. This market quickly closed as it was clear that, unlike the long established, popular and well supported farmers’ market at the showground, this group clearly did not attract crowds necessary to sustain their business. It was obvious they needed to be where the people were.

Lismore Produce Market Inc. received their second approval which allowed them to commence operations in Magellan Street Lismore on 08 June 2011. This is their current approval which allows them to operate between the hours of 3:30pm and 6:30pm on Thursdays and between the hours of 8:00am and 12:00 midday on Saturdays. This approval is current until 08 June 2013 effectively providing them with a two year approval to operate. There is very little ‘temporary’ about that.

Many requests have been made to Lismore City Council in relation to information relating to temporary events policies and the outdoor dining and special events policy which was the one said to cover such operations. One document was provided in relation to the later policy which states it did not commence until 21 March 2011.

I am not aware of anyone who wants to get rid of the markets but I do know many who want to know why this not for profit incorporated business is being provided with so much assistance from Lismore City Council while other businesses who pay considerable rates and rents are not provided with any assistance at all and actually face huge hurdles to their operations.

Although council staff and market organisers have been heard to say that I and others would like to see the market closed, I was quoted in the Northern Star back on 24 March 2012 as saying:

"I don't want to be rid of the markets I just want them to operate legally and equitably as is required by every other shop in Lismore."

 If this is such an issue for anyone, then I am happy to remain one of the bad guys.

Points that may be of interest to some are some of the questions addressed to Lismore City Council that have not been answered adequately or at all. These include:

* How was the first approval in the name of Lismore Farmers’ Market Inc. issued with the date 23 December 2010 under the new policy when the new policy did not commence until 21 March 2011?

* How was the market allowed to operate between 28 February 2011, when the approval in the name Lismore Farmers’ Market Inc. lapsed, and 08 June 2011, when the approval in the name Lismore Produce Market Inc. commenced?

* How is the market allowed to operate outside their approved hours of operation on Council’s Magellan Street office doorstep without concern about enforcement action when other businesses are heavily restricted?

There are many other questions that have been asked on behalf of various business owners and operators many of which have been ignored or answered inappropriately. The overwhelming majority of business owners in the CBD no longer support the market since it appears to be slowly developing into just another market bringing competition to existing businesses when its sole purpose was to bring new business to existing businesses.

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