Greens Member for Ballina Tamara Smith today requested that Don Page, Chairman of Regional Development Australia, Northern Rivers, support the democratic processes of community consultation and local government.
Ms Smith said: “Hasn’t the Chairman got enough work to focus on without making sensationalist and House of Cards type commentary two days out from a local government election?"
“To hear the Labor candidate for Byron Shire council calling National Party Mr Page’s comments 'sensible' gives us some idea of who is drinking from the Kool-aid.”
“There have been a number of highly professional, costed, funded and economically viable proposals for multi-modal use of the rail line in Byron Shire put to me and Byron council over the last two years.
“Paul Spooner’s suggestion that these business models give the community false hope is ludicrous. We are all actually on the same page – we want multi-modal use of the rail corridor and I am confident that the community and our elected representatives can deliver this without ripping up the tracks and without conflating the idea of public transport with cycle paths.”