Council Forms Five-Year Partnership with Friends of Lismore Rainforest Botanic Gardens

By Robert Heyward

Lismore City Council has entered into a five-year Memorandum of Understanding with the Friends of Lismore Rainforest Botanic Gardens. This agreement will support the volunteer-run organisation in continuing its essential work at Australia’s only botanic gardens managed entirely by volunteers.

Beyond offering a peaceful space for the community to connect with nature and learn about native ecosystems, the gardens also collaborate with other botanical institutions and universities across the country to facilitate scientific research.

Council’s General Manager, Jon Gibbons, emphasised that the Council has been a proud supporter of the Friends of the LRBG for over two decades.

“In the last 10 years in particular, the Botanic Gardens has grown a great deal,” he said.

“The plants are well established, and much infrastructure has been added, including a Visitor Centre, toilets, BBQ area, picnic tables, signage, decks, seating, bridges and plumbing fixtures.

“It has become a destination for local, interstate and international visitors, and serves as a cultural and recreational venue, attracting theatre performances, as well as regular guided walks.

“Alongside this growth is a need to balance the future development of the Botanic Gardens with maintaining and upgrading what we already have.

“The MOU and Management Plan 2025 – 2029 focus on identifying the Botanic Gardens’ assets, the responsibility for those assets, processes for building new assets and applying for grant funding, as well as work, health and safety procedures on site.”

The Lismore Rainforest Botanic Gardens opened in 2013 and last year the group volunteered about 4,800 hours.

Vice President of the Friends Tracey Whitby said the new MoU was acknowledgement of the hard work of the volunteers.

“The Gardens’ main goals are to engender and facilitate scientific research into rainforest species, to contribute to their conservation and to develop understanding about rainforest ecosystems,” she said.

“They also provide the people of Lismore with many opportunities for reflective appreciation of rainforests.”

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Man charged with murder after stabbing

By Tim Howard

A 41-year-old Iluka man will front Grafton Court in February charged with murder after a home invasion and stabbing in the coastal village of Iluka earlier this month.

Police will allege that on the afternoon of December 7 Michael Donald Webster entered the home of 58-year-old Darryl Driscoll and stabbed him with a knife.

Mr Driscoll staggered to the home of a neighbour for help, who called police. She said Driscoll died in her arms.

Webster left the scene and led police on a 50km road pursuit which ended when road spikes were deployed at Woodburn and police were able to stop the 4WD Webster was driving and take him into custody.

Police said they spotted the 4WD described to them and driven by Webster north of Iluka on the Pacific Motorway.

“The 4WD continued to Uralba Street, Woodburn, where a 41-year-old man was arrested,” police said in a statement.

“He was taken to Lismore Hospital for assessment, before being taken to Lismore Police Station and charged with murder, predatory driving and police pursuit-not stop-drive dangerously.”

He was refused bail and appeared in Parramatta Local Court on Sunday, December 8 via audio visual link for a bail hearing from the Lismore cells after being held there overnight.

Police said in the pursuit that lasted almost two hours, the man allegedly ignored directions, his manner of driving had the intent of causing injury to another driver at Coraki, and he was also accused of driving recklessly and in a manner dangerous to others at South Gundurimba.

The accused will spend Christmas in jail after being refused bail, with his next appearance listed before Grafton Local Court in early February.

Police said inquiries were ongoing as to the motive.

Iluka residents were stunned at the chaos that erupted in the normally quiet streets after the 4.30pm emergency call went out.

The sudden appearance of up to six police cars, Ambulance paramedics, emergency services vehicles and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, which landed during a cricket match on the local sporting fields, had residents hitting social media to find out what was happening.

It transpired Bradley had allegedly entered the house in Ballanda Crescent, where Driscoll was living, attacked and stabbed him and then fled the scene.

Paramedics arrived at the scene quickly but said there was nothing they could do for the victim.

Police cordoned off the street and during the night carried out welfare checks on residents.

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NOM asks council to back small farmers

By Tim Howard

Providing grants to support local farmers should become part of the business of local government says a notice of motion coming to this week’s Clarence Valley Council meeting.

On Thursday Cr Debrah Novak will bring a notice of motion to the final council meeting of the year seeking the establishment of an annual Sustainable Agriculture Small Grants Program to support the Clarence Valley primary industry sector.

Cr Novak, who is the chair of Clarence Valley Food Inc, has been a strong advocate for local producers.

She noted the sector has more than 2200 registered farms, produced around 65 commodities, paid more than $4 million in annual farm rates to Council and had 979 registered primary producers.

One in four Clarence Valley businesses is a primary producer, 4596 people are employed in the local agri-food sector, producing $493 million in annual exports, paying $58 million in annual local wages, as well as $22 million in food manufacturing and $534 million in local sales.

Cr Novak’s NOM said Tweed Shire Council had instituted a small grants program, which had encouraged local producers to bring forward project ideas to manage environmental problems or improve the health and productivity of their land to ensure food security.

The program in the Tweed provides primary producers, market gardeners or small lot farmers, a limited number of grants of up to $4000 for eligible activities.

Cr Debrah Novak has been an advocate for the Clarence Valley’s food producers. She wants council to be able to back small producers with a Sustainable Agriculture Small Grants Programs.

Cr Novak’s proposal has received backing from the industry and community with five groups writing in support of the NOM before council this week.

The chair of NSW Farmers Grafton branch, George Bennett, said if successful, it would be a “great initiative” for the region.

“There are many areas where it would be beneficial for agricultural producers in our region to be able to take advantage of such funding to further research and development into sustainable agricultural practises encompassing environmental outcomes, the up-take of emerging technologies and the further development of regenerative agriculture,” he wrote.

The executive officer of Northern Rivers Food, Lucy Ashley, was also enthusiastic and pointed to a success story for a Northern Rivers artisan cheese business, Cheeses Loves You, run from Allards Dairy Farm in Burringbar.

The dairy received a Sustainable Agriculture Small Grant from Tweed Shire Council which allowed the business to improve its effluent management.

The improvements made have had flow on effects that improved the farm’s pasture production through better control of nutrients in water ways.

“Given the concentration of so many agricultural businesses of a diverse nature and size in the Clarence Valley “food bowl” such a program would not only be well-received by local farmers but also offer flow-on benefits to both the community and environment,” Ms Ashley said.

The council’s general manager Laura Black has noted if the council resolves to support the program, a program would be drafted for inclusion in draft 2025/2026 budget and Operational Plan funded  by the Sustainability Reserve and delivered as a project in the Operational Plan by the Sustainability team.

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