Mullumbimby is a beautiful town in the Northern Rivers of NSW, Australia. The people of Mullumbimby have gathered together for a long time now to take on the Corporate giant, Woolworths. WHY?
Because the NSW Department of Planning has approved a Woolworths Development in their beautiful little township, and the towns folk are still determined to have their valid arguments, for why this is not OK ,to be heard. A court case is pending, and the township of Mullumbimby needs your support!
Try these links to understand just why.
Firstly:-
Mullumaction.org : the Mullum Community Action Network that has formed to work to preserve the rural identity of the little township from being over-run by one of the two corporate giants (duopoly) in the Australian Grocery supply industry. Issues such as inadequate groundwater management, unfair competition against small local businesses, visual and physical impacts from the building of a large woolworths shopping centre in the township are just a few.
Mullumbimby at google maps.
bluecray Environmental Search Engine results for:-
Woolworths Gambling Poker Machines .
Mullumbimby Action Woolworths Court Appeal .(Woolworths Vs Byron Shire Council at NSW Land and Environment Court – possibly November 2009 hearing)
Phantom Koala sees that small regional communities can offer sustainable resources in a variety of ways, and large corporate developments offer sameness, blandness, non renewable resource dependency and the”rich get richer while the poor get poorer” scenarios
There are a number of small rural towns about the area of Mullumbimby. Many of them have small shops, local and regionalised industries that offer community focus and community values far beyond what the woolworths corporate giant and its development has to offer.
Mullumbimby is a regional resource centre to many of these small communities, and the issues at stake here, should woolworths gain the upper hand in retail grocery supplies (and possibly hardware as well?) could be against the basic principles of local and regional sustainability, as promoted and supposedly supported by the Governments of NSW and Australia.
The move by Woolworths, supported by the NSW Department of Planning, to develop in this small rural township is an example of the rush of non sustainable developments that are now in the pipeline. These non sustainable developments have the potential of overwhelming the coastal strip of NE NSW. Corporate leadership, when it comes to Northern Rivers of NSW, appears to be based about non sustainable development, species and habitat destruction and land development at all costs to the environment. It is entirely out of step with the Global Vision for local environmentally friendly sustainable vision.
Biodiversity is subtle, and can offer resilience in times of Climatic Change. Regional and local sustainable community diversity can also offer resilience in times of climate change.
other bluecray articles for this topic:-
Mullumbimby Woolworths Approved by NSW Department of Planning 28.01.2009
The Long and Short of Corporate Vision 5.10.2009
Gambling can come in many forms, including throwing money into poker machines, coastal property development and large scale clearing of habitat in the name of habitat restoration
Bluecray experience is that whilst Governments can be elected by people and supportive of people who elect them, there are many voices making up the communities within the Mt Warning Caldera Region. One of the biggest pressures on both governments and communities is the need to make decisions when large corporations and businesses move to develop in a way that does not serve environmental sustainability or regional well being.
There is a current, highly obvious dichotomy within government where some non environmentally sustainable developments are considered “ok” and others are not. Some times it appears like rolling a dice as to what the outcomes will be, but often, there are also deeper undercurrents at play.
Ross Gittens on Gambling, happiness and economic pursuits at the Sydney Morning Herald