Ray Moynihan Journalist Profile

Articles

Housing crisis demands Greens-Labor ceasefire

Oct 9, 2024 | echo.net.au | Ray Moynihan

Content warning: this column may contain explicit political naivety, and clumsy military metaphors. One outcome of the recent local election is that Greens and Labor now have a supermajority of 6–3 on Byron Council. Surely it’s a hopeful sign of the local strength of the nation’s two main progressive parties. The historic election of a more female, young and First Nations Council only enhances that hope.
Junior Landcare connecting kids to country

Sep 30, 2024 | echo.net.au | Ray Moynihan

Hundreds of primary school students in the Northern Rivers are getting their hands dirty this spring, planting trees and learning about landcare. A publicly-funded Junior Landcare project is rolling out across the region, building links between local landcarers and their nearby school communities. Students from as young as five are learning how to plant native trees and care for them as they grow, connecting kids to the positive narrative of ecological restoration.
Hope for cynics in times of declining trust

Sep 11, 2024 | echo.net.au | Byron LGA |Ray Moynihan

As Byron Shire goes to the ballot box this week, it’s a fair bet there’s some cynicism around the council elections. Who among us is not guilty of feeling a little unbelieving, when we hear the latest promises on housing, or environmentally-friendly development? For any of us uncomfortable with our negativity, an explosive new book out this week is recommended reading. Hope for Cynics, by a young Stanford professor is a potent antidote to the darkness of cynical despair.
How a walk in nature works

Jul 31, 2024 | echo.net.au | Ray Moynihan

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to do the Yuraygir Walk. Close to 70 kilometres of stunning national park from Angourie to Red Rock, it’s the longest stretch of undeveloped coastline in the state. For years, I have wanted to do this walk. Finally, with a small group of family and friends, we managed to scrape together a week’s break. With cabins booked, and light packs on our back, we set out into the winter sunshine. We saw rainbows in the spindrift. Dolphins dancing in the air.
AI’s invisible bystanders

Jun 12, 2024 | echo.net.au | Ray Moynihan

In her Echo column last week, Mandy Nolan recommended literature for her daughter, including classics like Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird. At risk of impertinence, I want to add to her reading list: E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops describes a world where humans spend their days communicating with others via instant messaging devices, alone in tiny individual dwellings. Technology meeting their every need. Until it doesn’t. The short story was published in 1909.
Big tech, porn, violence and young blokes

May 15, 2024 | echo.net.au | Ray Moynihan

I know it’s time we talked. The trouble is, I don’t know exactly what to say. But let’s try this:In the month since the Bondi attacks, and the killing in Forbes, Australia’s been convulsed by debate about how to better prevent male violence against women and children. As every Echo reader has witnessed, people are taking to the streets, media coverage is in overdrive, governments have convened crisis meetings.
Reclaiming childhood in the ‘device age’

Apr 18, 2024 | echo.net.au | Ray Moynihan

A century and a half ago, the visionary Henry David Thoreau declared people had become ‘the tool of their tools.’ In this device-driven age of smartphones, social media, and artificial intelligence, few observations could be seen as more prescient. Technologies, sold to help us, now surveil and sell us. Screens, to entertain us, steal the data of our daily lives. And with increasing enthusiasm, we’re surrendering the souls of our children to Silicon Valley.
A health check as Medicare turns 40

Mar 27, 2024 | echo.net.au | Ray Moynihan

If you’ll forgive the earnest tone, I’d like to propose a toast. To a friend who’s almost always there when you need them most. To a system that aims to treat people fairly and respectfully. To a quiet cornerstone of Australia’s civil society. Yes, it’s not perfect, it’s perpetually preyed on by profiteers, and its work can be patchy, sometimes. But here’s to Medicare. Happy 40th. Painful birthAs some readers well remember, the birth of Australia’s publicly-funded universal health system was not easy.
Hijacking feminism, harming women

Feb 28, 2024 | echo.net.au | Ray Moynihan

Surely the success of feminist activism is one of the most positive stories of our times. Just think of the limited options of our mothers, compared to young women today. Yes, there’s a long way to go, and struggles for equality continue on many fronts. From domestic violence to boardroom representation. From sharing domestic labour to equal pay in the workplace. But for a moment let’s remind ourselves how far feminism has brought us. From Mary Wollstonecraft to #MeToo.
Dance, sing and play more in 2024

Dec 13, 2023 | echo.net.au | Ray Moynihan

As a fierce sun finally fades, hundreds of people dance in the darkness, stars swirling above. This is not the Burning Man festival but an outdoor end of year school concert in Byron Bay last week. A couple feel the sensual pleasure of a simple Cuban salsa move. Not in a Havana nightclub off the Malecón, but a small hall in Mullumbimby. A community choir sing a civil-rights gospel classic in four-part harmony. Its not Birmingham Alabama, but Bangalow, every Wednesday. You get the idea.