Mullumbimby Places Ad In 'no' Fight Against Woolworths

Is it Right That a Big Corporation Can tell a Small Town What it Needs?

The Place
The magical town of Mullumbimby, just inland from Byron Bay in far northern NSW, is surrounded by natural beauty and rural enterprise. This is a place where locals greet one another in the streets as they pop in and out of shops in the main street. You can buy locally grown fruit ad vegetables at the green grocers and farmers' markets, and meat from the region at the butchers. The proprietors and employees are local people and their businesses nurture a vibrant local economy.

The Problem
Now someone new wants to come to town. It's someone big and powerful. Woolworths is telling Mullumbimby that it needs a large standalone supermarket on a greenfield site at the outskirts of town. They say the're The Fresh Food People; that their store will bring jobs, cheaper prices and convenience to Mullumbimby. Yet most locals and the local Council don't want Woolworths, but the NSW Planning Ministwer has approved the development as it is on stated-owned railway land. So we have a question for the company's Directors and Executives: Is it right that a big corporation can tell a small town what it needs?

Social Responsibility
This is what Woolworths says about itself: As Australia's largest food retailer and second largest private employer, Woolworths recognises: 'we have a high level of social responsibility. And we take these responsibilities seriously. We've implemented a broad range of community and environmental initiatives to help give back to our customers and the local communities that support us".

Our Position
We think Woolworths presents an unwelcome threat to the identity, amenity and long-term viability of a unique, small community. So what does Woolworths do when the local community doesn't support it? Does it ride roughshod over community opinion or does it know when it's time to be respectful and to pull back?

Our position is simple:
Woolworths and its Directors and Executives should show real social responsibilty by listening to what a small town has to say. We don't need or want Woolworths.

Fight back. Keep the magic of Mullumbimby.

Poll
Does Mullumbimby need Woolworths?

Yes 12 per cent
No 87 per cent

Poll takken at www.northernstar.com.au/story/2009/09/29/supermarket-battlefield/

FURTHER INFORMATION: visit the website www.magicalmullum.com, or contact:

Mullumbimby Forum Secretary
Tricia Shantz on mobile 0421 422645 or

Mullumbimby Forum external adviser
Murray Hogarth on mobile 0417 267235


SOURCE: The Mullumbimby Forum