Expensive water has knock-on effect
How important is milk to the average Australian family? How important is bread, or clean, green Australian grown rice?
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
These are staple foods on which almost every family relies, and has done so for generations.
Why, then, do we have federal decision-making that puts their supply in jeopardy and as a consequence leads to higher prices and even more cost-of-living pressures?
Let’s take milk as a prime example, as the chief executive of the Canadian company Saputo is currently on an Australian tour, during which he is announcing the closure of milk processing facilities.
This chief executive, Lino A. Saputo, said the biggest challenge for Australia’s milk processing sector was a long-term decline in milk supply, with a dairy pool that had been steadily declining. The country was producing 11 billion litres of milk in the early 2000s, and this is now down to 8.5 million litres.
Any economist will tell you that a consequence of reduced supply is increased demand, and this leads to increased prices.
Many of the dairy farmers who have exited the industry are from northern Victoria and southern NSW, which in the past has made a far greater contribution to our milk supply than it does today.
Unfortunately, these farmers were forced out of the industry by expensive and unreliable water.
The Albanese Government now has plans to recover more water through damaging buybacks, and will no doubt again target these regions.
The risk, of course, is that we will have further declines in milk production, less wheat and other crops, including rice, which is such an important international staple food that is grown more efficiently in Australia than anywhere else in the world.
Buybacks are an expedient political method that have adverse consequences for household budgets and damage rural communities. Because of this, they should never be an option.
If we are ever able to reach a point where decisions around water and our environment are based on evidence, instead of the current political expediency, our nation will be far better off.
Jason Brooks,
Barooga
War memory
During World War II our family became friends with a professor who escaped communist Russia.
As the Russian army was advancing, he moved into our country.
He worked as a labourer on a state farm, not far from our village.
On Sundays he used to get dressed up and come to our place for lunch.
He was teaching me Russian and the dark sides of communism.
But I was young then and had little experience.
We were all hoping that the Russian army would liberate us from the German occupation.
When the war finished, he went to Prague and we lost contact with him.
He was one of the martyrs, who died lonely, far away from their native countries.
I wish I could meet him again and pay my respect to him.
Jiri Kolenaty,
Rushworth
I scoffed
Around 35 years ago a dear departed friend said: “You know, I believe the human race is probably the only species on Earth that has to greatly fear their own young.”
To which I not unkindly scoffed.
Now, after seeing/reading reports of such awful physical violence against older people, theft of their cars and other property; and now the utterly obscene, verbal attacks on 80-year-old great Australian Margaret Court (who all her life has done such great work for the truly needy), by so many young people (including an imported young American — ‘c’-word uttering — female performer), I no longer scoff at what my so very sage late friend contended.
Howard Hutchins,
Chirnside Park
Bitter disappointment
It is extremely disappointing to hear that the Murchison-Toolamba Football Netball Club is unable to obtain funding in the Country Football and Netball Program 2023 due to the current stance of the Greater Shepparton City Council, who I quote “historically have not committed to capital budget for projects that are located on land not owned by council”.
Due to this attitude the Murchison Recreation Reserve has been left in a position that is dangerous, not fit for purpose and is frankly an embarrassment for everyone involved in our 142-year-old club.
I find it incredibly disappointing that significant state funding is made impossible to obtain due to the LGA’s stance on such projects.
We continually see further improvements commissioned at our competing clubs that are owned by council, and are left continually disappointed.
The recent upgrade of the courts at a competing club on council land is testament to this council policy — as a community, we are left wishing we had the netball courts that council identified as so drastically needing improvement as was the case at Tallygaroopna.
This objection extends further than this current round of funding.
Our facilities are situated in a position that is above the flood level recently experienced.
As a president of the club, I wished that it was our facilities that the river washed away, and not the homes of our members!
Had our facilities been damaged in the flood they would have been quickly repaired, yet our damages are due to decay and council policy, and not nearly as attractive a project for politics.
The council is currently working to restore the facilities following the flooding at Princess Park in Shepparton; a part of me wonders when the next flooding event will wash away this council asset once more.
Our work to engage a community at last census that was home to 2527 people in 646 families (3610 and 3614 postcodes alone) continues to be seriously hindered.
Somehow, we continue to buck the trend of clubs struggling to field teams, and in 2022 we were able to assemble a full quota of Kyabram and District League teams, which all qualified for finals.
In 2023 we seek to add additional junior teams in the Goulburn Murray Junior League and AFL Auskick and are working towards fielding a women’s AFL team in 2024.
All of this growth is being done with facilities that fall further and further behind our neighbouring towns.
We are worth investing in, and the current stance by the council to not commit to capital budget outside of their direct land ownership disgusts me.
We are seeing many community clubs fail in their work in community engagement and fold.
We get so excited when we see funding opportunities such as these come around and then soon after are left shattered that the gatekeepers of such funding will not allow it to come through to organisations that need it the most.
In 2014, La Trobe University’s Centre for Sport and Social Impact partnered with AFL Victoria to publish a report on the social value of football clubs, finding that the social return on investment for an average community football club indicates that for every $1 spent to run a club, there is at least $4.40 return in social value in terms of increased social connectedness, wellbeing and mental health status; employment outcomes; personal development; physical health; civic pride and support of other community groups.
This report was done on a ‘typical’ football club, not on one such as Murchison-Toolamba FNC, which is not typical — we are revolutionary in nature and have been able to lead the Kyabram and District League to finally become a place where the entire family can spend the day together with members from their own and their neighbouring communities.
Prior to this leadership, residents involved in KDL clubs needed to commute their children to sport across Friday, Saturday and Sunday in various locations if they chose to participate in such sports.
A vast majority of councillors have visited and been disgusted by the conditions at the recreation reserve.
This reserve hosts ratepayers who reside across the entire municipality and beyond.
These ratepayers are exposed to unhygienic toilet conditions with no disabled access. On game days more than 350 participants and at least that many spectators again have to share three toilet cubicles.
Despite the club presenting to council — and visits to the reserve by councillors Shane Sali, Seema Abdullah, Greg James, Fern Summer and Ben Ladson, and key council staff members chief executive officer Peter Harriott, director infrastructure Gary Randhawa and manager parks, sport and recreation Tim Zak — we are yet to have our project planned for in its entirety in the council budget.
All this effort and still it is an issue between council and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. What will it take to become a priority?
To be brutally honest, I wonder why anyone would want to play at Murchison-Toolamba Football Netball Club when they are subjected to such awful conditions.
The historical stance by council of not investing in clubs on Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning land seriously makes me wonder why I volunteer to such a cause and don’t just return to my junior club at Katandra, which is situated on council land and has facilities that set the standard.
Alas, I am entering my 12th year at the community club closest to where I live and work and eighth year of presidency, and as a volunteer I have jumped through the hurdles that every bureaucrat puts in front of me and my community. Funding master plans, getting on the council community plans, engaging across two townships, consulting with community and user groups, engaging architects to draw floor plans, further engaging architects for detailed designs, applying for smaller grants, being blocked from significant grants, meeting with aspirant councillors and obtaining pledges from politicians.
Sadly, the National and Liberal parties’ pledge to fund the complete $4.2 million project at the last state election is hard to honour when in Opposition.
All of these steps and yet we push on with seeking funding.
The older members of the club have every right to be pessimistic about our chances to improve a facility.
We have many incarnations of plans in our filing cabinets that tell a sad story of dying dreams and enthusiasm of administrators that have pushed to remedy the situation over the years and failed. I wonder if my efforts will become yet another failed attempt to provide a basic safe space for residents to meet and connect.
Surely someone can see what we are trying to achieve and can look to assist our club to cater for our community, the region and our sports in the face of so many clubs shutting their doors.
Craig Thompson,
Murchison-Toolamba FNC president
OPINION POLICY
The Riverine Herald welcomes letters to the editor.
All letters must carry the writer’s name, address and telephone number for verification purposes.
Preference will be given to shorter letters emailed to editor@riverineherald.com.au or you can post it to Riverine Herald, 28 Percy St, Echuca, 3564.
The editor reserves the right to edit all letters, either for length or legal reasons, or omit letters.
The views of the letter writers don’t necessarily reflect the views of the paper.
Contributed content