Community consultations
The Riverine Herald (Friday, June 23, 2023) saw two examples of community consultations.
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Community consultations can occur in a number of ways, which can include the top-down approach where readers are asked to go online and answer a professional survey; another way is where the community is invited to participate in a meeting space, where they participate in group discussions on a particular topic.
In the latter, groups of five or more can sit at tables, discussing a topic such as tourism, or community-based flood wardens, as invited by the facilitator. After a set time frame, their ideas, which have been recorded by the group scribe, are summarised on to a board, where everyone can see them.
A vote can be taken to decide which ideas should be implemented as a matter of importance and the tasks are distributed to those present to action within a certain time frame.
Ongoing feedback is provided to participants.
This method is part of a community development strategy, which promotes community cohesiveness and a feeling of belonging. Valuable friendships are made, which can be long-lasting.
The Place Based Towns consultations in Tongala and Colbinabbin are testaments to the value of this method of community consultation. One can only look at the happy faces of the Tongala community members to see how well community consultations work.
With the other, top-down method, conducted by Survey Monkey, on economic development and tourism strategy, where Campaspe Shire Mayor Rob Amos invited community consultation, there is no such instant feedback or opportunity for community development.
As a community group, the Campaspe Community Association would like to see more opportunities for active community consultations as a chance for the community to meet with our council workers and councillors to get more community involvement in the big issues we are facing, such as the next flood!
Marilyn Jacksch,
Campaspe Community Association Inc secretary
Riverina state is needed now
Southern Riverina Irrigators has informed the public that the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (Simon Banks) currently holds 4600 gigalitres of water in his water account.
Mr Banks has said he can use only 78 per cent of the water he already has.
The Murray Darling Basin Authority has told Federal Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek that it doesn’t need any more water because it can’t deliver it.
Yet the Federal Government has announced it will be proceeding with the purchase of another 450GL from irrigators for environmental purposes.
These purchases will continue the decimation of the livelihoods of all the people in this area.
Why would the government buy more water when it isn’t using the water it already has, when it has no specific use for it, and knows that these quantities can’t be delivered without widespread bank erosion, flooding and associated infrastructure damage?
Should the public assume that the minister’s actions are illogical, and simply don’t make sense, and that she is an idiot? I don’t think so. I think it can be assumed that her actions are logical, do make sense, and that she is not an idiot.
Ms Plibersek will certainly agree with my assumption.
Due to its illogical nature, the public can safely conclude that the Federal Government is not buying water for environmental reasons.
The minister’s actions actually do make sense from a political perspective.
The states of NSW, Victoria and the Commonwealth of Australia are overwhelming dominated by the population and politicians living in their metropolitan areas. There are a great number of people living in these areas that are opposed to all river water extractions, and by extension, opposed to the irrigation industry that the livelihoods of many people in this area depend on. To be elected and to form government, political candidates in the metropolitan areas must appeal to, and obey, these voters.
The buying of water by the Federal Government, with the assent of NSW and Victoria, is actually a political plan to win more votes in the next federal and state elections.
That is the reality of politics in NSW, Victoria and Australia.
To preserve the livelihoods of the people in this area, and the people in all areas reliant on natural resource-based industries, these people need to separate politically from NSW and Victoria and form a separate state. This state will have authority over the water and all other natural resources within its area and will be able to use these for the benefit of its own people.
This state will not be dominated by an isolated metropolitan population immersed in rural illusions and misconceptions, as are NSW and Victoria.
This Riverina state is needed; and needed now!
David Landini,
Wakool
Plan needs balance
Last month when questions were rightly being asked about the wisdom of piping water nearly 400km from the Murray River to Whyalla for a new hydrogen plant, the South Australian Energy Minister said this should not come as a shock because “almost every industrial purpose in South Australia takes water from the River Murray. It’s where we get all of our water from, so this would be no different”.
Recently in federal parliament, Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek explained that the Murray-Darling Basin Plan needed to be delivered “in full” for environmental reasons, as well as “economic reasons for industrial development” in South Australia.
Neither the South Australian Government nor the Federal Government should be destroying farmers and communities in Victoria and NSW, as well as inevitably increasing food prices for all Australians, just so South Australia has a cheap and easy water supply for its industry.
Desalination, infrastructure upgrades and other more sensible options must be considered so we achieve balanced water delivery for everyone, not just South Australia.
Tanya Ginns,
Murrami
Victorians cannot afford life under Labor
Victorians cannot afford life under Labor — and it only gets worse from July 1.
Since 2014, Premier Daniel Andrews and Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan have hit Victorians with 49 new or increased taxes.
In the new financial year, they will continue to slam you with more increases.
The cost of living will rise further, with expenses such as paying rent top of mind for many Victorians.
Rents have swollen by 30 per cent since 2020, and Labor’s decision to again impose higher taxes and charges on property owners is putting more renters under more financial stress.
At the supermarket, the impact is obvious.
Families, on average, are being forced to spend $1565 more on groceries this year than last.
According to Foodbank Victoria, the demand for its services and resources currently outstrips the demand during flooding, bushfires and the pandemic.
“This is the worst I’ve seen it in 15 years,” Foodbank Victoria chief executive officer David McNamara said recently.
Foodbank’s school breakfast program was increased by 40 per cent across the past year, with 2.4 million extra meals delivered to students in need.
Labor has ignored calls from industry experts for a sensible transition to renewables.
Instead of listening to advice, Labor’s leaders locked up gas reserves, leaving Victorians without a transition energy source, and they succumbed to the Greens to prematurely shut down coal power generation.
As a result, hardworking Victorians are paying skyrocketing power bills that will go up by a further 25 per cent after July 1.
Public transport expenses will be growing by 8.7 per cent, with Labor slyly increasing a day pass to $10 — with another rise scheduled for six months’ time.
It’s a sad time for drivers, too, with car registrations increasing another $12.50 and licence renewals increasing by $3.40 a year.
And don’t forget Labor is cutting 4000 people from the public service, but hardworking Victorians are paying more tax to service Labor’s highly paid fat cats.
Labor continues to push more responsibility and shift more costs on to local councils to prop up a broken state budget, leading to increased council rates of up to 3.5 per cent.
The Nationals were successful in implementing a parliamentary review into Labor’s cost shifting on to local councils in a crucial step to bring rates down and ensure Victorians get value for money.
However, Victorians are being punished by Labor’s incompetence right now and, based on Anglicare Australia statistics, single parents fall $180 short every week and a family of four only has $73 left after paying essential weekly expenses.
With taxes and charges continuing to soar, it is obvious why Victorians can no longer afford life under Labor.
Peter Walsh
Leader of the Nationals
Member for Murray Plains
‘000’ nonsense
When you ring 000 you get asked the most stupid questions by what seem to be ‘brainwashed’ public servants.
1. Who do you require; police, ambulance, fire brigade?
When you let the operators know what you want, these are the further time-consuming questions you get asked:
1. Do you know the person who is intruding on your property?
2. What does he or she look like?
3. What are they wearing?
4. Why are they on your property?
5. Are they drug-affected?
6. Are they intoxicated?
After answering all of these questions you could either be killed or wind up seriously injured.
Instead, all that should be asked of you is the emergency service you need and your address.
Then you should be told that the emergency service is on its way.
End of story.
Mick Crozier,
Seymour
Driving home merits of electric vehicles
I read with some bemusement letters from people pontificating on the merits, or otherwise, of owning an electric vehicle. Having been the extremely satisfied owner of an EV for over seven years I feel I have some qualification to write about them.
So happy am I that I have just bought another: the new Tesla 3, with a range of over 500km — and it never has to be serviced. Having said that, my seven-year-old Tesla only had an effective range of 380km, which has never been an issue travelling around the country and I have never had any stress worrying about range, or where I was next going to charge up. Its range in that seven years has dropped a whole 20km from the original range ... hardly the drop in range mentioned by some. It has never been serviced.
Further, charging times are rarely important, as one only ever charges the vehicle enough to get home. Usually no longer than having a cup of coffee. Currently the cost of that energy is roughly a third of the equivalent in petrol costs.
Charging an EV at home is even cheaper. They can be programmed to charge when solar panels are working, that is, behind the meter, which is even cheaper still. All from a 10 amp socket.
EVs in the past have been expensive but there are now several models and makes for under $45,000. Once purchased, the running costs really come down to tyres, as even the brake pads are hardly worn because of regenerative braking, which all EVs have. That is when the energy used to slow the car is fed back into the batteries, rather than being dissipated as heat from the brakes.
I don’t know of any vehicle that will go as far when towing as when not. Hardly a reason not to own an EV.
All vehicles depreciate over time. I was recently offered more on a trade-in for my Tesla S than a friend who was wanting to trade his similar aged and priced internal combustion engine vehicle. I did not trade it.
Why would you trade a vehicle which is designed to go for 1,000,000km? And only has 28 moving parts, as opposed to an internal combustion engine vehicle, which has upwards of 2500.
Another rarely mentioned benefit of EVs apart from the obvious environmental ones (CO2 emissions, air pollution, noise etc) is the benefit to our country’s balance of payments.
If all vehicles in our country were EVs we would be importing a lot less petroleum products and instead producing the energy here, whether that be from renewable sources or coal.
I have several friends who happily drive EVs and every one of them says, as I do, I have bought my last internal combustion engine vehicle.
Richard de Crespigny,
Benalla
OPINION POLICY
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