PROTECTING AUSTRALIA DAY CELEBRATIONS FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES
Dear Editor,
Reading past editions of The Adviser, I was drawn to the Australia Day debate earlier in the year.
I write to express support for Rod Schubert and his fellow Australia Day committee members in Tatura ( letter to editor, Jan 24, 2024).
The points he made were valid, and his committee were right to be outraged at being refused their usual council community grant for their 2024 Australian Day celebration earlier in the year.
Councillors are voted in to take care of rates, roads, and rubbish.
It was woke and cowardly of them to simply cancel the community’s national day of celebration and gratitude for the wonderful benefits of our country.
To only give funding grants to celebrations prior and post 26th January, serves to simply fragment a day that should be all about community cohesion.
The fact is that January 26 is still our official National Day.
Until such time as it is officially changed to another date, local governments have no mandate to simply cancel it.
Their decision plays havoc for the hardworking team who assign Australia Day ambassadors to speak at events nation-wide. These ambassadors (inspirational Australians from all walks of life) volunteer their time and add greatly to these community gatherings.
The white-hot backlash sparked by Woolworths decision not to stock Australia Day merchandise had reportedly cost them $2 billion in lost sales, proving the silent majority of Australians have a great power: voting with their feet.
Councillors who fail to represent the views of the wider community they are paid to represent, may find themselves short on votes in the next local government elections.
Anne Maslin,
Barwon Heads
DHURRINGILE PRISON’S SHOCK SHUTDOWN
Dear Editor,
The Allan Labor Government’s recent announcement of the closure of Dhurringile Prison has shocked our communities.
After nearly six decades of operation, it is appalling the way the closure of the facility has been handled, with the staff not being given any notice. 160 staff turned up to work on Wednesday with no insight or knowledge of this shocking announcement.
Suggesting that they would be offered jobs at other correctional facilities which are hours away just shows how out of touch this government is with reality and the disregard of the enormous impact this decision has on people’s lives.
There has been no consultation or insight into the lead-up to this announcement, which significantly impacts local businesses that provide the prison with goods and services.
I have been contacted by staff from the prison, and they are distressed and disillusioned. Many are long-term employees who love where they work and where they live. They need to be adequately supported with no delays.
I would also like to know the plans for the future of the Dhurringile site and the consultation process — something this government lacks.
How much will it cost taxpayers to terminate the 20-year contract with G4S which operates Port Phillip, the other prison which will also be closed down.
We’ve already seen the government waste $600M on the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games and this is yet another example of their financial mismanagement.
Labor can’t manage money, can’t manage our justice system, and Victorians are paying the price.
Kim O’Keeffe
State Member for Shepparton District
IN DEFENSE OF RENEWABLES: RELIABLE, CLEAN ENERGY FOR AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE
Sam Birrell (The Adviser, 26 June 2024) is seeking a mature discussion regarding nuclear energy and reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. However, a discussion is not possible if one side is not listening to the evidence provided by the experts.
We want reliable cheap electricity now. For Australia, nuclear power stations are the single most expensive option, and they will not be available for decades – end of argument.
A connected grid and a mix of solar, wind, hydro, and battery storage can meet all of Australia’s electricity needs, and indeed a private venture is already pursuing an export option.
The world needs to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions and Sam has only mentioned the 2050 target. He has omitted the essential milestone targets set for 2030 and beyond because adopting a nuclear strategy would mean many years of additional pollution being pumped into our atmosphere from declining and increasingly unreliable coal-fired power stations. This pollution that not only contributes to global warming but the death and suffering of many of our citizens each year from respiratory diseases.
“Base load power” is not a requirement of our electricity distribution network, it is relevant only to the operation of coal and nuclear power stations because they cannot be switched off or respond quickly to changes in demand. With batteries and the mix of renewable, zero to peak demand is attainable in seconds.
The downside of renewables is that it occupies some land, a resource that Australia has a lot of. What Sam, and his Coalition partners, do not mention, is that coal and nuclear power generation requires water, lots of it (gigalitres), a resource that is limiting in Australia and a resource that rural communities can harness to generate wealth.
Unlike nuclear, all the components of the renewable energy sector are recyclable and as the scale of this demand increases there are opportunities for regional businesses to develop or expand. There are also many regional jobs in the construction, operation and maintenance of renewable energy projects.
The Coalition’s nuclear plan to use existing poles and wires from decommissioned coal fired power plants also does not stack up. The owners of those sites are already implementing plans for renewable energy generation that would absorb half of the capacity of those transmission lines. And we can expect that more renewable energy projects will emerge in the next decade to utilise that infrastructure, unless the Coalition is successful in their disruptive tactics to a clean and prosperous future.
Rolf Weber
Shepparton
