Letters To The Editor - March 29, 2018

More hoodies might have flown

Dear Editor,

It’s great to see that a Hooded Plover chick is due to fledge near Ocean Grove clubhouse but this is not the only chick to make it on this beach this season.

About a kilometre East of 5W, between Collendina and Point Lonsdale, I observed two pairs of Hooded Plovers each with two quite grown up chicks only two weeks ago.

Last week I observed and photographed three birds (I assume two adults and a chick or it could be one adult and two chicks) at the same spot.

It is quite possible that the chicks from the other pair have fledged already. The chick/s from the pair I observed may well have flown by now.

Contrary to popular opinion, these birds are not rare. They are found around the coast from Western Australia to New South Wales.

Paul Malone
Ocean Grove

Thanks for relaying

Dear Editor,

On behalf of Cancer Council Victoria, I would like to sincerely thank the community of the Surf Coast and surrounding areas for supporting the recent Surf Coast Relay For Life.

More than 396 participants relayed from Friday 16 March in 20 teams, walking overnight to celebrate, remember and fight back for those who have been affected by cancer in the Surf Coast.

During the relay, there was laughter, tears and no doubt, a few sore feet. But the strength shown by local community members was a public display of support for anyone in the Surf Coast with a cancer experience.

So far, incredibly, more than $84,000 has been raised by Surf Coast relayers, which will help fund Cancer Council Victoria’s support, prevention and research programs.

The money raised at Surf Coast Relay For Life will help Cancer Council Victoria continue to provide programs, including some that will help the 175 locals from the Surf Coast diagnosed with cancer every year, such as:

– Funding some of Victoria’s brightest researchers and their cutting-edge projects each year to help detect, treat and fight cancer.

– Important prevention programs like cancer screening education, Quit Victoria, SunSmart and LiveLighter to make sure people have all the information they need to cut their risk of cancer. One third of cancers can be prevented with healthy lifestyle choices, so it is important that every community in Victoria is educated on the risks associated with smoking, excessive drinking, poor diet and inactivity.

– Support services including our wig service, Holiday Break program and information and support line, Cancer Council 13 11 20. Qualified cancer nurses can answer question people may have about cancer, and can also connect callers with cancer support groups and other community resources.

Thank you again to everyone who relayed and helped continue the fight against cancer. We will see you at the Surf Coast Relay For Life event in 2019!

Todd Harper
CEO, Cancer Council Victoria

Council’s disability review will hurt

Dear Editor,

Council is again using the feds as an excuse to get out of providing services for the disabled and elderly.

They have a choice but are choosing not to provide for those that can’t themselves.

Check out the public record of “positive ageing” actual budget spend. You will see it is much lower! It shows a decrease!

Customer service will help you see it. As a disabled person, I will have to move to Geelong if they stop my service. They spent more time and money debating a pool and flagpole then they do on people like me.

If you are elderly or a disabled child, get out. Surf Coast is for able-bodied people.

Surf Coast resident
Via email

Will of the WISPs

Dear Editor,

The Turnbull Government has given the go-ahead for the 3.6GHz spectrum auction but it has failed to explain how it will address the concerns of regional-based Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs).

These WISPs are non-NBN wireless broadband providers who are currently transmitting in the 3.6 GHz spectrum.

Some 200,000 regional Australians rely on these innovative regional businesses for work, business and studies yet the WISPs continue to be locked out of discussions with the Government.

Labor supports the planned spectrum auction and welcomes moves to clear the way for higher-value 5G services.

Labor also believes the very real concerns of the WISPs have not been adequately addressed.

The ACMA proposal for WISPs to move to the 5.6GHz spectrum used by the Bureau of Meteorology is highly problematic.

Squeezing WISPs onto a narrow band of spectrum currently used by BOM for an essential service such as weather radar is not without risks of interference.

It’s time the Government get serious and work with WISPs and BOM to find a workable solution to these issues.

Stephen Jones MP
Shadow Minister for Regional Communications

Questionable Greens policy

Dear Editor,

The Greens are calling for electric only cars on Australian roads by 2030.

The sale of new petrol and diesel cars would be banned from 2030.

Electric cars will virtually have all taxes removed so this means the owners of petrol, diesel and LPG vehicles will subsidise the switch.

However, do the Greens really know what they are doing? Australia produces just enough energy to keep the lights on now, and given that we are going to import one million extra people into the country over the next three odd years, where is the power going to come from to recharge these electric cars?

I’m assuming these cars will be charged at night time but wait, the sun isn’t shinning so power will have to come from the grid to recharge these cars. And what of free choice? I can’t see tradies charging around in their SUVs with a limited range on their vehicles.

Unless the Greens reverse their anti-fossil fuel power generation policies the grid will not be capable of producing enough power to recharge all the electric vehicles.

And what of the huge disposable problems of used batteries? When it’s all said and done the environmental impact according to Professor Bjorn Lomborg will be almost the same for electric cars as fossil fuel vehicles.

The Green policy is sheer madness, a recipe for disaster.

Alan Barron
Convener, Geelong Climate Sense Coalition

Flag time

Dear Editor,

A bit of a timeline on the Surf Coast rainbow flag debate.

April 2017: Surf Coast meeting a few elected councillors and others using their council authority for their causes supporting marriage equality since 2014 seem to have lost direction of their daily agenda. By broaching the subject of the rainbow flag on our civic precinct. Question now being raised why this should be a council issue and beyond, and understanding why, before the flag was raised in June 2017, council had not conversed with the shire community, by mail or other means, to have the say on this issue?

September 14, 2017: Surf Coast community column 1st series. Party of five with photo, four named councillors, including our future mayor, also local advocate, holding the rainbow flag, stating that Surf Coast Shire councillors have supported marriage equality since 2014. They are also proud that the rainbow flag flies at our civic precinct.

November 23, 2017: Statements from new mayor about unity and team-first attitude contradicted by contentious decision to fly the LBGTIQ flag. It made clear divisions between councillors and members of the community. Cr Bell said he was elected by Torquay but it was to work towards the whole shire, and he said something along the lines that it meant “sometimes people are going to be like ‘oh what did you do that for’ but it’s to stop the councillors thinking of their own patch of turf and to actually make a decision more collegiate and plans for the shire not the individual townships. Over the years many charity organisations throughout the Surf Coast such as Leukaemia Foundation, Red Cross, Salvos and many other groups of fundraisers have worked for their cause without pay and no $6,000 of ratepayers money for flagpoles on our civil precinct.

Our patch of turf, why should the rainbow flag take priority over all these other groups of fundraisers!

Senate passed the bill for marriage equality for their cause “as above”, so why the flag? Equality?

Tom McKechnie
Torquay