Letters To The Editor – March 22, 2018

A newsworthy effort

Dear Editor,

On the morning of Saturday March 10, my son Anthony was fishing from the beach with a mate near the Jan Juc Surf Club, which at the time was not manned, when he noticed some people that were in some difficulty out in the water, hands in the air and crying out.

He gave his hat and sunglasses to his mate and asked a kid for his surfboard and went out to them.

He got six Chinese people to hang onto the surfboard and got them all back to the beach.

Not many were there to see this, but it would have made the news if five or six had drowned.

John Williams
Torquay

Sky high

Dear Editor,

On behalf of myself, the Tunley Family and Kenneth Tunley (in particular), we would like to express our sincere gratitude for printing the article “A century celebrated in the sky” in the February 22 edition of the Surf Coast Times.

We would like to especially thank Courtney Jones for her great photographs and the quality of her journalism that allowed her to faithfully report the events relating to my Dad’s flight in a 1933 Boeing Stearman bi-plane: a celebration of his 100th birthday.

Courtney’s pleasant people-skills were in evidence as she moved among the family and the flight staff at the Tiger Moth World Adventure Flights precinct near Torquay.

Her perceptive questioning and keen observational skills enabled her to become suitably informed, in readiness to report on the rather momentous occasion.

I was able to provide Courtney with some background information on Kenneth’s life and was consequently most impressed with her ability to weave that information into an interesting (and amusing) story.

Page 17 of that edition certainly had the “wow” factor! Many of our friends on the Surf Coast have commented most favourably on Courtney’s coverage of the event.

Copies of the Surf Coast Times’ “celebratory flight” story have been despatched to family members in England, The Gambia, New Zealand and many locations within Australia.

The article is even on the internet (timesnewsgroup.com.au/surfcoasttimes/news/century-celebrated-sky/)!

Again, our heartfelt thanks to Courtney and Surf Coast Times staff for their outstanding work.

David Tunley
Via email

Left lessons

Dear Editor,

Australia’s custom of driving on the left came from our British heritage – they have driven on the left since Roman times – but there was no actual law until it was needed for safe passage across the narrow and congested London Bridge in 1756.

Apparently, drivers in America favoured driving on the right as horse riders and drivers of coach teams found it safer when passing others going in the opposite direction. This stemmed from the majority being right-handed and the tradition of carrying a sword or gun on the left side.

In 1792, driving on the right was formally adopted at a turnpike in Pennsylvania; and New York was the first state to approve this rule in 1804.

By the time of the Civil War in the 1860s right-handed driving was legal in every state.

Melva Stott
Anglesea

Ring your bells

Dear Editor,

It was interesting to read two articles regarding pedestrians and cyclists on the same day a couple of weeks ago. One was in the Herald Sun letters section, the other in the Royal Auto magazine “Your say” section. Both made specific reference to road rule #258, which requires bicycles to have a bell or similar warning device, in working order.

I walk most mornings from Voss’ car park to Gilbert Street on the shared path above the beaches.

In spite of signs requesting cyclists to travel slowly near pedestrians, many either don’t see (going too fast?) or choose to ignore them.

Pedestrians can’t see, and seldom hear the approach of bikes from behind. Take it from me, it can be scary when a bike hurtles past close beside you. I believe it’s a courtesy for the riders to ring their bells to let walkers know they’re coming. Since New Year’s Day, three only have done so (two of them who know me and say “g’day”).

My requests to cyclists are: one to ring your bells and two slow down, or get off the path, or preferably both.

I shall eagerly await the sound of many bells in the future, and I’m probably not the only one!

Meg French
Torquay

Servants of the ratepayers must act

Dear Editor,

“Concerned Resident’s” letter (“Digs disturb on a number of fronts”) while raising the perplexing question of dogs on beaches, raises a more important question, that of communication with the council. If, as alleged, the council never replied to her letter, then that is a more serious problem and should be brought to the notice of council’s chief executive officer.

Some years ago, when I was a member of the Surf Coast Ratepayers Association, the then chief executive officer had a protocol, that letters had to be answered within 14 days. He was fastidious with staff that this was carried out.

I would suggest that today’s chief executive officer would be in agreement with this policy.

Council employees are servants of the ratepayers and should be seen to fulfil this obligation. I would suggest that “Concerned Resident” gets in contact with the chief executive officer.

Spencer Leighton
Torquay

Clans of the Surf Coast address issues

Dear Editor,

There was a meeting this last week, of the Torquay community groups to discuss and plan actions regarding the Future of Torquay/Anglesea/Jan Juc and Bellbrae.

SANE, SCEG, Surfrider, 3228, GORCC, BBPS all had members attended with Rod Foord and myself.

The outcome was that we are now in the process of creating a united community group, firstly in Torquay to address the lack of planning and vision, and to bring the Surf Coast Shire council/state government to account for not delivering the impact study that they promised in 2009.

A council resolution in 2009 promised to “analyse the implications for the Shire of the Armstrong Creek development and the Geelong Ring Road to identify and assess expected impacts on the social and economic conditions, environment and culture of Torquay, Jan Juc and Bellbrae.”

Secondly, we will be asking that the growth node for Torquay be removed by the state government, as when this decision was made (in the 1980s), Torquay had a population of 7,000, surely 135,000 residents in the town and nearby is enough growth, especially as there is no plan for any industry/employment/infrastructure/environment to support the new city of Torquay/Armstrong Creek.

Thirdly, we will be asking for a moratorium on any new developments, until an impact study is delivered to the community, which will allow all of us to make informed decisions based on the facts at hand.

If no impact study has been done, it means there is really no plan for Torquay or the new development at Anglesea, but we do have a council that ignores the community’s wishes and even their own planners, exemplified by the housing density approved for Spring Creek. Who is the council really working for?

Over the coming weeks we will be asking the relevant authorities to explain and provide the resources to start the conversation on the future of the Surf Coast Shire.

One overriding theme at the meeting we held was we do not trust or believe in the state/local council to deliver a positive outcome for the community, as they do not have a creative bone in their respective bodies and it’s up to us to find the solutions to what has been dumped on us.

So there will be an open community meeting sooner rather than later to address all our concerns and to take charge of planning our futures, as the lack of trust has become a major issue in itself!

Maurice Cole
Torquay

Trinket bribery won’t get the job done

Dear Editor,

In the lead-up to the state election there are some big issues that need to be resolved that won’t be fixed by trinket bribery, which is how the elections are usually run.

An ever-increasing number of people are distressed about massive over-development within the Surf Coast Shire and Victorian coastline.

Witness Barwon Heads and Anglesea on either side of Torquay pursuing the same fight.

Over-development is a key election issue as its actions are killing nature, liveability, the local tourist economy and replacing it with road rage, parking rage, surf rage, mindless traffic congestion and unsustainability writ-large.

Take note, we will be resolutely holding candidates to account for this mess.

What do we want?

1. An environmental and economic impact study for Torquay – what is the plan?

2. Remove Torquay as a Growth node – it simply acts as a developer free-for-all.

3. Permanent town boundaries for Torquay, Jan Juc, Bellbrae – the logical corollary of No.2.

4. Roll back the Spring Creek boundary to Duffields Road. It was an incredibly stupid idea in the first place.

5. Install a proper State Regional Planning Authority that works with communities, not against them.

6. Give control back to the community. We have many clever and considered people working at authentic sustainability.

These ideas are being shut down in favour of federal/state/local government sponsored urban sprawl.

Graeme Stockton
Torquay

Businesses suffering with poor NBN

Dear Editor,

While NBN Co and the government continue to tinker around the edges of actual reform, small- and medium-sized businesses across regional Australia are being left behind.

I constantly hear from small businesses in regional communities which have had their internet and phone services dropping out four or five times a day.

A recent survey by ASX-listed Reckon found that a staggering 83 per cent of small business lack confidence in the delivery of Turnbull’s second-rate NBN.

It also found that a majority of small business also believe that they will be left out of the digital economy. It is a shocking indictment on Mr Turnbull’s NBN and a stark warning to the Government and NBN Co, alike.

More needs to be done to improve business experience of the NBN.

A good start to fixing this issue would be for the government to prioritise a new consumer-rights framework.

Stephen Jones
Shadow Minister for Regional Communications

Wasting an hour

Dear Editor,

Earth Hour is completely futile and a waste of time. The hubris of thinking something can be achieved with a futile one-hour gesture.

The whole purpose of the exercise is to make us more environmentally aware, which is somewhat esoteric.

Wouldn’t it be of more benefit to actually target problems which significantly impact the lives of millions including famine, homelessness, poverty and disease?

If environmentalists believe the planet is under some dire threat from fossil fuel emissions, why don’t they keep their lights off permanently?

In the future – due to the high renewable energy costs, it may be that people will have to switch of for far longer periods than just one hour in order to save on their costly power bills and also to prevent rolling black-outs.

Nature has blessed most developed countries like Australia with abundant resources which supply us with cheap and reliable power.

And given Australia has a rapidly expanding population, we must not squander this most valuable asset and jettison coal-fired power in favour of unreliable and expensive renewable energy.

There is no need to decarbonise the economy.

Alan Barron
Grovedale