Start building new bridge
MR (Sam) Farraway, I note in your ABC radio interview you said there was no harvest and less tourism in June.
The almond harvest has not finished due to the rain, so it will be on going there are seven almond farms all of one million trees each, in the area of Tooleybuc and the B double trucks will still be collecting almonds for processing.
Pistachios nut are in the same boat in completing there harvest.
Stone fruit grapes both wine and table grapes.
Citrus is picked all year round.
You don’t know how much the agriculture industry has grown in the area in the past three years.
The motels and the pub have been flat out now the restriction have eased, Tooleybuc is jumping with tourists in the area, discovering what is in their own backyard.
Why could this work not be done during boarder closures because your going to close the boarder for the 4th time now?
There is a major accommodation shortage in the area and many people live on one side of the bridge and work on the other side and cross the bridge to and from work.
I work on an almond farm, one in Piangil and the other at Goodnight, which we travel many times a day between the two properties with equipment and harvest equipment.
It is 4km now but when the bridge closes it’s 38km and harvest equipment cannot travel on main roads that far.
The school bus has to pick up children from Piangil then return back to Nyah bridge to get to school, to bad for all the kids that were picked up first because their trip has just increased by an extra 40 minutes each way.
There is no fuel in Tooleybuc, they drive to Piangil to get fuel.
This is just a few inconveniences – there are many more.
I have not mentioned the 800 truck movement a day over the bridge.
Start building the new bridge that has been shovel ready since 2015.
Trevor Tobias
Piangil Cabin and Caravan Park
Make Mallee noticed
AS we look around our community, we ask the question: has the National Party looked after us?
At the turn of the century (2000) the local government regions of Kerang and Cohuna were the third most productive in the state of Victoria.
In recent years, Kerang has lost Victoria’s third biggest prime lamb market at of 227,000 lambs annually along with Victoria’s eighth biggest prime cattle market 34,000 cattle annually.
More recently 40,000 dairy cattle have left the region, taking with them the associated cash flow that once went around the district six times.
Our communities, families and generational businesses have been devastated as a result, with statistics showing that the Gannawarra region has lost 600 children from our schools in the last decade.
The Murray-Darling Basin Plan was supposed to have no social and economic impacts.
It was supposed to reduce costs and make irrigation sustainable. Unfortunately, it has brought untold hardship to a once productive region and created system delivery challenges.
Government agencies are consistently using select environmental watering pictures and videos to glorify completed projects of the Basin Plan in complete contradiction to reality. Environmentally there has been more damage to the Murray River and adjacent forests over the last 10 years than in the 100 years of previous river regulation.
Our pleas to ensure the system balance is restored falls on deaf ears. Government officials come, listen, but they don’t act.
We are tired of consultation and no action.
Mallee was the safest seat in the country prior to the last election and has been ignored, on a long list of issues.
This term we can go one better and make Mallee independent and be noticed like the seat of Indi.
Robert Campbell
McMillans
Failed to lead
AS a retired broad acre farmer, I know that climate change is real.
Our weather systems are already affected. We make a living from the seasons, the soil and the weather, and are rapidly running out of time to take action.
Our livelihoods, and our children’s way of life, are seriously at risk.
Much of this country, including the Mallee, will be unliveable if global warming is not reined in.
Farming will be impossible; plants cannot thrive in an environment of constant heat.
And yet the Coalition Government not only fails to lead us to effective action on climate change, it pays lip service to net zero emissions while still advocating for fossil fuels.
If you choose not to be a victim of government inaction and want at least a chance to make a difference on climate change, put Ann Webster last.
Janet Field
Swan Hill
Time to come clean
POLITICS; how the greed of power moves people away from their beliefs, to support those that do not share the same ideals, dividing and conquering integrity until it becomes a meaningless word rarely considered by aspirational politicians.
Ms Baldwin’s webpage says she is not a Labor stooge, however, actually read her webpage, which reads like an ill-informed Labor page.
She says she is not a Labor stooge, only you, the voter, can decide. She says she supports a Federal ICAC, how many more government agencies does she want you to pay for?
Currently, the Federal Government has the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC). This is a department that could easily have their powers extended.
Instead, Ms Baldwin considers the Labor party line, they had an opportunity to make the changes to ACIC but failed to do so.
She considers immigration centres, but letting an individual in easily, does not make them loyal to Australia.
It makes them safe from external atrocities they have encountered. Sadly, in reality, these people do need to be properly vetted to ensure they are not a national security risk.
This is not an easy, timely or pleasant process for all involved, but necessary for Australia’s ongoing security.
We all know what happened under that last Labor government, with their failure to protect the borders.
Ms Baldwin states that she does not have large corporate donors, the question is, “What is your relationship with Southern Riverina Irrigators if you do not have large corporate backers?”
It is time to come clean.
To be a true independent, it is imperative that you have integrity, and are willing to put all of Australia and your electorate first, not just your interests.Claudia Haenel
Independent for Mallee
