Sad passing
IT was with sadness that the Residents and Ratepayers Association learnt of the passing of life-member and former secretary/treasurer Keith Greenham.
The association would like to take this opportunity to extend our sympathies in this difficult time to his family.
Keith spent 12 years in the role of secretary/treasurer of the association and during his time in that chair was instrumental in challenging developers to see that car parking was taken seriously in the municipality.
He was also part of the association during the time when council tried to close Pritchard Street when the leisure centre was to be constructed.
Keith was tireless in his zeal to see council and government, in general, be fair to the residents and ratepayers of our community.
His desire to help the community never stopped as he worked on numerous projects during his retirement from farming and from the association.
As part of the association, he was also passionate about helping voice concerns the community had with various government institutions.
And this passion became the slogan of the association: “community advocacy, preserving democracy, promoting community and open council debate”.
Again, the association extend our sympathies to his family and in respect of their wishes, the association is going to donate money to sub-acute.
Roger Day,
Secretary
Residents and Ratepayers Association Inc
Film festival success
THE Swan Hill Bone Marrow Group would like to extend its thanks to those involved with the 2019 Swan Hill Film Festival.
Once again, we had the valuable support and assistance of Andrew, Kate and the team at Showbiz Cinemas. Their input is an integral part of the success of the event.
The group was fortunate to also receive funding from the Swan Hill Rural City Council event support fund, and we thank them for their contribution and encouragement of our event.
We would also like to acknowledge the following for their support: The Guardian, The Copy Centre, MIXX FM/3SH, Smart FM, ABC Mildura Swan Hill and Trent Rose.
Following the screening of The Australian Dream, we had a very successful cuppa and yarn at Colombo’s Café. It was great to have the opportunity to talk about the many issues the documentary raised, and we thank Vicki Clark for leading the discussions and Steve and the team at Colombo’s Café & Pasta Bar for their willingness to be involved.
The group was delighted to have increased patronage attend the festival this year.
Thank you for your support of our fundraising endeavours.
Lois Carnie,
Secretary
Swan Hill Bone Marrow Group
How long until someone dies
HOW long will it take before someone else gets injured or maybe dies.
Since Bunnings has extended or extending its store, the buses and some cars speed through this intersection at Beveridge and Campbell streets, also Chapman Street in Swan Hill.
Let alone our ambulances getting through.
Name supplied
Feeling safe at work
EVERY Victorian should be safe at work, and Victoria’s workplace safety laws should deter anyone from endangering another’s life. But that won’t be the case under the Andrews Government’s proposed workplace manslaughter law.
Many people are seriously injured at work each year, and tragically, some also lose their lives. Most forms of work involve some form of risk, and accidents often occur when either a co-worker or an employer does the wrong thing. In fact, five employees and nine employers have been charged with recklessly endangering lives at Victorian workplaces since 2005.
Despite this reality, the Andrews Government’s proposal deliberately excludes employees from liability for workplace manslaughter. It appears it also won’t apply to ministers or heads of government departments. This means that an employee who negligently causes the death of a co-worker, or a Minister whose interference with public services results in a fatality, would be exempt from prosecution. This is simply not fair.
While some argue that employers bear sole responsible for keeping workplaces safe, all people in the workplace — whether they’re employees, employers or otherwise in control of a workplace have a moral and a legal responsibility to keep themselves and others safe.
The proposed law is also unfair to family businesses. Consider the case of family farms. If a husband and wife farming enterprise tragically see the death of the husband in a farm accident, the wife could be sent to prison under the government’s proposal. As the Victorian Farmers Federation point out, families who suffer such a tragedy should not have the added threat of jail hanging over their heads.
The Liberal-Nationals are proposing to amend the workplace manslaughter law so that it’s fairer, and so that it applies to employees, employers and senior officers of the Crown.
After all, everyone has a role to play in improving workplace safety.
Nick Wakeling,
Shadow Minister for Workplace Safety
Convoy to Canberra
ON December 2 and 3, community members from across the Murray-Darling basin will converge on Canberra.
What started as an idea for a small convoy seeking a delegation with Prime Minister Scott Morrison to discuss the failing Murray-Darling Basin Plan has grown into what looks like being a mass community rally.
This has occurred because of the sheer frustration being felt in rural communities by a Basin Plan that we are calling ‘pink batts on steroids’.
The Basin Plan is destroying our communities, yet it is not protecting the environment. We have fish kills at unprecedented levels, river bank erosion from trying to force too much water through the system, damage to our iconic forests because they are being unnecessarily flooded (again from trying to force too much water through the system), and a carp breeding explosion.
Despite this, for reasons our communities cannot fathom (though we suspect it has something to do with political ambition or survival), we have a federal government in denial.
The water minister David Littleproud, will not acknowledge the basin plan disasters and I can come to no other conclusion than the environment minister Sussan Ley, since being given another chance in cabinet, is prepared to toe the party line instead of demanding change on behalf of her constituents.
When we arrive in Canberra on December 2, we want a delegation to meet with the prime minister to explain what is happening in our communities. He needs to understand that many of the problems which exist are not from drought, they are from poor water management.
We believe Mr Littleproud needs to be removed from the water portfolio so someone with a fresh approach can lead an era of change, which must include developing a basin plan 2.0 that works for communities, the environment and our nation’s food security. We also need an emergency allocation in the southern basin to save struggling farmers.
Our delegation also wants to discuss a 10-point plan, which we believe can be implemented to resolve the present crisis for the long-term.
We have huge community support for our Canberra rally and really appreciate the encouragement and support that we have received from a growing number of politicians and academics.
We look forward to all politicians joining our rally and discussing the solutions to change direction on this disastrous basin plan.
John Lolicato,
Wakool, NSW
