No easy decisions
ON behalf of the stop our place committee, I would like to make the following comments:
It was obvious by the attendance in the public gallery at the special council meeting on Tuesday, estimated 100 persons plus, that there is a growing concern for the retention of the Pioneer Settlement in its intended iconic presentation without confusing the visitor experience with a modern building, not to mention the invasion of the open space, and relocation of existing exhibits which such a building would require.
The committee wholeheartedly thanks you for your support, but warns that it is a long way from conclusion and we seek your continuing support and suggest that you take advantage of the upcoming forums where you may present your thoughts to the architect and council staff.
We also appreciate the consideration shown by the elected councillors in the agreeing to reconsider their previous decision of pursuing “our space”, in favour of reviewing the concept following input from the community and everyone involved. Congratulations, it was not an easy decision.
It would be timely for me to make comment on one of the issues which our committee has experienced during this campaign, and that is the perception that the committee is against progress and does not support the economic advantages a multi-purpose building which the Our Place concept would suggest.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Our objection revolves around the placing of a building in the current suggested location inside the settlement, thus affecting the relocation of the artefacts for the visitor experience.
What if we could reinvigorate our Aboriginal friends in Emu egg carving, aka the late Hilton Walsh, and the demonstrations of boomerang and spear making as an activity in this area.
Perhaps rope making, leather working, wood turning, all of which were once fascinating activities in the settlement could be encouraged again. That is what holds the visitor attention, not modern buildings.
David Quayle
Swan Hill
Dedicated group
AS the conversation around Our Place has rolled out over the past few weeks and months, we have seen some criticism of council staff through these pages and even some personal attacks on staff on social media.
I welcome, in fact I encourage, the community to tell us what they think about Our Place.
We will be having five information and feedback sessions over the next couple of weeks for that purpose.
But, please, do not make this a debate about the performance or motivations of our staff, or about our relationship with our wonderful volunteers.
Pioneer Settlement staff and the team of council staff working on Our Place are a dedicated group, who are in their jobs because they want to make the Swan Hill region an even better place to live.
Settlement staff are wholeheartedly committed to the settlement and the role they play within it.
The success of the team is evident in the numbers — admissions are increasing and in turn, the investment from ratepayers is decreasing.
Just as committed to the settlement are the Friends of the Pioneer Settlement.
This is a group of people who give up their time each and every day to make the Pioneer Settlement tick. They also inject hundreds of thousands of dollars into the settlement for improvements, money they raise mostly through their efforts at the Paragon Cafe.
They have been part of the conversation about Our Place since the beginning.
Councillors, our executive team, the Our Place project managers and architects have met with them over the course of planning. They have been really engaged in this process and have provided us with constructive ideas and feedback.
I look forward to meeting with community members to discuss Our Place at our five upcoming community sessions.
John McLinden
CEO
Swan Hill Rural City Council
Not paying rates
HAVE you seen those blue flags with a white Southern Cross up and down the Murray Valley Highway?
What is that all about, let me explain, the flag itself was used by gold miners in Ballarat in 1854 who were tired of being charged for the right to prospect for gold by the government.
The Eureka Rebellion was born, and the miners voted to “fight to defend our rights and liberties under the Eureka Flag”.
Not dissimilar to what is going on now in the Murray-Darling basin where irrigators are required to pay for the right to irrigate and not get the water they pay for, water has become the new gold.
Scott Morrison and Michael McCormick have demonstrated abject ignorance to the quiet devastation being imposed over the past decade on particularly the southern Riverina irrigation communities.
Their total lack of leadership in this matter, despite numerous fruitless meetings.
The Water Act 2007 allowed dissociation from land and has allowed water to be traded as a commodity for investors to hold food and fiber production to ransom.
A basic human need now largely being controlled by corporate and international investors and the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, who correct their own homework of mismanagement.
On top of un-monitored floodplains harvesting, no transparency of water ownership, accusations of government insider trading, all the while continuing to spend billions of taxpayers money with no regard for accountability.
Well, I have had enough and I am not going to be paying my water rates nor my Gannawarra shire rates as my personal stand on this issue, however I will be requesting Goulburn Murray Water and the Gannawarra council to take a public stand on this matter to call for a federal royal commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan (MDBP) and the management of the basin authority “on just terms”.
If you feel strongly enough about the future of your community, I would invite you too to consider withholding your payments and fly a Eureka flag in support of the injustice this MDBP has imposed on our community.
Doug Fehring
Cohuna
Don’t fall into the trap
DEAR Premier Andrews,
It has become abundantly clear that the 2020 duck season announcement is a fight between ideology and a data driven, scientific position.
This fight is about more than just duck hunting, it is a fight to ensure ideology doesn’t overtake governments, resulting in bad decisions in spite of evidence to the contrary.
It would appear that the season details are going to be a captain’s call given neither combatant is willing to capitulate.
Should this come to be, I implore you to look at the facts surrounding the issue and make a decision to go ahead with the recommendations of the Game Management Authority. Do not fall into the trap of supporting a position that cannot be arrived at from following data and facts.
Duck hunting is a recreation that brings desperately needed income into rural and regional economies.
The drought has not been severe in all of Victoria with some areas suffering flooding.
As logic dictates, water doesn’t burn, so the recent bushfires will have had a negligible effect on duck numbers.
Please make a decision based on what’s right, not what’s easy.
Jeff Bourman MP
Member for Eastern Victoria
