Carefully consider flight school
I AM writing as a citizen and ratepayer, to express my concerns about this flight school being brought to Swan Hill.
My husband and I are in direct line of the majority of incoming aircrafts that fly into the aerodrome as it is.
We have no problem with the current aviation flights, such as air ambulance, specialist flying in for consultations and other flights currently using the aerodrome.
This aviation school would have a large impact on residents of Swan Hill, including us on the outskirts, just because we are 4km out, doesn’t mean we are not classed as being within the township of Swan Hill.
Our concerns are:
1. Noise pollution
2. Safety issues
3. Volume of aircrafts
4. Privacy
5. What is the long term plan for this aviation school?
6. You spend money on establishing this and then what happens when they move on, is it a waste of taxpayers money?
There needs to be a lot more feasibility studies done into this.
The impact of flight paths and times of training.
Also the impact the school will have on accommodation in the area. At this stage, residents of Swan Hill who need accommodation, can wait weeks or months for rentals to be available.
Has any of local councillors been to Mildura and asked why they don’t want it their area?
I want to see our councillors get out and approach us as residents and taxpayers, about the concerns regarding this development.
I have no problem with economic growth within our township as long as it is within the best interest of all Swan Hill residents.
One councillor said “it didn’t need to be across the populated area of Swan Hill” for this to happen, all flights would have to be in the west direction of Swan Hill.
We are against this proposal and hoping our councillors carefully consider the impact to Swan Hill and start approaching us as residents and taxpayers.
Kim Stapleton,
Swan Hill
Can’t be any clearer
IF we were to ask ‘what are our key staple foods?’ I think most people would agree that wheat, rice and dairy products are near the top of the list.
Recently, there have been warnings that Australia is not growing enough staple foods, though this suggestion has been sternly rejected by our federal agriculture minister David Littleproud who keeps telling everyone, incorrectly, that we are growing enough food for 75 million people.
So, let’s look at the staples I mentioned — rice, dairy and wheat.
I’m sure Mr Littleproud, like everyone else, would agree that we are not growing enough rice for domestic consumption. That fact is agreed to by all and sundry, including SunRice which has to process our rice.
Mr Littleproud also now realises there are threats to our dairy industry.
He was asked at a press conference on May 6 whether Australia’s milk supply was at risk, to which he answered: “If we continue to lose the number of dairy farmers that we have over the last 12 months, we are in a situation, at a juncture, where the dairy industry itself won’t be able to sustain all the demand in this country.”
You can’t be any clearer than that.
In relation to wheat, we have had a threefold increase in wheat imports on the east coast, and must question whether this is sustainable with current global shipping arrangements. We need to grow more wheat.
So if the agreed position by the agriculture minister in relation to rice and dairy, plus the obvious issues around wheat, are not enough to tell Australians we have a looming problem (perhaps even a crisis) I don’t know what is.
And all we need to fix the problem is improve our water management so that more is allocated to food production, especially in southern NSW and northern Victoria.
A simple solution, yet governments refuse to act. Let’s hope we don’t get to crisis point before this changes.
Anne-Marie Best,
Brandy Hill, NSW
Never made sense
VICTORIA’S blanket bans on solo recreational activities have never made sense.
While we can get out for a socially distant walk along the river with a friend or to play basketball outdoors, solo pursuits like fishing, hunting, golf, prospecting and horse riding are off the menu.
It’s particularly frustrating when you consider other states have never put similar bans in place.
So it should go without saying that lifting bans on solo recreational activities must be part of any move to relax COVID-19 restrictions later this week.
I’m not advocating for people to travel long distances. This is about local people getting out in their local community.
Despite claiming to be from the country, Daniel Andrews just doesn’t seem to understand that getting out in the great outdoors is more than a hobby for country people — it’s in our DNA.
We are all prepared to do our bit to stop the spread of COVID-19 and save lives, but it’s ridiculous to stop a person from fishing off a beach, lake, river or jetty if they are lucky enough to live close by.
It makes no sense that our beaches are open to surfers as long as social distancing rules are followed, but horse riding and golfing are a strict no-no.
Likewise for hunting or prospecting, where many undertake their activity solo or in pairs.
These forms of exercise or recreation are more than a hobby, they’re a way of life for many regional Victorians and a key reason we live where we do.
They’re also a critical outlet that helps to build good mental health and physical wellbeing.
At this time of long isolation, this has never been so important.
Everyone in our community has made big changes in their lives to make sure we protect each other.
It’s kept the number of positive cases recorded in regional communities very low.
We’ve put in the hard yards and it’s saved lives.
While it is critically important we keep up the work to comply with rules on gatherings and social distancing, on May 11, blanket bans on solo recreational activities must be wound back to allow local people to get out in our local area. It’s common sense.
Peter Walsh,
Leader of the Nationals
Shadow Minister for Regional Victoria and Decentralisation
Paper’s back
I WOULD like to thank all the staff at The Guardian for printing Friday’s newspaper.
It is important for country people to know about our community, our agriculture and our councils so that we are aware of future projects and developments.
Lois Lockhart,
Swan Hill
Postie appreciation
I WANTED to highlight the fantastic job that my postie, Ross Kenyon, is doing.
While in the midst of a pandemic, he is working weekends, maintaining professionalism, friendliness, kindness and efficiency, all the qualities we want to see in our local postie.
Please commend him!
Jamie Garahy
Pushing to breaking point
WHO is running this state? Is it the politicians who we elect to make the decisions, or are they too frightened to overrule the bureaucracy ie. those who are supposed to be the paid servants?
The decision by the NSW Water bureaucrats on Friday to deny food producers in the NSW Murray any water allocation is beyond belief. My personal view is that they should all be sacked and we should start again.
The ongoing zero allocation in NSW Murray is crippling farm businesses and hurting the communities that rely on them. It is damaging Australia’s food security and limiting production when we need everyone pulling their weight to get our nation moving again.
But most of all, it is a bad and unnecessary decision. The Deputy Premier John Barilaro and NSW water minister Melinda Pavey need to step in and let the water bureaucrats know that their stance on NSW Murray allocations is unacceptable.
They only have to listen to their federal Nationals colleague, Senator Perin Davey, who I suspect has more experience in water management than the entire NSW department. As she stated only two weeks ago, NSW Water has decided to hold back more water for high priority needs next year than they have reserved in the previous two years.
So, with record April rains and more forecast, they are keeping even more water in reserve instead of helping people and communities in their state.
Barilaro and Pavey need to do the right thing by regional NSW, who they are supposed to be representing, and demand some common-sense. They must demand an opening allocation for NSW Murray general security irrigators on the next announcement date, May 15.
Our Nationals representatives and the bureaucrats who control them need to understand that we are conservative, patient people. But you are very close to pushing us past breaking point.
Andrew Hateley,
Finley, NSW
Not giving up
BACKING away from a fight is not in my nature.
So while I feel I have let irrigators down by putting trust in Mick Keelty to deliver for SRI members, I’m not giving up.
The Keelty report certainly was a kick in the guts for us. I should have known not to trust either a politician (former water minister David Littleproud) or a highly paid bureaucrat like Keelty. But when they told us in Canberra they would do something to get water for our struggling irrigators, I took them at their word. Wrong move!
I am extremely disappointed with Littleproud, who is now backed into a corner with his claims that we are producing enough food for three times the Australian population of 25 million. That may have been the case in the past, but it’s not the case right now.
I’m continually amazed at what politicians will say to justify their existence or try to promote their careers.
That’s probably where I slipped up in believing Keelty would deliver something for us — I’m a straight shooter. I tell the truth and if you don’t like the truth, bad luck. I’d never make it as a politician.
But we are not going to give up because we are right. In the NSW Murray — in fact, right across the southern basin — we have been screwed by successive governments who are prepared to sacrifice our food bowl for political gain.
Well, I’m not going to wear it, and I encourage everyone to continue supporting our fight.
We are going to form a bigger, stronger group and we are going to demand governments fix the mess they have created and give us back some of the water which has been unfairly taken away.
Then, and only then, will we stop this crazy fight. And when this happens we will all be able to go back to what we do best — growing food and fibre for Australians and the rest of the world.
Until governments do something which allows that to happen, we will not rest.
Chris Brooks,
Chairman
Southern Riverina Irrigators
