Request for life members to contact
THROUGH your columns, I would like to appeal to people in the community who are life members of the Swan Hill Folk Museum, or Pioneer Settlement Authority (PSA) to please contact me, John Ward, on 0418 525 942.
Two trips to management at the Pioneer Settlement to request the list of life members of the Pioneer Settlement have resulted in nothing.
The recording of our history is so important, particularly when it should be at the Pioneer Settlement.
There is an attitude at the settlement, that what I was asking for was not important and that I had my facts wrong.
Many people in the community have great knowledge of how the PSA was established, however council has not availed itself of this knowledge and experience in developing a plan for changes that are beneficially for the future.
The pandemic has been ideal for the promoters of option one, as officers of the council have been able to keep working covertly on what they consider best.
Councillors, please pause, and listen to the residents and postpone the decision on Pioneer Settlement and the art gallery for four to six months, so we the residents, ratepayers and local indigenous people, get a development that is beneficial to all.
John Ward,
The last chairman of Pioneer Settlement Authority
Surprise motion sprung
I AM writing in response to an article in your newspaper (Parliament shutdown, pg 20, June 26) regarding the sitting schedule of parliament and comments made by Wendy Lovell.
With no warning, the Liberal Party sprung a surprise motion on the parliament at 9.28am on Thursday for debate (just two minutes later) at 9.30am.
The Liberal Party had multiple opportunities throughout the week, as well as previous weeks and months, to raise this matter for discussion and consideration, and they did not do so.
As a Member for Northern Victoria, I represent an electorate covering over 110,000 square kilometres.
I have a full schedule of appointments from now until the end of July, including a number of public hearings for inquiries being conducted by the Legal and Social Issues Committee (of which I am a member) and meetings with stakeholders and constituents across Northern Victoria, including some deferred from April due to pandemic restrictions.
A change to the sitting dates would have required all of these to be postponed or cancelled to the detriment of important committee and constituent work.
In speaking to the motion, I suggested that, if extra sitting days are needed, they could be scheduled throughout August to December and this would not conflict with existing schedules.
The transcript of that speech is on my website.
I can assure the electorate of my continued hard work during this period for the people of Northern Victoria.
Tania Maxwell MP,
Member for Northern Victoria
CFA being undermined
CFA volunteers have helped to keep our community safe for more than 75 years, and the tradition of volunteer firefighting predates our Federation.
Volunteers battled Ash Wednesday, Black Saturday and the 2019/20 bushfires, but are now having to contend with a state government that is fixated on sidelining them.
The CFA is being undermined because we have a government more interested in its own political interests than standing up for the CFA’s 54,000 volunteers and the communities they serve. The changes to the CFA are so toxic that they’ve led to the resignation or the sacking of one of the government’s own ministers, the CFA board, as well as multiple chief executives and chief officers.
From July 1, CFA will lose stations in 38 districts, millions of dollars of annual funding, 295 assistant chiefs, commanders and instructors and at least 171 support staff.
The changes also mean the CFA will be managed by Fire Rescue Victoria staff wearing Fire Rescue Victoria uniforms.
If there are going to be changes to Victoria’s fire services, they should be about strengthening the CFA, not smashing it.
That’s why the Liberal-Nationals have committed to consult with Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria and CFA brigades and volunteers across Victoria to identify the essential powers, people and resources that are needed to rebuild and restore the CFA.
We will ensure all members of the CFA board sign up to, and are bound by, the Volunteer Charter.
We will also appoint an independent Commissioner for Emergency Services Volunteers, with the power to investigate issues raised by volunteers, make recommendations on policies and practices, settle disputes, and ensure that the voices of volunteers and CFA members are heard.
Only a Liberal-Nationals Government will rebuild and restore the CFA as an independent, volunteer-based, autonomous fire service.
Nick Wakeling MP,
Shadow Minister for Emergency Services
