In Victoria's Great South Coast region, in the far corner of the state, our community has recognised that the current system is failing our children. With as few as 54 per cent of our young people going on to attain year 12 or equivalent, we have over the past four years assembled a careful and thoroughly researched plan for action. 

The Great South Coast Beyond the Bell initiative works across the full continuum, from birth through to adulthood, seeking out the 'gaps' and the points at which our young people are most at risk of falling through them. 

Beyond the Bell brings together a passionate community working across six local government areas, recognising that we all share responsibility for our young people.  

Our plan coordinates and streamlines the activities of a range of existing community organisations, and introduces bold new measures at those critical points along a young person's life continuum. 

It is not a quick fix. But Beyond the Bell provides a partial solution to what is ultimately a very complex social problem.

Colin Ryan, Moyne Shire mayor and chair of Great South Coast Group

Political Tattslotto phoned the South West Coast electorate to tell us that we had the opportunity to win the marginal electorate jackpot.

Roads, hospitals, schools, jobs. A future for our kids and better community assets for us all.

We hung up the phone without listening.

Gary Sayer, Warrnambool

The Portuguese memorials at Cannon Hill are in disgraceful condition. The 3.5 high marble monolith, called a padrao, was white when raised as a gift from the Portuguese government in 1990. Now the base and column are speckled with yellow-green lichen and black streaks stain the seaward side of the base. The busts, one on either side of the padrao, are also in a sad state. It was inevitable that they, like any bronze sculptures left outdoors, would be oxidised and covered with a greenish-white patina during the 14 years since they were installed.

But patina can be removed and it is obvious the busts of Vasco da Gama and Prince Henry the Navigator have been innocent of a cleaner’s attentions for a long time. Both busts are scarred with bird droppings that contain uric acid, which reacts with the patina and corrodes the metal, a process which is more damaging the longer the droppings remain. Prince Henry’s nose, mouth and chest and the left side or Da Gama’s head bear unsightly corrosion.

On the ground around the memorials geometric landscaping made of thousands of mosaic tiles coloured dark blue or aquamarine, representing the world’s oceans first traversed by Portuguese explorers four centuries ago, is also in disrepair. Hundreds of the two-centimetre-square tiles are missing. Some of the damage may be the work of time and the elements but much that is wrong clearly has resulted from human activity in the form of vandalism or human inactivity in the form of neglect.

Either way, these eyesores are a shame and a rebuke to Warrnambool. They are also an insult to the Portuguese, who believe – rightly or wrongly – that our Mahogany Ship was a 16th-century caravel from their homeland and who for more than a generation have rewarded and enlivened this city by making it their spiritual and festive home in Australia. This mess must be rectified.

Patrick Connelly, chairman Mahogany Ship Committee of Warrnambool

Steven Payne is one of thousands of strappers working in the racing industry. Articles I have read about his great work with a horse that went on to win a Melbourne Cup make his effort seem above all others who have had similar success. We have been made aware that Stevie has Down Syndrome.

Jockey Michelle Payne said in an interview that Stevie’s upbringing did not focus on his disability but his ability. There were no deficit assumptions about what he could contribute work-wise or socially to a close knit, supportive family. The same assumption was Michelle completed an extraordinary feat by winning the cup as a female. Only a jockey with great ability could pilot a 100-1 chance to win the cup.

I work in a business that employs 87 people. We wash and detail cars, mow and landscape gardens, dismantle and recycle electronic ewaste, make furniture (we make all the butchers blocks and butchers tables on MasterChef), grow and sell herbs and the list goes on to the businesses we are involved in. Our employees get paid, get the bus or drive to work, stir each other up in the smoko room, volunteer at footy clubs and some have a beer after work on a Friday. All sounds pretty normal because that’s what it is – a normal environment of employers and employees. Ok, ‘Bazza’ in Ewaste has Down Syndrome; ‘Shirley’ in Car detailing has autism; ‘Warren’ in furniture has an intellectual disability and ‘Jacko’ in gardening has an acquired brain injury. They also have friends, a social life, families, bills to pay and dreams like the rest of us. Stories focused on Stevie Payne’s ‘disability’ not ‘ability’. I’m sure he would have gratefully appreciated a pat on the back for his great job and no other reason. Bazza, Shirley, Warren and Jacko love their jobs and work to their best ability. If you use their services and they have done a good job it’s because they are trained, experienced and good at their job – just like Stevie Payne.   Jack Melican, WDEA Enterprises, Warrnambool