Opportunity lost
I am very disappointed with Warrnambool City Council’s decision to go with option A – upgrade Lady Bay boat ramp. As a member of the community user group involved in consultation and discussion I feel I have wasted my time. The consensus of opinion, without a formal vote being taken, was option B or C (semi-enclosed or fully enclosed) were preferred options. The groups were convened to help ensuring ‘safer launching and retrieval’ of boating craft in Lady Bay. The accidents and near misses at the boat ramp over many years were finally being addressed. Or so I thought. When the question ‘who pays’ was asked early in the consultative process, we were assured government grants would be applied for once a decision was made. Ratepayers wouldn’t be paying for the upgrades. Our new mayor earlier this week stated option A (widening the current boat ramp, and dredging) would make launching and retrieval safer. No it won’t. The danger is caused by the waves and swells. Option A in no way addresses these problems. It’s been done twice before with little or no improvement. Mayor Gaston wants to wait and see for two years how it goes. More time wasted, more accidents and injuries. All the research and time at meetings by the user groups and technical groups, came down to one council vote. Seven people voted. The result was 4-3. If I was a cynic I might think that once again it came down to four against the three amigos. Tammy Good, Warrnambool
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Rotary House gratitude
I would like to thank Rotary clubs in your district and donors for providing such a wonderful facility for families of out of town hospital patients. My son recently had an operation in Warrnambool. Being from Geelong, one of the nursing staff suggested Rotary House. I am so grateful for the excellent, affordable and close accommodation. It highlights wonderful work Rotarians do.
Geraldine Eales, Geelong
Crew appreciate support
We, the crew of the MV Portland, want to thank the community for extraordinary support in the past month as we stay onboard the ship in Portland and fight to hold onto local jobs. Alcoa's decision to abandon local workers and replace us with a foreign crew means we're heading into Christmas without knowing if we'll have jobs in the new year. But, if we let Alcoa get away with it, it could spell the beginning of the end for our local shipping industry. It's not just our jobs that are under attack – the future of entire communities is at stake. Alcoa want to get rid of us to save a few bucks. But at what cost? The ship we've been replaced with pays its foreign workers a base rate as low as $1.14 an hour, handles toxic chemicals unsafely in local ports, and has allegedly paid bribes in ports around the world. Is this what we want happening to our shipping industry? Is this what we want happening to local jobs? Is this acceptable in Australia in 2015? We say no. And we know, that you stand with us. It really means a lot. We'll stay here and defend local jobs and our local community as long as we need to. Feel free to pay us a visit.
Crew of MV Portland
Don’t knock hard worker
I am wondering what the concern is with the culverts in Port Fairy’s Reedy Creek drain? In my lifetime around Port Fairy I have not seen too many times there was more than a couple of feet flow through the drain. I actually think it probably acts as a backflow control from the river. For a 100-year flood, all the holes in the Swiss cheese have to line up. I think the people of Port Fairy need to realise that they are basically living in a swamp. I remember when the sewerage went through Port Fairy the water was never deep. I see this as some sort of an attack on a hard working bloke having a go. I guess this is Australia. We will always have someone who wants to kick someone who looks like he might achieve something. In any case this sort of thing is not unusual.
Neil Dumesny, Hawkesdale
