This week the trust objected to council’s proposal to lease a large area of land for 20 years to the person who runs the caravan park. I note any ideas for eco-tourism are merely ideas and not part of the lease proposal.

The land occupied by the caravan park and the land proposed for lease to the caravan park proprietor are both parts of the Camperdown Botanic Gardens and Arboretum – not next to it, not adjacent to it, not somewhere near it – but parts of it.

The small fenced botanic garden is another part of it.

It is a 25-hectare site, which is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

It is of historic, aesthetic and botanical significance to the State of Victoria, and it has been a Public Park for 146 years.

There are processes that are legally required to be followed and issues that must be taken into account if there are proposals for using or building on any of this land.

We are concerned with making sure they are not ignored.

Janet O’Hehir, Camperdown

I am writing to voice my support for Father Lawrie O'Toole of our Lady Help of Christians parish of Warrnambool.

I have sound knowledge of Father Lawrie's work as a priest in the community especially his visits to my late father in his last years when Father Lawrie was parish priest at Port Fairy.

He also does these visits to the sick in hospital and at their homes in Warrnambool.

Father Lawrie has the enormous respect and admiration of his parishoners and other denomination followers and the citizens of Warrnambool and other towns where he has been the parish priest.

Father Lawrie is a true ambassador of god and the catholic church.

It is disgraceful when he and other priests of his standard are called to public examination by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, when former Bishop Ronald Mulkearns who is a disgrace to the church escapes appearance and questioning by the commission.

Les Brereton, Warrnambool

Students at Victorian government schools will be stopped from learning or singing a wide selection of Christmas carols under new guidelines issued by the Andrews Labor Government.

Under recent ministerial instructions, principals have been told that students will not be able to participate in singing any “praise music” that includes praise of a god or a religious figure, if the singing is organised by school volunteers.

Also, teachers will only be able to teach carols as part of a wide-ranging “general religious education” curriculum that covers different religions in Australia and around the world.

Principals will be required to ensure that children are not taught to sing carols such as Holy Night, Away in a Manger or We Three Kings during school carols or pageants, as these welcome the birth of Jesus Christ.

This is total madness and an affront to our traditional values of the Christmas spirit.

The Victorian Coalition shares the concerns of many Victorians regarding this new policy direction.

I encourage everyone to write to their local member of parliament and make Daniel Andrews listen to Victorians and reverse this terrible decision.

We need to show the Andrews Government how important this issue is to families in our local area.

Simon Ramsay, Member for Western Victoria Region, Geelong