Cardinal George Pell has failed as a representative of Jesus Christ's message and is consequently highly unsuitable in any capacity within the Catholic Church. He should resign and find a role in the private industry where he can use his talents, especially in finance. Otherwise, the Vatican should sack him irrespective of his value for the Church's financial reforms. If the Catholic Church really wants to move on from the scandals of clergy sex abuse, it needs to weed out all the bad apples throughout its hierarchy. It needs to use this contemporary issue as a chance to embrace the Christian message as its core value and reach out to the victims. It needs to become open and transparent and be accountable to the law. It needs to show both the public and the Catholic community that it is sincerely sorry and mean it by implementing the necessary actions. Only then will the church as an institution deserve the respect of people and become a reflection of Christ's message on earth.

As a practising Catholic, the human failures of the church have no influence on  my faith as such. However, I have lost respect for Cardinal George Pell and do not consider him as someone representing my faith. Likewise, the church as an institution would lose my respect unless it consistently does its best to live Christ's message and deals with its failures in that spirit. At its essence, the real church as meant by Jesus Christ is simply made up of the community of people who believe in and live the essence and message of the Christian faith. And there are plenty of people everywhere who represent Christ's real church in their lives.

That real Church is in people's hearts and it will survive irrespective of man-made institutions and persons like George Pell within them.

Anton Maurus, Warrnambool

I have been watching the Royal Commission into child abuse and the George Pell questioning and hope many people realise he has never been suspected of child abuse but has taken the fall for many others and in part responsible.

Many churches and priests are good people and no doubt like me, others can also look back at how often they have been helped so many times over the years when we needed food, shelter and support, so don't let this evil history damage the good work the Churches (Catholic, Church Of England, etc) have done for many years and do now.

Being someone from a family who was abused by institutions and the Catholic Church, I still see the good the churches and institutions do.

Carlyle Palmer, Casterton 

Jim Burke’s letter (The Standard, February 27) which criticises Cr Brian Kelson’s proposal for free CBD parking is astounding to say the least. In his letter he claims that ratepayers and visitors to our city are left to “underwrite the cost of carparks” in our city.

He goes on to state that a “fairer” solution would be for businesses and traders to “subsidise it themselves through a levy added to their rates bill”.

It is unfortunate that Mr Burke’s comments are borne out of pure ignorance of the facts. The quantifiable fact remains that CBD property owners and occupiers, after consultative meetings with the council, came together to agree to pay a substantial extra levy on their rates for a period of 10 years, to provide the CBD carparks to counter the effect that a new shopping complex on the eastern outskirts of our city would have on CBD businesses.

These car parks were supposed to remain absolutely free for all time, but with 2 hour or 4 hour parking limits as indicated to be enforced.

What Mr Burke possibly doesn’t realise is that the business operators in these adjoining car parks paid thousands upon thousands of dollars to subsidise construction of these much-needed facilities within the CBD. These businesses were betrayed later by a future council that went against public opinion and arrogantly resolved to introduce the inappropriate parking ticket machines. 

Many property owners and occupiers did it very tough and I am led to believe that in one instance, the CWA actually surrendered the title of their land to the city council as payment of their contribution towards the costs of the Ozone Square car park.

We would all do well to consider who exactly has been treated unfairly here. I was only too happy to support Cr Kelson’s notice of motion to continue the successful free parking trial and it appears that Mr Burke and four of my fellow councillors have chosen not to take into consideration that CBD property owners and occupiers have already paid for everyone’s privilege of free parking.

Keeping it free remains the only “fair” thing to do. 

Cr Peter Sycopoulis, Warrnambool

In response to Jim Burke, Warrnambool City Council has been working hard at promoting what a loss was made by the free parking motion Cr Brian Kelson successfully introduced. Kylie Gaston has been crying poor on behalf of council and apparently there is a black hole in the budget. The information that should have been gleaned from free parking over the holiday period is in the figures. Was there an increase in car park patronage on last year? Are less people using the car parks now the free parking has ceased? And how do we equate money lost on car parks with money spent in local shops? But how can you lose money that wasn’t yours in the first place? Or, maybe the question should be, why did council actually install parking meters in car parks? It might interest people like Jim to know that the hard working business owners of the CBD actually paid for those car parks to be built in the first place, so why are you asking them to ‘subsidise by means of a levy’? Wasn’t the money gained from installing the parking meters meant to be spent on more car parks? So where are all those new car parks? Grace Avenue and Fairy Street? So where has the rest of the money gone? The value of tourism not only lies in parking fees but enjoyment and the ability to wonder and discover our gorgeous seaside town. Not impeded or restricted by time limits or left with a sour taste and a story to tell about the time you copped at $65 fine in Warrnambool. If we are set on making money out of tourists, why not install parking meters at Flagstaff Hill? Look at towns like Port Fairy that don’t have parking meters and note the business and community success that comes from having a vision beyond charging. Cr Kelson is asking the council to level the playing field between CBD and outer shopping centres and to support local businesses, making sure small business is a viable option into the future. If you cannot see the benefit of having a vibrant, unique, well frequented CBD, you obviously aren't aware how much money local business contributes to the community through employment, sponsorship and trade and the flow on effect. That benefit is greater than the small change council is claiming it lost.

Heidi Wisniewski, Warrnambool

Our soldiers, sailor and air force personnel continually return from the war zones they have served in and face a strange life at home. It is likened to the return of any other person who has become institutionalized but more severe given the added PTSD that many of them bring back with them. 

I have spoken to many returned from service and there is no place for them to meet and speak about how they feel about their own lives after whatever conflict they have been in.

In Britain almost every Regiment has a club house where old soldiers go and they still speak of battles fought in Germany, Egypt etc.  What we are seeing here is a continual venting of memories which is much like a self help PTSD group.  

It’s sad to say that our Vietnam Veterans who have suffered so much for so long do not have anywhere they can call their own.  

Nowhere to hang their mementos or sit and talk about things they still dream and sweat about in the night while the rest of us rest cool in silence.  

I have written to the minister for Veteran affairs and asked him to consider the veterans in Warrnambool.

I have asked him about government funding for somewhere the vets can go and talk about what they need to talk about. 

Not just for Vietnam veterans but for all veterans who sometimes just need to know that the person they sit next to understands where they are coming from.

Something like this will mean so much to them and should be theirs for the asking. I know it’s difficult sometimes for civilians to imagine what it’s like for them and that's a good thing because once you can imagine what they truly have seen you can never un-imagine it.

I ask for them only what is right.

David MacPhail, Warrnambool

I have received a number of queries from television viewers in Warrnambool and surrounding areas in regard to their commercial television reception. In response I have been working with the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA). What’s causing poor reception?

Antenna Installation

Viewers with inadequate antenna installations are more susceptible to any minor signal variations or other reception difficulties. Some households may have an inadequate antenna that is in need of maintenance or requires directing to the transmitting station which provides the optimum reception signal.  While issues such as ducting, receiver overload or input feed to the transmission site are causing intermittent problems, viewers with inadequate antennas are more like to experience reception problems.

It is recommended that you contact your local antenna installer who can review your antenna set-up to ensure it is in good working order and correctly installed.

Viewers can enter their address into mySwitch website (http://myswitch.digitalready.gov.au/) and get location specific information of the expected coverage in their area, which is the best site to point their TV antenna too and channels to tune their TV into.

Ducting Interference

On occasion, and during specific weather conditions, signals from a distant Goulburn Valley broadcast site located at Mount Major can transmit further than normal. Known as ‘ducting’, this can cause interference to local broadcast services in Warrnambool operating on the same frequencies.

Ducting is seasonal in nature – it mainly occurs during the warmer months and in particular during sunrise and sunset. If you’re affected by ducting, you’ll most likely suffer from intermittent pixilation or ‘no signal’ to all services.

Viewers in Warrnambool experiencing reception difficulties should contact the broadcasters in the first instance to let them know of their problems. Southern Cross 1800 620 299 (24 hour message service), WIN TV (03) 5320 1366, Prime TV (03) 5337 1777 (office hours), SBS 1800500727,  ABC 1300 13 9994.

General information about television reception is also available from the ACMA’s TV Reception Hub (http://www.acma.gov.au/tvreception).

If the problems persist, then you should contact the ACMA who will investigate the issue and work with the broadcasters where possible. The ACMA’s Customer Service Centre number is 1300 850 115 or email info@acma.gov.au. 

If you have any queries, please contact my office on (03) 5561 6405.

Dan Tehan, Member for Wannon

Last week the Liberal-National Coalition proposed new laws that would prevent convicted killers from receiving parole if they refuse to reveal the location of the body of their victims.

Shadow Minister for Community Safety, Corrections and Police Edward O’Donohue introduced a Private Member’s Bill into the Legislative Council on behalf of the Coalition to implement the change.

 Under the Corrections Amendment (No Body, no Parole) Bill 2016, a person convicted of murder who refuses to provide police with the location of the body of their victim will not be granted early parole.

Families should have the right to bury their loved ones and it should be families who decide on the resting place, not convicted killers.

 The rights of victims and their loved ones should be at the heart of the justice system and criminals should be held to account for their crimes.

In addition, families have a right to gain closure after the tragic loss of a loved one.

I urge Daniel Andrews to support this important strengthening of the parole system and put the interests of victims and the community first.

Emma Kealy, Member for Lowan

The universal value I bring to any debate, which I sure that all Australians share, is that we should treat people the same way we would want to be treated.

I bring this value to the current debate on people seeking asylum and refugees.

Refugees are people fleeing persecution, whether it be from a war zone, a terrorist group or in many cases, persecution by their own governments. When facing torture or death, your first thought would be to protect the lives of your family, not line up to get a passport photo. When people are forced to flee with little notice due to rapidly deteriorating situations, they may not have time to apply for travel documents.

The government can continue to call asylum seekers “illegal” but it flies in the face of what seeking asylum actually means. Permitting asylum seekers to a country without travel documents is similar to allowing ambulance drivers to exceed the speed limit in an emergency – the action may ordinarily be illegal but, in order to protect lives at risk, an exception is made, that is the purpose of the refugee convention.

This letter only addresses the very start of the process for those who are forced to flee. Over the next few months I will be speaking on this complicated issue, the alternatives available - and the brutal, unnecessary horror occurring on Nauru and Manus Island.

As a nation we are better than this – and politicians can’t claim to care about asylum seeker deaths at sea if they don’t care about their lives in detention. “Irregular maritime arrivals” will occur across the globe if there are no “regular” pathways available to people, that is the discussion we need to have.

Thomas Campbell, Greens candidate for Wannon