It became immediately apparent that, at 45, I had made a wonderful life choice.  

I felt so inspired by the “our campuses” caption in the “Life at Deakin” brochure, and I quote: "Our campuses are all very different; each has state-of-the-art facilities, it's own distinctive character and a strong presence in the local community.” 

I chose to accept my opportunity to study at Deakin and my choice is Warrnambool. 

My life and global travel experiences told me that the value of the highest order exists in Warrnambool. Quickly I became passionate about supporting the cause to keep Warrnambool campus from closing down. 

Attending the community forum at the Lighthouse Theatre, Bernadette Northeast spoke my words: " I have come for Deakin and will stay for Warrnambool.” 

Should the faculty of Deakin recognise the lifeline it gives to sustaining this community, the decision to stay will be viable. 

Let's stand as a community and ensure this facility stays. 

Mary-Jo Hanly, Warrnambool

I CONTACTED Minister for Training and Skills Steve Herbert’s office two weeks ago to meet with me. The purpose of the meeting was to ask him how the state government plans to keep Deakin University in Warrnambool. He has ignored my invitation.

I am wondering if he is running scared because he knows that if Deakin leaves Warrnambool, the responsibility stops with him; and I presume that is not a conversation that he wants to have with the local MP. He knows my job is to call him to account, and I will. He can wield a big stick over the university and he knows this.

The fear of limited access to future grants from the state of Victoria would be enough to have Deakin concerned I’m sure. Here we go again with Labor ignoring the regions.

The state government committed to opening campuses when it won the election, and yet it has walked away from Monash’s decision to close its Berwick campus which services students in the state’s east. Now there is deafening silence from Minister Herbert following the news that Deakin might desert its Warrnambool site and the communities in the state’s west.

Victorian taxpayers have contributed many millions of dollars to Deakin University. If this government was serious in its claim to govern for all Victorians, Minister Herbert could inform Deakin University that it will withhold funds if Deakin continues with its thrust to centralise the university in Burwood.

The Andrews Labor government makes claims that Victoria is the education state.

So, Daniel Andrews, if that is the case, where is the western boundary of Victoria on your map – Geelong?

Roma Britnell, South West Coast MP

THE Warrnambool community has made its feelings very clear on local access to tertiary education for our kids – we want it and we'll fight for it. 

In my view there are three factors that need to be considered in forming an approach to keeping a university presence in our community that is sustainable in the long-term, authentic for students and has fidelity to the aspirations and hopes of our broader community.

We need a provider that embraces local autonomy, a campus that can form a direction and vision that is responsive to the needs of our community and the values of access and equity.

We need a provider that acknowledges the value of and can integrate with our TAFE college, South West TAFE, to foster a deeper connection with tertiary students and connect with our senior secondary students.

And, finally, we need a provider that can discern and seek out the valuable input of the firms, industries and organisations that make up the economic and social foundation of our region. Hospitals, schools and businesses that know the value of a university to our region, have stood by it and supported it in the past and stand ready to do so again.

Deakin has been that provider in the past. It is my belief that Deakin could be that provider into the future if it wishes.

I have an appreciation of how challenging the tertiary education sector has been for universities over the last seven years. To have gone from providing 400,000 undergraduate places in 2008 to 550,000 places in 2013 is an outstanding achievement in providing access and equity to tertiary education. 

The challenge is to make this achievement locally meaningful. To be able to provide places for our young people who otherwise wouldn't be able to go to uni. 

To be able to look our local young people in the face and be able to say: "You're worth it." That's what meaningful access and equity is all about.

Michael Barling, Labor candidate for Wannon

I AM from another state, where some things are different. However I was angered, apart from the obvious grief, at how rude, arrogant and uncaring some people are.

While my brother’s coffin was being taken to his place of rest at Warrnambool Cemetery, two vehicles actually pushed into the funeral procession. 

They had plenty of opportunity to pull over at parking bays and a roundabout but chose not to. They could have turned off.

Another white Corolla decided to also do the same thing a few streets down. There was no respect shown whatsoever.

These people should be named and shamed, but I guess karma will have to do.

Anne Thompson, Tumbarumba, NSW

TO UNITED Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall, I am no supporter of any government in Australia. I noticed you your argument (via the letter We must keep the focus on efficient fire response, The Standard, April 2) that the Warrnambool fire station needs more career firefighters.

Why? How many actual fires does the Warrnambool fire brigade respond to? 

The Telstra fire would still have resulted in no communication for the area regardless of how many paid firefighters and pieces of equipment were on hand and how quickly they got there.

Maybe you should go to New York and have a look at the facilities there. We are extremely well off.

I think you need to compare apples with apples. The only ones to benefit from more firefighters is your union.

More union members usually means more industrial action – after all, you guys were arguing over a gate and the place wasn't open.

Neil Dumesny, Hawkesdale

WITH regards to Matt Neal’s story about racehorses using Killarney beach for training (Killarney Beach horse meeting, The Standard, March 31) I would like to offer my views on the matter.

I live in Killarney and use the carpark and boat ramp regularly to go fishing and walking.

The amount of trainers and horses using these public facilities has increased dramatically over the last few years and had reached such a proportion this summer that I felt compelled to contact Moyne Shire to express my concerns.

There is a major safety issue when you have large horses in these areas and the general public are forced to come into close proximity with them if they want to use the beach or boat ramp.

Some people feel intimidated by the horses and also by the riders and their associates (as noted in a report by Robert Gibson, Moyne Shire).

Of particular concern is the safety of people accessing the beach from the main carpark as the horses are ridden past this point at the very base of the dunes. This makes it impossible for either party to see each other.

Having the general public and training racehorses in the same area cannot be considered a safe practice.

I am sure this would not be tolerated at the Warrnambool racecourse.

The report also raises issues with a lack of parking as a result of all the trucks and floats, the smell of excrement (which is scraped up and then deposited into the surrounding native vegetation), the state of the beach (that has been described like sitting in a ploughed paddock), and the effect on the environment.

This is a commercial operation on a large scale with up to 20 horses at a time on the beach, some starting before dawn and going through till 11am during the peak holiday period.

I believe this is unsustainable and that an accident is waiting to happen.

As discussed in the report, an alternative may be to improve access and parking at the Gormans Road area – a place less frequented by the general public.

At the moment there are no regulations governing these activities, so something needs to be put in place to determine the times and areas that can be used and to control parking and excrement removal.

I understand the benefits and the enjoyment that the racing industry brings to the south-west and believe that an alternative to the use of Killarney main beach can be found.

Perhaps if the use of sand training is of such an economic benefit, the industry might be willing to invest some money in finding an alternative – maybe even a purpose-built sand track as mentioned in the report.

The full report is available at the Moyne Shire website and I would urge people to read this before forming an opinion.

Bill Yates, Killarney

RECENT trumpeting in The Age of wasted tax dollars on the Princes Highway West’s duplication is a rude and ill-informed slap in the face to Victoria’s highly productive, export driven south-west.

Age reporter Tony Wright’s city-centric expose on his motorbike ride on the Easter long weekend says it all about the city and country divide. 

South-west Victoria, starting at Colac, is one of regional Australia’s engine rooms and unsung success stories.

Enormous exports of dairy, food, fibre and tourism are all generated and moved along the Princes Highway West to growing domestic and international markets.

Boasting the lowest unemployment rates in Australia, the now only recently opened highway duplication is providing a conduit for record investment in relocations and expanded industries. 

Colac, alone, is undergoing a boom of tens of millions of dollars that can, in part, be accounted for in the recently opened highway.

Rather than accusing the hard-working and industrious south-west of being “nowhere”, The Age ought to get out to the country more often and see where road improvements are leading to booms – unlike in Melbourne where billions are being wasted on roads not built and sky rails people don’t want.

Richard Riordan, Polwarth MP

IT IS no surprise that the Grattan Institute would question important transport infrastructure in regional Victoria, given its origin as a public policy think tank for Steve Bracks’ and John Brumby.

Just like our current government, neither of these former Labor premiers extended their horizon for public policy past the city limits.

For whatever reason, the Princes Highway West duplication has come within the institute’s sights for damnation, with a quasi ROI ratio as the only semblance of credible data.

It is no surprise that our current crop of federal government representatives were quick off the mark to support the upgrade of the road, and rightly so.

Our State MPs have done the same, given the former Coalition government contributed half of the funding, but that’s not considered newsworthy in a federal election campaign.

The important point is that whether it’s the Princes Highway, Western Highway or Hamilton Highway, the road corridors of regional Victoria are the lifeblood of rural communities.

A significant upgrade of our road system creates growth opportunities for townships such as Winchelsea, Colac, Beaufort and Ararat, which would otherwise wither on the vine.

These corridors are the start of decentralising our cities and encouraging greater movement through relocation and tourist visitation. Both of these factors provide vital economic growth in regional Victoria.

The Princes Highway West has already created a revitalised Winchelsea, better transport connections for our food producers and significantly increased tourism to the region.

These benefits are simply not costed in the policy think tanks like Grattan.

Through all of my working life, I have advocated for better road infrastructure in regional Victoria, and as someone who had to travel on the pre-existing  "goat track" that was the Princes Highway West since I was born, marginal seat or not, the real benefits will not be seen in the number of cars on the road.

The true value will be obvious as we witness the revitalisation of towns and communities like Winchelsea that will draw people to regional Victoria to live, work and visit. 

​Simon Ramsay, Western Victoria Region MP

I PARTICIPATED in my first Murray to Moyne cycle relay at the weekend, riding from Echuca to Port Fairy.

I was completely overwhelmed by the warm and friendly welcome from the people of Port Fairy at the finish line on Sunday morning.

Thank you – it has left an enormous impression on me. You are a very generous community.

Therese Robinson, Box Hill

CONGRATULATIONS to all the riders and the organisers of the 30th annual Murray to Moyne relay.

I attended Port Fairy on Sunday and have nothing but immense admiration for all the participants who rode in the marathon ride.

The organisation of 1200 riders divided into 72 teams cycling from the Murray River to the coast is a logistical triumph, and a credit to M2M ride director John Clue and his team.

It is also a wonderful memorial to one of the event’s creators, Graham ‘Woody’ Woodrup.

Hospitals and community health care organisations from across Victoria participate in the event covering a total distance of 520km and raise about $1 million for their organisations.

In the South West Coast electorate Moyne Health Service, South West Healthcare, Anglicare Warrnambool and Headspace Warrnambool will benefit from the generosity and fitness of their teams.

We are so lucky in our region to be able to call on so many volunteers to support our many valuable health and community services.

The health services are integral to the health of our communities and in my role as the local Member, I am working to support the volunteers who raise funds for these services.

I have been calling on the Minister for Health Jill Hennessy in Parliament to ensure that stage two of the Warrnambool Hospital redevelopment is a funding priority for the state government.

Roma Britnell, South West Coast MP