A ban on new onshore and offshore gas drilling is needed, like 'fracking' was in 2015. The State government funding of $42 million to the Victorian Gas Program to investigate on-shore drilling viability isn't convincing many. Surely water security, agriculture and food production have priority over risky gas projects. This year our State government sold several off-shore gas exploration licences off the south-west coast near Portland. Australia is awash with gas. Qatar and Australia are the top-two gas exporting countries in the world. New gas reserves can never be justified as a transition fuel to renewables. Gas is manipulated fossil remains from the dinosaur era. Gas and other fossil fuels keep contributing to the current climate emergency.

Julie Hart, Heywood

In reply to Mr Delaney (The Standard 9/11) it's not a battle of ideas but of facts and I present those on behalf of ordinary Australians. The last election according to Labor was to be fought on Climate Change Action, who won? What we are experiencing with drought and heat accord to the alarmists, Australia has never experienced before. Facts tell a very different story in 1939 Menindee reached 49.70c. The hottest ever was in 1960, 50.7c, well before main industrialization. Recent homogenized records have been falsified. Dr Marohasy, BoM made cooling into warming. Many past records of extended heat and fire exist. Australia was devastated from 1895 to 1903 and extended far longer than this period in many areas. It's one of a vast number that plagued our country before man-made Co2 was even thought of. To deny that Australia has never experienced this in such severity before is to totally deny history. Possibly this is why Sydney University has a course called 'Unlearning History'. We do so at our peril. Our coal fired power stations have provided cheap, reliable energy and have never been subsidised as described. (another MYTH) Hazelwood the exact opposite. Ask Professors Peter Ridd, Bob Carter, Susan Crockford just how fair climate debate is. They lost their jobs because they spoke against this madness, many others are afraid to emulate. No government money to investigate against alarmism is destructive to ethical science. We must stop the recent increase in hypothermia deaths because old people cannot afford heating. Now that's poverty.

Michael Cane, Warrnambool

As a Liebig Street tree-hugging, latte-sipping hippie, I express my belief in scientifically proven climate change and its link to the unseasonal bushfires in NSW and Queensland. The Nationals leader should properly respond to the issues rather than denigrating his fellow concerned Australians.

Tony Delaney Warrnambool

I read with interest the article on November 11 about plans to revitalise Tower Hill, which quoted the former Member for Western Victoria James Purcell. If Mr Purcell didn't believe Tower Hill should be reclassified as a national park, why did he support the petition that called for just that? From the article it was clear the Friends of Tower Hill thought he was on their side. I'm sure they are disappointed to learn their cause became another of Mr Purcell's vote-grabbing tactics. Tower Hill is one of our region's hidden gems. It has huge potential and is already a real tourist draw card. But the first step to protect and preserve Tower Hill isn't changing its status. The first step is getting the Andrews Labor Government to increase resources for parks and reserves to tackle weeds and other invasive species that are the real threat to native flora and fauna. A change in status to a National Park is in no way a guarantee of increased resourcing or funding. Budj Bim National Park is the prime example of this - it doesn't have its own ranger and also has issues with weeds. The only thing that will get resources increased is a government that is willing to make the investments needed and put boots on the ground. It was Daniel Andrews who axed dedicated, full-time ranger positions at Tower Hill and Budj Bim National Park put in place by my predecessor Denis Napthine. It's Daniel Andrews who is stretching Parks Victoria's resources so thin that proper attention can't be given to serious issues that pose significant environmental risk like weeds and pests. A change in name and a new sign on the front gate won't result in better outcomes for Tower Hill, increased government resources to tackle the environmental issues will.

Roma Britnell MP, Member for South West Coast

Many readers may not be aware of events that occurred in the Senate on November 11. I put forward a private senator's bill that, among other things, aimed to help safeguard the dairy industry by introducing a minimum farm gate price for milk to ensure dairy farming families in Australia could remain viable. Unfortunately, the Bill was defeated by 31 to 30. It was most telling that senators from the Liberal and National parties all voted against the Bill, which, in my view, proved to all of us that The Nationals are no longer "the party of the bush".

As I said in my speech, the government has been unable to explain to me how dairy farmers would be disadvantaged by the setting of a minimum farm gate price for milk. In the lead up to the Senate debate, I made sure the government was drawn to the fact that milk is being sold below the cost of water on supermarket shelves. I also made clear that milk is being sold below the cost of production, and yet the government has kept sitting on its hands, as supermarkets Coles and Woolworths, together with a handful of milk processors, used their market power to control the supply chain and destroy dairy farms and rural Australia.

Our farmers have been systematically squeezed, tighter and tighter, as processors and retailers work together to reduce their profits to virtually nil while filling their own pockets and the pockets of their shareholders. This scenario has quite realistically been pushing Australia ever closer to dependence on imported milk. The farmers have been dealing with this crushing attitude from their corporate customers, while also dealing with the ever-rising costs of production - fodder, water, electricity, council rates bills, fuel and more.

But the Bill was not just about helping dairy farmers. It was also about maintaining and growing the rural communities that support and depend on farms. It was about food security because we have a need to be self-sufficient in dairy products, including fresh milk. It's a poor reflection on the Government today that it was One Nation that has had to take the lead on this matter.

The Liberals and Nationals very clearly turned their backs on the people that they claim to represent, so the Bill was defeated. I thank Labor, the Greens and Jacqui Lambie who put their political differences aside and supported the Bill. Australia needs its farmers, and One Nation intends to continue giving them the support they need

Senator Pauline Hanson, One Nation Leader, Senator for Queensland

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