Goodbye Holden
The news about Holden is sad for most Australians, but the truth is Australians became car snobs sometime in the past decade. Success as a school yard kid was your family owning a new Australian made Holden or Ford. Every child, man, women had the argument which brand was better.
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In later years I do not know what happened, European affairs are a plenty now and they are affairs as they are extremely expensive to purchase, maintain and reliability is not there. The great race - supporters of the super cars don't even buy the brand they support. If supporters don't buy a product who can they blame? Definitely not the politicians nor the company, but themselves/ourselves. Australia can thank themselves for the end of production of the Aussie icon in 2017 then the end of the brand altogether in 2020. I see it similar to supporting a football team but then wearing a rival teams colours to each match. Football, meat pies, kangaroos and no more Holden cars. R.I.P G.M.H
Richard Conlan, Port Fairy
Lead from within
Warrnambool City Council CEO and the mayor need to take control and show leadership and stability for the good of Warrnambool. Now we have seen state government bodies investigating council spending, we have a councillor resigning, another going to the media because he didn't feel he was being heard within council and an investigation into workplace bullying by WorkSafe. The mayor and CEO are saying they don't believe there are issues within council. But on a lot of issues they are saying nothing or struggling to respond to requests for comment from the local media.
We need honest transparent leadership from the councillors and CEO. This starts within the organisation where all staff are listened too and their thoughts are heard.The public also deserve greater transparency from the council. They should be responding to the local media outlets and giving information on these issues. All this instability is doing is hurting the brand of Warrnambool. We won't stay as Australia's most liveable city if we continue to have these cultural issues within our local government.
Ben Blain, Warrnambool
Council woes continue
I must be living in a parallel universe. 'Recent' revelations of 'serious cultural issues' in council raised by Cr Michael Neoh are entirely contradictory to his past efforts, conduct and behaviour. On the eve of the 2020 council elections Cr Neoh feels this is the time to blow the whistle on major issues within Council.
What is at odds with Cr Neoh's belated and contrived conscience is that when former councillors like myself, Brian Kelson, Jennifer Lowe, Peter Hulin or Warrnambool ratepayers repeatedly complained about the very things he bleats about now, he was the one who failed to act.
Many will recall, Cr Neoh ridiculed us, mocked ratepayers and mis-used "governance" as his legitimate defence. The demonstrable fact remains that when we raised serious issues like 'cut and paste' budget figures, repeated governance issues, issues related to no confidence in the former CEO Bruce Anson, or repeated requests for more information in order to make informed decisions, Cr Neoh flippantly dismissed our concerns.
It can be demonstrated that on several occasions he threatened us with codes of conduct for daring to speak out in the name of good governance, transparency and accountability. Not only did Cr Neoh refuse to act, he publicly called us "grandstanders", "white noise" and "rot".
Peter Sycopoulis, Warrnambool
Landline concerns
I have been contacted by a number residents of the Scotts Creek area complaining that their landlines have been inoperable for two weeks. This area does not have mobile coverage also.
It appears their complaints are falling on deaf ears at Telstra. This is an area that was impacted by the St Patrick day fires.
Residents are rightly concerned and edgy about having no means of communication. Telstra need to be informing the community about the issue. There has been no feedback and the service remains out.
Neil Trotter, Mayor Corangamite Shire
Sports rorts fallout
The ABC News website recently revealed details about the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) report to the Senate. The ANAO showed that Sport Australia determined that the threshold in order to be recommended to receive a Sports Grant would need to score 74 out of 100.
Three grants within the Wannon electorate were listed as having met the criteria. They were Colac Otway Shire ($500,000) scored 95, Corangamite Shire ($127,574) scored 86.5 and Port Fairy Tennis Club ($50,000) scored 83. Thank you to the people responsible for making the effort to complete the paperwork in what should have been a successful grant.
I have been informed that the Corangamite Shire Grant was for a walking track at Cobden. It would be reasonable for the public to be informed further details about the other projects.
Due to decisions made within the responsible Federal Ministers' offices the three grants which met the criteria within the Wannon electorate were unsuccessful.
The ABC news article also stated that the ANAO also found a number of grants which appeared to have been ineligible received funding.
Graeme Fischer, Bookaar
Keep sheoak trees
As a current resident of Norfolk Place I am deeply concerned with the reasons behind the removal of the native Sheoak trees and the full cost of implementing the removal and replacement estimated to be around $20,000.
It is an unnecessary cost to ratepayers especially as most of the trees do not fit into any of the recommended categories for the removal of street trees.
The complaint of these trees being prone to dropping branchlets and small cones does not justify their removal.
I am sure the expense of the clearance of these trees and their replacements could be allocated elsewhere.
The native Drooping Sheoak trees in Norfolk Place add a unique feature to the Port Fairy residential street and provide an important habitat for wildlife.
Valerie Phillips, Port Fairy
Fix the main street
Dear Mayor and fellow councillors, If you want to save the CBD firstly do away with parking meters (Mildura can do it why can't you?). The new streetscape has caused gridlocks at both ends of Liebig Street (Lava and Koroit Streets) due to the narrowing of Liebig Street between these two intersections.
You need to make this area a mall with some covered areas for alfresco cafe eateries. It would encourage more businesses back into the CBD as well as customers. At present it is a nightmare for all and definitely dying a slow death.
Parking would be limited (15 minutes, one and four hourly ) and monitored by chalking tyres. It would certainly be a saving in buying and servicing of parking meters and give life back to the CBD and businesses (preferably a variety and shopper attracting ones) a win for all.
Helen Tredinnick, Warrnambool
Uproar over bats
What a load of rubbish that greenie is going on about having cold showers supplied for his precious fruit bats. They come from the tropics and sunshine, they live in the extreme heat and breed like mice there, hence their moving down further south for easier pickings.
They carry serious diseases, they decimate forests and foliage and you had better make sure your car is not parked under them when roosting. Go north and learn young man.
Terry Manley, Dartmoor
Expose sex abuse
Tragically some young people in the south-west have been victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy. Warrnambool and Mortlake in particular have historically been effected locations. While the exposure of these and other cases have led many to believe the worst is behind us, the recent Andrews government legislation enacted this week makes it more likely that this can be an obscenity of the past. After some dithering the legislation was supported by the Liberal opposition.
Under the legislation priests are obligated to report any sexual abuse information they obtain from the confessional. It's most unfortunate that senior Catholic clergy in Archbishops Peter Comensoli of Melbourne and Mark Coleridge of Brisbane continue to oppose these laws. Many fine priests I know have to work with this conflicted response. It's extraordinary that Peter Comensoli even speaks of non compliance which is not only abhorrent but dismally fails his clergy colleagues in this state.
Tony Delaney, Warrnambool
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