The Premier has deemed it a state of emergency and they and the federal government have gone to great lengths to inform citizens that they at their level of government intend to enact every possible measure to ensure the citizens cope with this epidemic. The silence from the Warrnambool CIty Council is deafening.

The citizens of Warrnambool deserve strong and decisive leadership at this time. The obvious way which has been sadly failing for some time now is to have regular, daily or at the very least numerous times a week, meetings with the editor or senior staff from The Standard to inform all citizens of actions relating to the virus within our city. Reassuring the citizens and showing leadership is a most basic task of government.

It is clear to the most challenged that this is a most serious situation for the whole world and that as leaders in our community we the people who elected them expect leadership. There are many things that council needs to address in relation to the spread of the virus and if they are acting we the citizens need to be informed to give us comfort. Businesses will be severely affected and many may not survive.

What is council doing to support businesses into the future? Ballarat Council has made CBD parking free indefinitely in response to the coronavirus pandemics impact on local businesses. What support packages are being considered by council to help businesses cope with the huge burden of their rates?

Will council make an immediate statement to business owners that they will no longer strive for rate increases into the future to give them comfort? What measures are council putting in place to protect and keep our cities workers safe from the virus?

Why do they not consider the continual use of parking meters by the elderly a huge health risk for them as it is well known the elderly are the very people who struggle with the phone app ?

Is Aquazone completely safe for our citizens and if it is explain to everyone what measures are being undertaken to make it so ?

This question goes to every council facility within our city which our citizens use.

This is all not difficult it simply needs the leadership that we all expect from our elected representatives.

I may have been bullied from council but it will never stop me from voicing my concerns and in this state of emergency for Mayor Herbert to state that " I should raise my concerns with a councillor" shows me how out of touch he and that council is to our community.

The mayor and CEO Schneider should get out of their bunker in city hall and regularly communicate with all our media on all aspects which effects the people who they claim to represent.

Peter Hulin, Warrnambool

A recent letter published by The Standard "Reid Oval changes" (March 7) contained some inaccuracies in relation to the Reid Oval redevelopment project.

The letter stated that the preferred pavilion design, Concept 1, would cost an additional $800,000.

It will not.

The letter also stated that Councillors and Council staff should have foreseen that a club with an ongoing lease would not want to move from its old facilities into new facilities.

Council was always aware that East Warrnambool Football Netball Club (EWFNC) held a lease however EWFNC was actively engaging in design workshops with the intention of relocating to the new Reid Oval Pavilion. The project Group always considered the possibility that EWFNC would remain in its current facility which was why three concepts were developed - with concepts 1 and 2 within the scope of the available funding.

EWFNC developed its own alternative design, however the club's proposed building would not have complied with the building code, did not meet the needs of other stakeholders and would have cost an additional $650,000.

The letter also discussed the "extensive consultation that supposedly took place".

There was nothing at all "supposed" about the consultation.

It is worth noting that in 2018 an East Warrnambool Football Netball Club official described the club's facilities as "decrepit" and "there's only so many coats of paint that can hold a place together".

The project team regularly provides updates on the project website at www.warrnambool.vic.gov.au/reid-oval

Cr Sue Cassidy, Chair Reid Oval Project Control Group

Can the Warrnambool City Council let the community know what local arrangements are in place to protect our city from coronavirus? Tomorrow will do, but let's not sit back and react too late. There are economic considerations, yes, but experts are suggesting that looking after our health arrangements will protect our economy.

Here is a situation where it is essential to listen to our health experts first. What advice is there for community members? Let's be ahead of the game, not trying to catch up. Good health everyone. Take Nonna's advice and wink your greeting.

Hugs, kisses and handshakes are probably passé for a while. Wash your hands well. Let's not panic but let's get together and organise a coherent preparation to minimise infections and protect each other.

Glenda Fry, Warrnambool

Our leaders in Canberra have moved quickly to limit people movement and quarantine Australia after a tragic leak from a suspicious Chinese lab. For so long our leaders have clung to free trade and open boarder policies. They accepted without question as Australian manufacturing and processing was either bought by China or moved there by multinationals to avoid tax and increase their profit.

In recent weeks Card- Brarr approved mainland Chinese purchase of the Aussie icon 'Big M' flavoured milk.

Every day hundreds of containers of our basic daily needs arrive from China and are opened in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and distributed nationally.

Our leaders have protected us with effective quarantine? It's just about smoko and I always have a Big M.

Gary Ryan, Colac

On the 13th of March 2020 it was reported that West Australian Premier Mark McGowan urged Australians to reconsider their travel to Bali amid the coronavirus outbreak. He eluded to Indonesia "under-reporting" the number of cases of the corona virus. On Thursday, Indonesia had reported 34 cases, seven of which came within 24 hours.

"In relation to countries that are under reporting, whether it be Indonesia - in particular Bali, I'm very concerned about people either going there or coming from there," he told reporters on Friday. "We need to get proper advice and potentially take further action." Fairly strange considering that - at least 31,000 Chinese students arrived in Australia despite the country's travel ban, after waiting out their two week isolation in a third country.

The Department of Home Affairs said 31,196 Chinese arrived in the country since the middle of February, at the rate of about 1,000 people per day. The students have satisfied the 14-day quarantine period in a third country being Thailand, Bali or Cambodia. My concern is with conflicting reports like this from government ministers allowing people from a contaminated country to travel through a contaminated country before landing in Australia?

Is this not making much sense? I sympathise that people have lost money but frankly our own safety is paramount and should never be balanced against people losing money or education. I find it pretty disgusting that we would even consider giving people entry into the country without proper quarantine.

David MacPhail, Warrnambool

The Warrnambool Ratepayers Association is asking the Warrnambool City Council to start listening to the concerns of traders in our CBD. The WRA have requested a meeting with the WCC over four weeks ago in order in discuss the issues traders have raised in our CBD survey. We have received no response from the council to date on a meeting or addressing the issues identified by traders in our survey of over 100 Warrnambool businesses. According to our survey over 75 per cent of businesses have never had a visit or direct contact from the council economic development team in relation to their business needs. Many traders felt the communication between WCC and themselves has been poor since before and after the CBD renewal.

Many businesses have stated if they are outside of Liebig Street they are neglected by council's marketing strategies. The WCC has done no follow up research or consultation with the traders in the CBD on trader's needs. We are looking down the barrel of a recession and also have a global pandemic creating trade issues around the country. Locally we are already seeing empty restaurants and shops due to the virus outbreak. Many traders are struggling to work out how they will last the next six months in business. We need the WCC to start showing proactive leadership, show transparency and begin to consult with our traders on what they can do to keep them going. The WCC need to do something before we lose our CBD

Ben Blain, Vice-President WRA

May I offer our sincere thanks to Monique Patterson for her well-written article "This is for you Tyler" on March 17, 2020 re: the new bill passed in Parliament recently to make irresponsible drivers accountable for choosing to drive when they shouldn't be, and which resulted in a tragic outcome for our beautiful grandson Tyler. Hopefully, this legislation will save some other families from going through the same heartbreak as we have. It won't bring Tyler back but it will be a lasting legacy to him. Thank you Monique.

Ellen Dean, Highton

The decision of the Victorian Labor government to rescind the moratorium on new methane gas extraction is evidence that despite the disastrous drought and Australia-wide bushfires, neither Labor nor the Coalition politicians really understand climate science and urgent need for action on climate change.

On the coronavirus situation, politicians say they are following the directions of scientists and medical professionals.

Yet, on climate change polliticians have ignored the advice of thousands of scientists about the catastrophic effects of methane and carbon emissions. Scientists have warned that there should be no more new coal, oil, or gas plants established.

Terminals for exporting LNG release excess methane gas which is 25 times more powerful in heating the planet than CO.

For a win-win situation, government needs to recognise that:

Emissions from new gas, coal, oil and nuclear industries are infinitely more of a threat to human existence than the coronavirus.

With bank interest at nearly zero, now is the time for government investments in solar and wind with battery backup. Loan money for these is available at practically no cost and renewables are quicker to set up. Investment in renewables would provide many more jobs than the much "touted" gas industry.

Monetary profits from renewables would be faster, more sustainable, and more profitable than from methane gas extraction.

Legislated ergonomic solar-passive building design would save householders money and vastly reduce Australia's greenhouse gas missions.

Gas is expensive. Those Australians who have converted from gas to electric power will gladly tell you that their electricity bills are lower as a result.

It is time for politicians to take note that thousands of people from around Victoria stated their opposition to new gas extraction on land because of the risks to health and agriculture.

Labor and the Coalition give immense subsidies to coal, oil and gas companies and receive donations from them for election funds. It is time for a change to cleaner more ethical means of energy.

Gillian Blair, Warrnambool

This week there have been calls from morning news hosts, doctors and a few politicians to close all non essentials services businesses as a further measure to decrease the curb of Covid-19 infections. This may impact on infections but its effect on the economy would be catastrophic particular on self employed, small businesses employing one to four people, part-time and casual employees.

The current government stimulus package excludes this group yet this group makes up a huge part of the workforce, 2.5 million self employed, 18 per cent of workforce is part time, 16.86 per cent are casual with no entitlements and a massive 627,932 small businesses employing between one and four people.

The majority of this hard working group would be entitled to no government benefits in the short term (first two to three months) and many of these 627,932 small businesses would deplete their working capital to the extent that they would not have the capacity to start their businesses in the future.

The impact would continue to snowball as the closure continues, however this is only the tip of the iceberg. There would be a spike in bankruptcies and other serious financial difficulties within this group leading to numerous social problems including crime, marriage breakup, family violence, mental health to name a few.

There is no argument all possible measures should be put into place to curb the spread of this virus but any measure put into place must be thoroughly examined to ensure it does not impede our future recovery.

Rob Graham, Terang

Please note: The Standard prefers letters to be less than 250 words. Preference is given to shorter contributions. Letters must include the author's name, address and contact phone number for verification purposes. Letters are published at standard.net.au/comment/your-say/ and in print