A true local legend
Camperdown netballer Tracey Baker really is a legend of the town and the broader region.
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Legend is a word often over-subscribed. But after 32 years devoted to the sport, most notably with Camperdown, two Hampden League best-and fairest medallions and 448 open-grade games, legend is indeed the right word for this Western Victorian superstar.
Like most sports people - Tracey has battled injury. However, her greatest battles were on the court: her opponents challenged for the length of every game, her teammates in awe of her vitality and leadership.
Sport has been dealt a tough blow in the topsy-turvy world of COVID-19, just when we needed it more than ever.
Tracey's retirement from the netball court is worth noting - for hers is a career that has shown tenacity, determination, resilience, talent and self-belief. She put a spotlight on the powerful role of each individual in a team.
She may have retired, but in abiding those values, she has delivered a lesson in sport that transcends the netball court.
There are hundreds of young sporting careers who have watched Tracey and been inspired. I know she has more inspiring to do. She is a mentor for many - at a time when her message and motivation mean so much.
I have known Tracey for some time and am so proud of what she has achieved. It is why I nominated her for the 2020 International Women's Day reception at Parliament House in Victoria, held to honour women who contribute to community sport in our state. As part of this, she was invited to attend the ICC Women's T20 World Cup Cricket final at the MCG with her sister, Jocelyn.
Thank you to The Standard for celebrating the wonderful talent that is Tracey Baker.
Bev McArthur, Member for Western Victoria Region
Straight to the point
Our community is doing it tough with vaccination our only way out of our lockdown. I'm pleased to say I've had my second AstraZeneca jab and I strongly wish to encourage everyone to "get the jab" to protect yourself, your loved ones and our great community. Scott Morrison said it wasn't a race, but we know better - it was always a race and our community continues to suffer. So please get the jab as soon as you can so we can get out of lockdowns, and please stay safe.
Gilbert D. Wilson, ALP Candidate for Wannon.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? HAVE YOUR SAY AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ARTICLE
'Dismal' letter off-track
Since Katrina Lovell's fine feature article in Weekender (The Standard, August 21), reviewing the Fiji shipwreck disaster at Moonlight Head in 1891, with my proposal to the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority to create a short track into the overgrown monument, two things have happened.
Firstly, multiple readers have contacted me in support, some offering to form an old-fashioned working bee to cut a track through the thick scrub so visitors may see the memorial. They must have suspected my suggestion was doomed.
Secondly, after two months of obviously careful consideration of my proposal letter, the authority replied this week, but only to tell me it has "no authority".
Politicians and bureaucracies may wonder why so many of them attract public derision and scorn. This dismal response to a simple, inexpensive suggestion to enhance the Great Ocean Road visitor experience might give them a clue.
There won't be a working bee. We need a short walking track, but we don't wish to find ourselves on the front page of The Standard!
Alan McLean, Queenscliff
Why AstraZeneca was chosen
The ALP and the ABC have piled on to the federal government on the basis of emails revealed by FOI regarding early discussions with Pfizer about the potential supply of their COVID-19 vaccine.
How about a bit of context from the time (June 2020) to help cool their 'Pfizzling' outrage?
- Australia then had but a handful of deaths and was a world standout on the positive side. Closed borders were working very effectively
- Pfizer were some 10 to 11 months whereas AstraZeneca were only about seven months away from getting TGA approval in Australia
- Pfizer were asking 11 times the price per dose that AZ were asking ($4 vs $44) and requiring wholesale storage, transport and retail storage at -70C, a massive cost differential and practical impediment to initial distribution
- On price alone, Australia could buy 50 million AZ doses for its population plus another 500 million doses for its neighbours in Indonesia, Timor, PNG and the South Pacific, incl NZ too for the same price as 50 million Pfizer doses
- Pfizer would only be manufactures in the EU and the US and NOT Australia whereas AZ was agreed to be locally manufactured
Finally, when we did order some Pfizer, the Europeans stopped the shipment to retain it for themselves.
And then the bagging of AZ started. So, what sort of gormless government would have signed up for Pfizer?
A Pink Batts with asbestos-kinda mob, methinks, you know like the ALP.
Mike Seward, Port Fairy
Follow the rest of the world
The Morrison government has an extreme ideology based around the fossil fuel industry and seems willfully willing to set aside the longer-term interests of Australia in favor of protecting the short-term concerns of this industry.
The Morrison government is clearly effective in transferring large volumes of taxpayers' money to support the fossil fuel industry and carbon-intensive activities in general at the expense of the clean energy transition that we all need and will benefit from.
While the rest of the world is rapidly moving away from coal, gas and nuclear energy, the coalition government - swayed by the Nationals - is pouring billions in to build and support dying coal-powered generators.
Supporters have been using the baseload argument - one that has been refuted by experts in the area. In fact, baseload is the extra money charged - paid by industry and public - to provide no power to avoid temporary shutdowns.
Much-cheaper options are being used across the world using batteries and pumped hydro - these can be built at a fraction of the cost of a coal-powered alternative and the running costs are much cheaper.
So why is this government hell-bent on building a system that will cost the taxpayers billions to build and lock Australian industry and public into the most expensive electricity for decades to come?
Rob Graham, Terang
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