It's unfortunate that once again the South West Coast will not be represented on the government benches. If we are to expect four more years similar to the last, it's difficult to see how our region will attract the funding and support we need for services like The Lookout, for improving the quality of our roads, or addressing the city-centric approach given to healthcare and other important services across Victoria.

It's a continuing trend that country Victoria is outnumbered by the growing suburbs around Melbourne, which attract large promises of funding and services from the Labor government, which in return leads to those areas voting for the Labor party (or against the Liberal party depending on your viewpoint).

The responsibility that we have on the more progressive side of politics in this part of the world is to campaign better, to communicate more meaningfully and fight for greater commitments supporting country Victoria. For now, our part of the State faces another four years in opposition. I am sure Roma will continue advocating for our region, and even though the numbers are not in her favour, I wish her all the best in that fight.

Thomas Campbell, Greens

In all my 88 years of living in Warrnambool, I've seen some very poor decisions by the city council but this takes the cake. Well they have done it this time, I hope the councillors are proud of themselves and can sleep well at night knowing they have put so many good people and farmers out of work and that they are going to force businesses to shut their doors. I'm referring to the closing of the sale yards. Now they can get to work on taking away Cannon Hill from the locals to build a $40 million art gallery for the tourists.

The council think more of the tourists than the people that live here and pay rates and spend their money here all year long. Why take away an iconic view that thousands of people enjoy all year long and where the tourists can appreciate our natural beauty. The council says let the farmers go to Mortlake, well let the art lovers go to Hamilton, it's not far away.

Pam Johnstone, Warrnambool

Warrnambool City Council discards assets like the Warrnambool saleyards (SWVLX) while within days, Southern Grampians Shire Council are proposing major upgrades to the Hamilton saleyards (HRLX) to help fill the void. HRLX is the major sheep/lamb saleyard for this part of Victoria, now they want to make it the cattle hub of the south-west as well.

The shire is upgrading their saleyards as soon as physically possible to make them sustainable and progressive for many years to come. SGSC plan to be finished by the middle of next year, it will be so much better than and closer for farmers than the muddy Mortlake Saleyards (WVLX).

With council-run saleyards the profits stay in the district which are reinvested back into the saleyards and community, unlike Mortlake which is Yass owned so the profits go back to Yass. Hamilton residents and businesses are going to enjoy the influx of new regular customers that had previously been shopping in Warrnambool on sale days, plus more jobs. SGSC has seen an opportunity to benefit their rate payers and businesses alike.

SGSC know that WCC is serious about closing the SWVLX, so they are taking advantage, wasting no time, and making their ratepayers better off by implementing changes to improve their shire. WCC wants extra houses/ratepayers-built money to waste on an art gallery but cuts employment.

Sherin Almack, Minhamite

Jim Doukas should know that nuclear power is not only not needed for Victoria but would be much more expensive than the environmentally safe and abundant supplies of renewable energy we have available. He is increasingly yesterday's ideologue of the right who is increasingly irrelevant as last Saturday's state election again demonstrated.

Tony Delaney,

I wonder whether many people in Australia, whose lives have been completely changed as a result of being involved in one of the terrible climatic events of recent times, give much thought concerning what is causing these ,often, heartrending results. A great number of scientists may well have the answer as they appear to be convinced that it is the burning of fossil fuels to create energy and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions, that is the basic cause of most of the recent unstable climatic disasters. The question remains why won't our Federal Government take convincing steps to ban, or severely limit, burning fossil fuel to create energy?

Brian Measday, Myrtle Bank, SA