ON behalf of the Cancer Council Victoria and the many Victorians who have benefited from our important work, I am writing to congratulate and thank the community of Casey-Cardinia for the incredible success of the Relay For Life event at Akoonah Park on Friday 2 March.
With a total of 38 teams participating, the amount raised increased by $164,000 from 2006, with Team Jess setting a state record of more than $75,000. The total amount raised was $206,000. All of those involved should be proud indeed. It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm with which locals took to the ground at the event’s location, Akoonah Park.
This extraordinary contribution of the participants of Casey-Cardinia Relay For Life will help the work of the Cancer Council enormously, funding lifesaving cancer research, community education programs to help prevent cancer through early detection and lifestyle changes, and support services for people facing cancer.
One of the services funded by Relay For Life is the Cancer Council Helpline, which is a confidential helpline linking members of the public with expert cancer nurses. This service is accessed by many Casey-Cardinia locals each year. Other locals who wish to access this and other services can do so by calling the helpline on 13 11 20.
Prof. David Hill,
Director,
The Cancer Council,
Victoria.
Quarry questions
I WRITE to express my concern about the development on Norval Road, the quarry site.
As a parent with two young children, I am deeply concerned about the loss of natural vegetation and wildlife in the world in general, specifically Knox where I have chosen to raise my children.
I understand that more trees can be planted to compensate for the ones that are proposed to be removed, but what will happen to the wildlife in the meantime, as it takes years for bushland to grow?
The other concern I would like to address is the proposed housing development in the quarry site.
What will the block sizes be? Will they be big enough for a decent size backyard for children to play, off the street?
If the block sizes are going to be small, will the council put more parks, bike paths and facilities to accommodate the increased number of residents in the local area? What will Knox Council do about the traffic increase? Will the council be putting speed humps in Moira Avenue, as this is the only street to go through to Lightwood and therefore Scoresby and the Burwood Highway?
Before any decision concerning the development at the quarry site, please take into consideration the expressed views from the local residents.
Joanne Pisa
Ferntree Gully
Small price to pay
IT IS with great interest that I note (Mail, 20 March) that at least the Shire of Yarra Ranges is finally adopting the Kyoto Protocol.
I note that Cr Len Cox said that it will mean a 1.3 per cent rating increase. I consider that a small price to pay, for such huge benefits our children and grandchildren will enjoy, from a livable planet.
Since 2000 my rates have gone from $652 to $932 this last year, a rise of 42.94 per cent. When I asked my local councillor for an explanation I got no real satisfactory explanation to justify the increases.
I will gladly pay an additional 1.3 per cent as quoted by Cr Cox. At least I know that this small increase will deliver some benefit to the planet. I wonder what they did with the other 41.64 per cent over the last seven years. Glad to see that at long last council is no longer willing to waste precious time implementing Kyoto targets.
What about the Australian Government following suit. Where are you (La Trobe MP) Jason Wood? Searching for water to clean the coal?
Gerard Doorakkers
Belgrave
Working women
MY wife, a typical woman, refused to give me breakfast in bed on Monday 12 March.
I believe I deserved it, as all men should. After all it was Labour Day. She will not listen to the plain honest truth; the eight hour day was created by men for men.
With the eight hour day accepted, women decided that they to could get in on the act now there was time to work, cook, clean and look after the children.
This of course created huge traffic jams on our roads and our eight hour day turned into an 11 hour day. People like myself who caught the train could no longer spread out the paper like we had for many years and heaven forbid us if we didn’t stand up for these women who should have been home in the kitchen.
Since this crazy desire to want to work, women now have to work or we cannot afford our everyday bills.
My son gets to see very little of his children, far less time than I saw mine, and he wants to see his; how times and people have changed. The eight hour day is a sinking ship, a legacy I cannot pass on to my grandchildren and all because their grandmother had a silly notion to go to work.
Stephen Millar
Monbulk
Missing in action
LATE last year I had lunch in Parliament House with Monbulk MP James Merlino and Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato.
I said to James “The media is claiming you might get a place on the frontbench and the sports portfolio, I reckon if you get re-elected you won’t be doing much more in your seat of Monbulk”.
He replied: “I can assure you I will always put Monbulk first”.
Where are you James? Since your election win I haven’t heard a peep from you, actually I have only seen your name in the local papers once, as a judge on Hills Idol.
Karu Hewett
Belgrave
Empty gestures
I READ with interest the article Kyoto Council (Mail, 20 March). It makes the Yarra Ranges council seem like a leader in coping with the issue of climate change. But is it really.
The buzz word in the climate change debate is Kyoto and the Federal Government has been heavily criticised for not signing that protocol but it does have some valid arguments for adopting this stance.
Scientists have calculated that if the Kyoto Protocol was fully implemented then the increased temperature we expect in 2100, due to Global Warming, would be postponed until just 2106. Also, these extra few years of “cooler weather” would be achieved at a massive economic cost. Some economists suggest that this cost would actually be greater than the benefits received from adopting the Protocol.
If the council is truly serious about the Global Warming issue then it needs to go much further than Kyoto. It needs to educate the community that a rating increase several times higher than the 1.3 per cent suggested is needed.
The “small price to pay to help protect the environment for future generations” is actually not so small. The council is either unaware of this or is hiding it from the ratepayers, either situation is negligent of their responsibilities. Why should the ratepayers of the Yarra Ranges carry this increased financial burden when others will not?
The council should stick to environmental actions that can have significant local impact. I would much prefer to pay more rates so people like the Russells can continue, and expand, their efforts at Bob Mann Creek rather than on empty gestures.
Robert Simmons
Belgrave
THE headline Greenies Disagree (Mail, 13 March) is inappropriate and misleading.
Betty Marsden has so far been the shire’s award winning guardian of a wide range of environmental and heritage concerns for 32 years, and I have run the largest bird rehabilitation sanctuary in the metropolitan area as President of Freedom for Birds since 1990.
I am an acknowledged ornithologist and the only shire resident currently to have memberships with all environmental groups concerned with the Warburton Trail – founding president of Friends of the Powerful Owl etc. I would suggest those quoted in both articles concerning the Warburton Trail corroborated each other’s cover-up of the destruction of the ecosystem and significant habitat on the Warburton Trail reserve.
Let’s face it. Why was the Kennett Government petitioned by 12,000 signatories to save the very same tract of the Lilydale to Warburton Railroad Bush Reserve from being sold off as surplus land for development if it was as described until after the initial bobcat had scoured it as an old garbage dump full of weeds? Surely the sale and development of such a site would have been welcomed 13 years ago!
Ted Baarda
Mt Evelyn
