www.thestar.com.au TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2011 $1.20

By Simone Short

TOURIST operators in the region have welcomed the news that Tidal River at Wilsons Promontory will be open for the school holidays and beyond.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Prom!Parks Victoria regional manager Chris Rose,

along with Deputy Premier of Victoria and Mem-ber for Gippsland South Peter Ryan MP, were de-lighted to announce the reopening of the southern side of the park last Friday.

Around 250 campsites as well as other accom-modation will be available for visitors in time for the September school holidays, with bookings being taken as of yesterday (Monday).

Mr Rose said it had been a monumental effort by Parks Victoria staff to have Tidal River ready for visitors only ve months after it was severely washed out following heavy rains.

Its fantastic to have you all here, having had the park closed for so long since the devastating oods of early this year, he said.

Mr Ryan made the of cial announcement the park would reopen for campers and day visitors as of September 23 this year and also paid tribute to the staff of Parks Victoria.

He said the 400-odd millimetres of rain that

Prom relieffell over the park on the night of March 22 caused chaos in the Prom.

In the midst of it all, those who stood tallest were the staff of Parks Victoria and I pay tribute to them today, not only for their efforts on that

night, which ultimately as you know resulted in 400 people having to be moved out of the Prom in emergency circumstances, but also the enormous amount of work that has been done, he said.

I came here within 48 hours later and to come

back today and see what has been done by way ofrecovery is a great tribute to Chris.

Mr Ryan also acknowledged the hard workdone by the contractors working with the parksstaff, and said to get the Darby River Bridge backin operation had been a phenomenal effort.

The Deputy Premier said the reopening ofTidal River was an important milestone not onlyfor Wilsons Promontory, but the whole region,with the State Government providing $8.8 mil-lion to restore the Prom to its former glory.

There is more than 100 years of history inthe national park itself, let alone the thousands ofyears of history which are otherwise around us,so it was important to act immediately to get ontop of this, he said.

While this is a great milestone, visitors needto be aware that many track closures will still re-main whilst extensive repair works and possibletrack alignments are undertaken, especially in thesouth of the park.

Parks Victoria will continue to keep the pub-lic informed as the staged re-openings continue.In the meantime visitors are asked to respect anyongoing closures for their own safety.

South Gippsland Shire Council tourism co-ordi-nator Christian Stefani said the reopening of TidalRiver was critical to tourism in South Gippsland.

Continued on page 2.

Open for business: Deputy Premier of Victoria and Member for Gippsland South Peter Ryan MP and Parks Victoria regional manager Chris Rose announced on Friday that Tidal River will reopen in time for the September school holidays.

SPRING is almost here and the Leon-gatha Horticultural Societys 55th Le-ongatha Daffodil Festival and Floral Festival is about to start.

The three day festival starts this Thursday at 2pm at the Memorial Hall and continues through to Saturday.

The oral show includes oral art, cut ow-ers, Australian plants, camellias and plant stalls plus many more daffodil delights.

Show co-ordinator Margaret Fox is expect-ing a large turnout.

Friday and Saturday will also see local gar-dens open between 10am and 4pm, showing off their beauty.

The South Gippsland Gemstone and Lapi-dary Club has an exhibition at the old bowling club rooms, the Tarwin Wool and Craft Group has spinning and other craft displayed at the li-brary while St Peters Church is holding their Flowers in Praise exhibition.

Other groups involved include the Leongatha Senior Citizens Club at the Dakers Centre, Mari-lyn Skinner paintings at Mushroom Crafts and historic automobiles in Safeway carpark on Sat-urday morning.

A full festival program is available at The Star and other locations around town.

Daffodils blooming

Daffodil time: Ryan Sturtevant, Sarah-Jane Brasher and Finn Bennett are excited about the 55th Leongatha Daffodil and Floral Festival.

PAGE 2 - THE STAR, Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Continued from page 1.The park is the re-

gions major attraction; its a critical key for small business and micro busi-ness in our communities to have an income all year round, he said.

It being closed hits the bottom line in our community, and getting it reopened as quickly as we can will obviously provide visitors an opportunity to come back, and bring peo-ple spending money back in our community.

Mr Stefani said on top of the park being shut, wet weather and consumer con dence in spending in Victoria had caused a very quiet winter for South Gippsland.

This is an absolutely great thing to happen for our region and hopefully the message will get out now, with a lot of pre-planned marketing and promotional campaigns to show not only is the Prom open for business, but South Gippsland still welcomes everyone down

Wilsons Prom to re-open

Parks Victoria staff member: Brett Mitchell shows Deputy Premier of Vic-toria and Member for Gippsland South Peter Ryan MP one of the refurbished units with Parks Victoria regional manager Chris Rose.

art centre.Close to 1000 Austra-

lian women played a part in the Vietnam War and Wonthaggis play centres on the lives of ve of those women, an entertainer, played by Leongathas Kerrie Giles; volunteer, Kelly Foster; nurse, Ju-lie Thomas; a journalist, Michelle Dal Masetto and veterans wife Karen Milkins-Hendry.

Through this demand-ing Terence OConnell one-act play we learn much of their lives, changed for-ever as a result of the war.

Adapted from Siobhan McHughs book, this play reveals through a collage of true stories, the extraor-dinary experiences of or-dinary women surviving a war.

These women re ect through their stories and speeches on the Vietnam War and move you to laughter and sadness and keep you enthralled from start to nish.

All ve characters were so well-played and well re-hearsed by Sophie Cuttriss of Inverloch in her debut role as play director.

First time play direc-tor maybe, but Sophie has done an amazing job with this hugely challenging production and gathered around her a ne team including musical direc-tor, the extremely talented Larry Hills, set and light-ing designer John Cuttriss with Louise Adkins and Chris Denzel-Williams in charge of costumes.

There was great con-

trast between the women, with Kerrie every bit the glamorous entertainer. Sandy, she was right at home in this, Kelly was suitably restrained in her volunteer role and did a ne job, and Karen capti-vated the audience regal-ing horror story after hor-ror story as the wife of a soldier.

Nurse Julie was warm and caring and delivered her solo, Saigon Bride with such power and feel-ing, she shone out at the right moment, and Mi-chelle gave a polished per-formance. She gave a very moving portrayal of the reporter in a warzone.

The mix of dark and humorous stories com-bined well with the great music blasts from the past, and you just felt like sing-ing along to Leaving on a Jet Plane and Will You Still Love me Tomorrow?

Peter McAlpine from Leongatha Lyric Theatre who attended opening night for The Star said he thoroughly enjoyed the performance.

The play used a mix-ture of emotions, with many highs and lows, he said.

All ve girls were excellent on stage and per-formed brilliantly.

The play is very mov-ing and thoroughly enjoy-able and well worth check-ing out.

The play has a brief season, ending on August 27. Tickets are available from the Wonthaggi Work-mens Club.

Sophies stars shineWITH the Vietnam Battle of Long Tan commemorated on August 18 it was a timely opening for

Wonthaggi Theatri-cal Groups latest play Mine elds and Miniskirts on Friday night at the towns

here with open arms. Mr Ryan agreed the

reopening will see a tour-ism boom for the region, with around 40,000 nights worth of accommodation booked at the Prom every year when facilities are op-erating at a normal level.

From a general busi-ness point of view in South Gippsland, this of course is a wonderful thing, he said.

Im so conscious that our small business sector in all its forms is very dependent upon the

Prom and it being able to function.

Mr Rose thanked the Deputy Premier for his support and said the an-nouncement would not have been possible with-out Mr Ryans personal commitment to get Parks

Victoria the resources andassistance required forrepair.

He also thanked all thepartners of Wilsons Prom-ontory and Parks Victoria,as well as his own staff.

Weve had so fewcomplaints from the com-munity and from peoplewho had bookings wevehad to cancel, he said.

I know particularlysome of the tourism in-dustry people are doing ithard with the Prom closed;your support has been in-strumental in taking thepressure off us and allow-ing us to do the business ofgetting the park open.

On behalf of ParksVictoria I do thank you foryour ongoing support.

Finally, to all the staffof Parks Victoria, it hasntbeen an easy journey and Ido thank you from the bot-tom of my heart for a jobwell done, he said.

I know weve gotlots of work in front ofus but we will get theretogether.

Cast: (from left) KarenMilkins-Hendry, Julie Thomas, Kelly Foster,Kerrie Giles, musical di-rector Larry Hills, direc-tor Sophie Cuttriss andMichelle dal Masetto.

Left: Great night: Lin-dy Waldron and JudyWilson enjoyed Mine- elds and Miniskirts onthe opening night.

A NUMBER of workers walked off the job at Murray Goulburns Leongatha factory on Friday morn-ing as part of a state-wide union act against the company.

Maintenance workers made the move to have a 24 hour stoppage of work on from 6am on Friday and a call-out and overtime ban over the weekend until 6am Monday. This left sites without maintenance work-ers for three days. State organiser for the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) Damian King said that they wanted some movement on an agreement.

After eight months of negotiations in-

volved with an enterprise agreement with Murray Goulburn and we still havent been able to reach an agreement so the members decided to take protected industrial action, he said.

The AMWU plan to sit down with Murray Goulburn on Thursday to discuss wages, penalties, the use of contractors and redundancy provisions.

I estimate 45 or 50 workers would have been affected as Leongatha is the big-gest Murray Goulburn factory in the state, Mr King said.

Murray Goulburn was contacted for a comment but did not return The Stars call by deadline.

Weekend strike at MG

THE STAR, Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - PAGE 3

By Brad Lester

COUNCILS are lobbying State and Federal governments for a greater share of roads funding.

South Gippsland and Bass Coast shire councils are pursuing funding for road maintenance, in addition to exist-ing funding levels.

While both councils are satis ed with the level of funding received so far, council engineering chiefs have said they would welcome more.

The need is particularly dire given extreme rainfall has resulted in a pro-liferation of potholes around the re-gion, damaging vehicles and risking accidents on major thoroughfares as well as backroads.

Asked if South Gippsland Shire Council was satis ed with the level of government funding, councils engi-

neering services director Anthony Sea-brook said: We could always do with more in a season like this. Until we get a season like this, we do not have as many issues with roads.

Council is pursuing natural disaster relief funding from the Victorian Gov-ernment in a bid to alleviate the pres-sure, and is seeking two grants total-ling $4.1 million.

That is in addition to state money averaging $3.1million a year and fed-eral funding of about $1.6 million.

Bass Coast Shire Councils infra-structure director Felicity Sist, said council would always welcome more (funding).

All councils in Victoria have this problem where a lot of their infrastruc-ture is getting old and they need to spend signi cant dollars on it and bring it back its original life, she said.

Bass Coast council is continuing to pursue more funding.

We just see where there is an op-portunity for us to apply for funding and we go for it, Ms Sist said.

Bass Coast will receive $1.3 million from the Victorian Grants Commission this nancial year, up from $987,000 in 2005-06 and $880,000 from 2000-01.

Mr Seabrook said council is now in a quandary as roads demand repair.

Its a bit of a catch 22 at this time of year to try and x the roads because we are still in winter and we still have spring to come when we get most of our rain. So we are sitting there won-dering whether we should throw a lot of money at putting the road back to-gether, knowing it could fall back apart if the weather is adverse, he said.

A square metre of sealed road costs South Gippsland council about $35 a

square metre to x and a gravel road about $3.60 a square metre.

A Star investigation found that state funding has kept pace with in ation in the ve years until 2005-06.

Combined State and Federal fund-ing to VicRoads eastern region which covers Gippsland rose by 21.5 per cent between 2000-01 and 2005-06 ($25.6 million to $31.1 million).

The CPI increase for that period was 15.3 per cent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The distribution of funds to the seven state regions for the 2011-12 -nancial year is yet to be nalised, Vi-cRoads regional director Patricia Liew said.

VicRoads annual maintenance prioritisation process is based on mini-mising risks now and into the future and maximising the service to the com-

munity in the most cost effective man-ner, she said.

Funding distribution varies from year to year depending on the changes in risks and needs across the state.

A spokesperson for Minister for Roads Terry Mulder said the State Government had allocated $601 mil-lion this nancial year for a range of roads projects.

The Coalition Government has also allocated $160 million over four years to help local councils upgrade country roads and bridges, to reverse the years of neglect under the former Labor Government, the spokesperson said.

Forty rural councils will be eli-gible for up to $1 million from the fund each year for four years.

Road funds battle

NORWEGIAN exchange stu-dent Amalie Straum loves to travel but decided to go one step further this time.

She wanted to be part of the cul-ture of another country and be a citi-zen, not just a tourist.

I wanted to not just be a tourist but try another way to explore a dif-ferent country, Amalie said.

I really wanted to go to an English speaking country for my exchange, either USA, England or Australia were the options.

I didnt want to go to England because it seemed too close to home and I was happy when I found out I was going to Australia because it was different, in a good way.

The 16-year-old is studying Year 11 at Korumburra Secondary Col-lege during her time in the country.

Amalie left her home in Oslo six weeks ago and so far loves every bit of Australia.

Its a really nice country and Ive already met some awesome people, she said.

I havent been that homesick yet, it makes it easier with all the technol-ogy like Skype and Facebook.

Plus Ive known my family for my whole life and its only 10 months, which in the big picture isnt that long.

Amalie said it was hard at the start settling in and making new friends, but now she has lots of close companions here in Australia.

It was hard leaving my friends back in Norway but it will be harder leaving my friends here, because a lot of them I probably wont see again, she said.

The language barrier de nitely isnt holding the teenager back, as she is very uent in English.

I have been learning English for around nine years and we get a lot of English speaking music and TV in Norway as well, so Im pretty good at the language, she said.

Amalie is looking forward to the Australian summer, seeing as she sometimes has temperatures around -20 degrees in Norway.

Hopefully the summer this year in Australia will be really hot, she said.

European import: Norwegian ex-change student Amalie Straum is en-joying her time in Australia so far.

Oslo to Australia

JENNIE Deane will step out of the busi-ness world of Council Chambers, and into Korumburra Second-ary College for the ninth annual Principal for a Day event on Au-gust 23.

Mrs Lynne Hardy, Ko-rumburra Secondary Col-leges principal, said it is a great pleasure to host Cr Jennie Deane as principal for a day.

Mrs Hardy said that Cr

Deane is keen to participate in a variety of activities such as visiting classes and shar-ing ideas with the staff.

It will provide us with an excellent opportunity to enable someone from the business community and local government to gain a unique insight into the learning environment at our school, Mrs Hardy said.

I am looking forward to the experience and I ex-pect to gain a new perspec-tive on the work being done in schools. Its a great way for schools and the broader

Chambers to classroomcommunity to work togeth-er in preparing our childrenfor the future, Cr Deanesaid.

After the event day, allPrincipals for a Day andtheir host principals havethe opportunity to cometogether to discuss the com-mon ground they sharearound leadership and waysof creating ongoing andproductive relationships.

PAGE 4 - THE STAR, Tuesday, August 23, 2011

By Brad Lester

JOE Hopkins was not talking like other toddlers.

He was just 18-months-old when his parents Franki and Mike realised his speech was not developing as they expected.

But it was not until the Cape Pa-terson youngster was three that he was diagnosed with autism.

Before the diagnosis was a pain-ful time because I tended to drift be-tween denial - hoping that time was all he needed - and guilt, feeling that I was doing something wrong as a parent, Franki said.

The diagnosis was a shock. All Franki knew about autism was from the lm Rain Man, in which a main character is autistic and nothing like her son.

We were living in Melbourne at the time when we started visiting an early intervention centre, meeting other parents of children with autism spectrum disorders. That helped me accept our situation and get on with helping Joe. It was a huge comfort and I didnt feel so alone, she said.

The strength I saw in others in-

spired me to be strong.Franki is now one of two facili-

tators of the Wonthaggi and District Autism Spectrum Disorder Support Group, helping parents and carers of children aged up to 15 who have such disorders as autism, Aspergers syndrome and the like.

Our support group is a great mix of parents with children of all ages. Some parents simply come along to offer their support because they wish they had a group to go to when their child was rst diagnosed, Franki said.

The disorder is complex and re-quires a marathon effort. The chal-lenges change as your child grows. Sometimes you feel completely burnt out from all the therapy and assessments required, and it can be terribly overwhelming.

The other facilitator, Julie McK-enzie, said more people are requiring services.

There are social issues, sensory issues, speech issues. Its so broad and we dont have a lot of experts in this area, she said.

The issues change depending on the stage of the childs life.

Once you come along, you

realise you are not the only one outthere. A lot of the kids are at specialistschools and are hard work. I wouldhave just loved to have this sort ofgroup when my son was younger.

Weve had some amazing peo-ple come into our lives and helpalong the way: therapists, integrationaides, teachers and friends. It is hardto describe how much I appreciatetheir efforts, Franki said.

The support group meets on the rst Wednesday of the month duringschool terms. The next meeting willbe on Wednesday, September 7 from10.30am until 12.30pm at InverlochCommunity House, part of the Inver-loch Community Hub in ABeckettStreet.

The cost is just $2 per adult tocover the cost of tea/coffee, and allare welcome, including children, fora cuppa and a chat.

The group also has informationabout services for parents of autisticchildren available locally and ar-ranges social outings too.

To nd out more, contact Julieon 5657 4248 or Franki on 0410 645613 or email: franki@hopkinsde-sign.com.au

Parents need not be alone

WHO are these mystery men?

Next year, the South Gippsland Shire Brass Band will celebrate 120 years of bringing music to the people of the district and names are being sought for the above photograph.

It will also be the centenary of the bands home, the Leongatha Courthouse.

Celebrations are being planned and the band is gathering memorabilia.

The photo is probably from the 1960s, and help is needed to ll in the gaps.

Memorabilia or photos of the band or courthouse would also be most appreciated.

Please register your details or interest by emailing darjud@big-pond.com, mail PO Box 57, Leon-gatha 3953, or phone Darryl Hunt on 5662 3623.

Helping others: Wonthaggi and District Autism Spectrum Disorder Support Group facilitators Franki Hopkins and her son Eric, with fellow facilitator Ju-lie McKenzie.

Milestone celebrations near

Fill the gaps: can you help identify these members of the former Woorayl Municipal Band? The photo was most likely taken in the 1960s. Back row: Graeme Beasley, ? Considine, Alan Rayson, ?, Bill Beasley, Tom Burchell, ? and ?. Middle row: John Cassells, ?, Foster Madden, John Rogers, Vic Hemming, Pinky Rayson, Bill Taylor and ? Front row: president Roy Considine, Jack Rayson, Jack Todd, Neil Larsen, drum major Bill Kennedy, bandmaster George Rayson, Jack McPherson, Vic Riley and Gordon Beasley.

THE STAR, Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - PAGE 5

MEENIYAN farmer Jim McDonald has launched a petition against the RSPCA.

He is calling on the ACCC to audit the spending of donations by the animal protection agency.

This comes after Mr McDonalds recent dealings with the RSPCA regarding the live cattle export ban.

When you give money to the RSPCA you expect it to go to cats and dogs and abandoned domestic pets not political campaigning, I think thats a gross misuse of peoples dona-tions, Mr McDonald said.

Leading up to the ban live export rally in Melbourne there were several large full page advertisements that cost many thousands for dollars that we all saw, that costs a lot of mon-ey for what is essentially a political issue.

And according the Mr McDonald the RSP-CA still went one step further.

During the live export debate on July 18 the RSPCA rang Mr Barry Haase, Member of Drake and threatened to run a campaign against him at the next election due to his support for live export, he said.

When The Star spoke with Mr McDonald the petition had been going for four days and already had received 370 signatures.

I have a massive swell of support behind this with lots of people getting on board. Its really surprising how much support there re-ally is out there on this issue, he said.

I hope to have the state governments, after that report is issued, review the ndings of the report and review funding the RSPCA.

A spokesperson from the RSPCA Victoria said that there is no need for this petition.

RSPCA is a transparent organisation so we always provide our full nancial results to our members and the public through our annual re-port, so all of that information is readily avail-able and already there. Its already audited, they said.

Our supporters do recognise that their do-nations are spent very carefully. The purpose of the RSPCA is not just re-homing and reha-bilitating animals: we also inspect over 14,000 cruelty cases each year, we also provide com-munity education programs. This all falls under the mandate again of protecting all creatures great and small and righting human wrongs.

This petition comes after the second ban live export rally in Melbourne last weekend, which Mr McDonald attended.

(The rally) was nowhere near as nice as last time, the protestors were openly hostile to-wards us and we were threatened. They had a

bit of a go at me and tried to rip my sign out of my hands in front of the Win news crew and attacked the news crew for lming me, Mr McDonald said.

Last time round people were respectful, they understood why we were there. They were very happy to come up and engage with us and nd out why we were there.

Mr McDonald said he was faced with ver-bal abuse and close confrontation from the 3000-strong crowd.

I had one guy come up and get right in my face like he was going to hit me; we had oth-ers come up and tell us we were nothing but mongrels and saying things like all you think about is your money and all you want to do is be cruel to your animals, how dare you be here, he said.

The message that Mr McDonald said hes trying to convey is that farmers do not condone animal cruelty.

We dont condone animal cruelty and we dont want to see animal cruelty, but as far as the life export debate is concerned, the RSPCA is so one-eyed about the issue that theyre not willing to work with farmers to lift the animal welfare standards overseas, as this is one of the key reasons farmers are so angry with the RSPCA, he said.

Petition support against RSPCA

For the cause: Jim McDonald recently faced a crowd of around 3000 protesters at a ban live ex-port rally in Melbourne.

By Tony Giles

VICROADS has re-vealed that an alter-native route for Le-ongathas CBD was the top priority of the region.

Acting regional man-ager of VicRoads Harvey Dinelli presented this pleasing news to those attending the Leongatha Chamber of Commerces business network meeting last Wednesday night at the Leongatha RSL.

The obvious sticking point is that funding is not forthcoming for either the design/planning stage or the project itself.

The alternate route is in the councils Leongatha Structure Plan and has the road running along Hughes and Long Streets.

Mr Dinelli said he was pleased that all the stake-holders were on board. This included VicRoads, council and, importantly, the community. A petition organised by the Leon-gatha Progress Associa-tion and the Chamber with support from councillors, had generated hundreds of signatures.

We havent got fund-ing to do anything yet; Vi-cRoads has to look at the value and return in doing any major project. We have been working closely with the Shire to put the best case forward. At this stage I cant tell you when, Mr Dinelli said.

Mr Dinelli said that g-ures werent done but said the whole job would cost in the vicinity of $10-$15 million. Most of the route is along Shire-owned roads but VicRoads is re-sponsible for the intersec-tions.

In responding, Cham-ber president Darryl Mc-Gannon said the move-

Networking: from left, Sandra Fleming, John Markham, Royal Carrington and guest Nola Kelly. Nola came up with some great suggestions for develop-ing tourism in Leongathas CBD and spoke about developing a dairy theme for the town using painted cows.

Hope for Leongathas alternate route

ment of trucks, especially large cattle trucks, was an accident waiting to hap-pen.

I saw a cattle truck on only half its wheels going through the major round-about. Weve had manure splashing out on the roads regularly and more than once a person has been sprayed with manure, Mr McGannon said.

It seems that any fund-ing decision for the alter-nate route is in the hands of the politicians.

Mr Dinelli also bore the brunt of a few complaints about South Gippslands potholed roads.

He said that $7 million was being spent on road safety works from east of Bena to Meeniyan; includ-ing the erection of metal barriers and wire rope barriers.

This is to reduce the severity and incidence of

run-offs and crashes.The potholes and the

state of the roads are of concern to us and of course the councils. Drainage is very important for roads and weve had a very wet year with rain falling from summer and continuing throughout autumn and winter. Problems are state-wide.

We have to ll or patch the potholes at the moment because it is too wet to seal. We have 25 ki-lometres of seal to be done on South Gippsland roads once we get some ner weather, hopefully from October onwards.

The Chamber brought up a number of other road issues including an update on the proposed Strzelecki Highway passing lanes. One Chamber member, Shirley-anne Wright, com-mented that one passing lane between Leongatha

and Morwell wasnt nearly enough.

Mr Dinelli said Vi-cRoads was underway with the project, with land acquisitions taking place.

The Chambers San-dra Fleming expressed concerns about the nar-rowness of the bridges between Leongatha and Mirboo North, which was horrifying when trucks are passing from the opposite direction.

Mr Dinelli said fund-ing was again the issue, with no current plans for widening.

Mr Dinelli said Vi-cRoads was working on reducing the number of truck rollovers, with this area twice the state aver-age. An education program was currently running.

Mr McGannon thanked Mr Dinelli for his time and effort in answering such a wide range of issues.

Welcome: Leongatha Chamber of Commerce president Darryl McGannonwelcomes acting regional manager of VicRoads Harvey Dinelli, to the busi-ness network meeting last Wednesday night. Darryl was appreciative of MrDinelli handling a number of diverse topics.

Top priority

PAGE 6 - THE STAR, Tuesday, August 23, 2011

A NEW climate and ocean change action group has start-ed in the Bass Coast area.

Groundswell Bass Coast, which has links to the Melbourne group Groundswell, wants to encourage local, state and federal governments to take immediate action to substan-tially reduce Australias greenhouse gas emissions, which it says are de-stroying our climate and acidifying our oceans.

The group meets fortnightly to share knowledge and to plan future projects, which will include guest speakers and an opportunity for de-bate at open public forums.

Given the groups coastal loca-tion, it is particularly aware of the huge threat that the oceans face from acidi cation, due to unprecedented amounts of carbon dioxide entering the oceans waters from the atmo-sphere, resulting in acid build up, which is a massive risk to all ocean life and thus life on land.

Kilcunda resident, Chris Heislers, says that he has joined the group be-cause the science is proven and ac-cepted by the vast majority of the scienti c community, and that he owes it to his children to act - Bio-diversity and animal life are under massive threat, and the effects on our oceans are already evident. He adds that, the potential consequences of these are terrifying and the risk of not acting is too great to bear.

Other members come from a wide variety of backgrounds and locations, such as Lauren Miller from Dalyston, who says, For me, climate change represents my kids inheritance. We all make so many sacri ces to give our kids the best of everything, but we need to start thinking about what the environ-ment will be like for them down the track. I want my kids to inherit an earth thats as good as or better than the one I know. I want that to be my legacy to them.

Another member, Bron Dahl-strom, moved to Inverloch after ex-periencing the trauma of the BlackSaturday res.

Bron says that inhabited Paci cIslands are already in danger of dis-appearing under the seas, and won-ders how long it will be before In-verloch and other Bass Coast townsare threatened. Ive already experi-enced, rst hand, the devastating ef-fects of re. Im now worried aboutwater as well, she says.

Groundswell Bass Coast is opento anyone living in the Bass Coastarea. For more information aboutclimate change and its impact onthe local area, and to nd out moreabout upcoming events, please visitand like the groups Facebook page(Groundswell Bass Coast).

If you would like to attend a meet-ing, enquire about membership, or nd out more about the group, pleasecontact Ray Astbury, on 5952 1991, orBron Dahlstrom on 0432 281 006.

New group: the Groundswell group was formed at a meeting recently. The group welcomes new mem-bers and meets fortnightly. Pictured from left are, back row, Ray Astbury, Aileen Vening, Jane Westworth,Richard Kentwell, Lauren Miller, Neil Rankine, Bernie Mc Comb and Hilton Chadwich, front row, BronDahlstrom, Alex Hayward, Nola Max eld, Nikky Miller, Lorraine Carroll, and Sue Chadwick.

New climate group formed

THIS weeks Council meeting at Nyora will see signi cant milestones in Councils planning pro-cesses considered. The Rural Land Use Strategy, which has been evolving for several years to de- ne clear guidelines for the development of rural land, will be presented to Council for adoption.

The development of the Strategy has uctuated from strict impositions by State Government to more recent exibility which, if adopted by Council and accepted by the State Government, could see up to 2000 blocks of land under 4.1 hectares be granted permits to build.

While these represent only 0.7 per cent of our total land, it means that those who bought these small blocks of land to Come for the beauty, stay for the lifestyle, may now

be able to realise their dreams and participate in our local communities and economy.

Also on the agenda are the Structure Plans for Nyora, Loch, Poowong and Meeniyan. For the residents of Nyora this is particularly timely, given the recent commercial interest to develop 99 hectares for residential living to meet the growing demand from an expanding Melbourne fringe.

The Structure Plans allow for consideration of such proposals, and while there will be requirements to ensure appropriate infrastructure is integrated, the reality is that such development in many of our sewered towns is likely to come to fruition over the next 25 years, satisfying residential demand in the con nes of our

towns and protecting valuable rural farming zones from inappropriate development.

The public meetings regarding the future of our local pools are progressing, some well attended and others not. While we are not considering closing any pools at this point, it is wise for communities not to be complacent, and to take these opportunities to voice their opinions.

The cost of maintaining our pools is high but the usage is dropping. In the interests of scal viability we need to continually assess whether the patronage justi es the cost to the community. In my opinion the strategy is about our asset replacement at the end of their life cycles and to date Council has not come to grips with the massive costs of

replacing these pools.After this years

miserable winter the annual Leongatha Daffodil Festival starts this Thursday and provides the cheery optimism of spring, with colourful displays that draw crowds from near and far and enhance our reputation as a shire with beautiful public and private gardens.

If you havent been for a few years, pop your head in to enjoy the magni cent exhibitions and support the outstanding committee that delivers a festival of excellence each year. It runs through until 4pm on Saturday, with the prime displays in the Leongatha Memorial Hall and auxiliary events at nearby venues.

Cr Warren RaabeMayor

Mayors messageCr Warren Raabe

THE STAR, Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - PAGE 7

By Brad Lester

A LEONGATHA road must remain open for the sake of public safety, South Gippsland Shire Council has heard.

Leongatha South CFA captain Gary Williams has called on council not to close Simons Lane from the Bass Highway.

Doing so would force emergency services to divert to access incidents, resulting in longer response times.

He believes the likelihood of more residential development between the existing town boundary and Simons Lane would cause at least three extra incidents per year in the new estate alone.

Mr Williams was speaking at councils public presentation session last Wednesday in relation to the Southern Leongatha Outline Development Plan.

That proposal, due to be debated by council at tomorrows (Wednesday) meeting, considers the short term closure of Simons Lane at the Bass Highway until the dangerous

intersection is addressed. That work is expected to cost about $2.5 million.

Extra traf c created by further residential growth is expected to increase the risk of an accident at the intersection.

Simons Lane links the Bass and South Gippsland highways.

In the last ve years, records show that there have been nine incidents in Simons Lane and a further 22 incidents along Koonwarra Road, Mr Williams said.

While the council report states that closing Simons Lane is not an acceptable long term solution, neither was it an acceptable short term solution, Mr Williams said.

Your own report states that the creation of new road access points onto Simons Lane should be strongly discouraged until such time as Simons Lane has been sealed and the intersections on each end upgraded, he said.

This being the case, I see no need to close the road as there will be little traf c impact.

Mr Williams said councils re prevention plan aimed to protect as

many lives and property as possible, and said he failed to see how closing a link road between two highways would aid that effort.

Two of the primary re-breaks identi ed in your re prevention plan are the Bass and South Gippsland highways. Closing any road that links these two strategic re-breaks should not happen, he said.

Cr Jim Fawcett asked how many times a year Leongatha South CFA would use Simons Lane and how many times the brigade was the rst unit on the scene. Mr Williams responded up to four and two times respectively.

Personally, Mr Williams felt closing Simons Lane would divert more traf c through the centre of Leongatha.

The only other option for traf c trying to avoid town, as stated in your development plan, is the use of Gwythers Siding Road. As we all know, the intersection of that road and the South Gippsland Highway would have to be one of the most dangerous intersections around and it would be wrong to push more traf c towards

this road, he said.Engineering consultant Lindsay

Love said closing Simons Lane would result in emergency services faced with traf c delays in the middle of Leongatha.

He said a footpath up to the hospital hill would need to be steeper than council predicted and would have to zig zag up the hill. But Mr Love believed there was inadequate road reserve for such a path.

Council will be in contravention of the acts and liable to prosecution in the courts, he said.

Mr Love said the Simons Lane roundabout proposed on the South Gippsland Highway was not an engineering possibility on the proposed site as it was too steep.

With three roundabouts proposed on the South Gippsland Highway at the developers expense this would equate to $3 million worth of works, he believed.

The developer still has to sell the land and make a return on the money. It may be a brave developer with extensive pockets who can attempt these works. Perhaps these sites are

too costly to develop, Mr Love said.He said the possible extension of

Parr Street west to the Bass Highway could allow potential alternate commercial development sites to the south of the extension, via which he believes the Bass Highway should be diverted.

This would eliminate the need for two roundabouts on the South Gippsland Highway, Mr Love said.

But he added the proposed roundabout design did not consider the need to access the service road to the hospital and so the alignment would be pushed eastward, taking out several houses.

Proposed road widths need to be wider, Mr Love believed, to comply with councils own Infrastructure Design Manual. He said the manual calls for trunk roads to have two carriageways, seven metres wide, but proposed South Gippsland Highway changes suggest two carriageways just ve metres wide.

This will make the highway just 30m wide or less than a council street, Mr Love said.

Keep Simons Lane open

FIVE well-known artists are taking part in a new exhibi-tion to be held at The Hub in Inverloch, opening on Sep-tember 3.

They are Matthew Petrucci, Ra-mon Hors eld, Peter Walker, Cyn-thia Phelan and Diana Wilson. Each has won an art show in the region.

The artists have been invited to display four works each. The win-ner will receive $5000 and the others $1000. The winning work will be-

come part of Bass Coast Shire Coun-cils Acquisitive Art program.

Eventually, the council hopes to display all of its acquisitive art in a new regional gallery in Wonthaggi.

A panel of experts will judge the Inverloch exhibition. They are Rod-ney Forbes, artist, senior lecturer and director of Gippsland Centre of Art and Design, director of Switchback Gallery; Penny Teale, senior curator and collections manager at McClel-land Gallery Langwarrin; Warwick Reeder, director of Reeder Fine Art,

formerly a director of Heide Muse-um of Modern Art.

The exhibition will be open un-til September 29, from 11am to 5pm weekdays.

Creator: Matthew Petrucci, winner of the San Remo Art and Photographic Acquistive Award, who is one of ve artists invit-ed to take part in a special new exhibition.

Display of winners work

By Jane Ross

D E S A L I N AT I O N plant protest group Watershed Victoria is furious that seven members have been summonsed to appear in court.

They face charges un-der the Water Act 1989 and are due to appear in the Wonthaggi Magistrates Court on August 26.

The charges relate to a protest at the Mouth of the Powlett Road on October 20 2010.

The summonses have

been issued by the Depart-ment of Sustainability and Environment and say the various accused obstruct-ed a person lawfully per-forming duties under the Water Act 1989.

When the summonses arrived a week ago, Water-shed vice president Mark Robertson said letters were sent to the Premier Ted Baillieu, Water Min-ister Peter Walsh and Bass MLA Ken Smith.

Mr Robertson told The Star the only acknowl-edgement he had received was from the Premiers of- ce saying the Watershed letter had arrived.

Mr Smith told The Star he had seen his copy of the Watershed letter but had not had time to do any-thing about it. He said he would speak to Mr Walsh as soon as he could to see what we can do.

I dont know if any-thing is to be gained by these charges going ahead. There might be a good rea-son for it but I dont know what that is.

Neil Rankine of Wa-tershed Victoria said the charges arose from a pro-test over the desalination plant pipeline easement.

We were worried about two issues; where

the pipeline was crossing the rail trail and where it was crossing the wetland.

We have asked for the charges to be withdrawn.

He said the members involved were undecided how they would plead.

If the charges do go ahead, a protest outside the courthouse is likely.

In his letter to politi-cians, Mr Robertson said Watershed Victoria had consistently and peace-fully opposed the desali-nation project since its announcement.

Mr Robertson has asked the minister why it has taken nine months to

7 on desal protest chargesissue the notices requiring court attendance.

We hereby request that you urge DSE to with-draw their seven summons notices, or provide you with conclusive satisfac-tory evidence as to why they should proceed or what they expect to bene t from a court hearing.

Mr Robertson said he has been told by DSE that the maximum penalty for the charge under the Water Act is $2442.

THE town centre of Nyora must be de ned to cater for fu-ture development in the town, an engineering consultant has claimed.

Lindsay Love last Wednesday told South Gippsland Shire Council to consider moving the town centre away from Mitchell Street, where the general store and post of ce are now located.

He suggested a new commercial strip be established near the intersection of Davis Street and Lang Lang-Poowong Road, north of the existing railway reserve.

The proposed Nyora Structure Plan, to be considered by council for adoption at tomorrows (Wednesday) council meeting, states Nyora does

not have a clearly de ned town centre, and lacks commercial and community infrastructure despite the population nearly doubling in recent years.

Mr Love said council should offer a de nition of a town centre.

He believed retail developers had not yet been attracted to Nyora as there was inadequate retail space in Mitchell Street.

Firstly, the developer would probably like some visibility to passing traf c in a place such as Nyora. Mitchell Street does not give visibility, Mr Love said.

Secondly, if there were, say a supermarket operator looking to satisfy the needs of the town and establish a 2000 square metre shop, they need some land not just

enough for the oor space but also enough for the carparking.

He believed that would equate to a total of 4100 square metres, which was not available along Davis or Mitchell streets.

Bernard Collins of surveying rm Beveridge Williams represented the developers Wallis Watson at last Wednesdays council public presentation session.

He predicted that by 2024, the development would increase Nyoras population to around 2600, with the release of 50 lots a year.

Brett Hume, of the Nyora Recreation Reserve committee, asked council to consider improving facilities at the reserve or nd a new site for sporting facilities to meet future demand.

Rework Nyora town centre

Operation Combine: Bass Coast and South Gippsland police of cers were joined by members from Melbourne during a police blitz last week, cracking down on dangerous driving across the re-gion. From left: two State Highway Patrol mem-bers along with Senior Constable Kara Eichorn and Leading Senior Constable Peter Barry from Leongatha, Leading Senior Constable Paul Mclean, Sergeant Jim Baum and Senior Constable Scott Simcock of Bass Coast Highway Patrol.

PAGE 8 - THE STAR, Tuesday, August 23, 2011

By Brad Lester

FARMERS should not have to pay double the rates that others pay.

Wild Dog Valley farmer Don Hill told South Gippsland Shire Council that last Wednesday.

He said many farmers are paying $10,000 in rates when the non-farming community paid less than $1000.

In South Gippsland, he said 3976 farmers pay $8 million in rates, while 11,714 residential properties pay $9.6 million.

Mr Hill called on council to increase the farm rate differential by 20 per cent next nancial year and 30 per cent the following year, to gradually make the system equal.

This would increase the residential rate by 16 per cent to (average of) $956 and take the farm rate to $1564. Farms get tax deductibility, so take a further 30 per cent from their amount to arrive at $1095, he said.

Farmers have no extra access to local government services than anyone else, but pay anywhere from ve to 10 times the municipal rates, Mr Hill said.

Is a fair rating system too much to ask for? Farming families and farm workers comprise around three per cent of taxpayers and road users, but the non-farm sector does not contribute 97 per cent towards municipal road costs, he said.

Farmers should not have to pay rates on their land as it is their means of production, he said, especially when rising demand from

people seeking a lifestyle change to the country is in ating rural land prices.

Mr Hill said farmers do not enjoy the tax breaks afforded to other taxpayers when they are less well off, and therefore their debt is not considered as a means of applying a discount.

Local government rating system needs to be based on the value of a ratepayers house and curtilage. Rates on farm land should be abolished as in the UK because farm land is a means to production, and the value bears little relationship to the farmers wealth or his capacity to pay, he said.

Mayor Cr Warren Raabe was supportive.As a farmer, my second highest expense is

rates, he said, adding fertiliser was his biggest cost.

Mr Hill has initiated a petition to council. He lodged a petition with 12 signatures with council last week but the petition did not carry the required preamble and chief executive of cer Tim Tamlin refused to accept it.

He advised Mr Hill to obtain more signatures to increase the chance of the petition being successful.

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) met with Minister for Local Government Jeanette Powell recently to again raise the issue of Victorias rating system.

VFF president Andrew Broad said farm rates were a major issue for the federations membership.

Rising local government rates on Victorian farm land is one of the top issues for our

members and the entire rural community, hesaid.

Research conducted by the VFF has foundthat while businesses pay 40 per cent of therural rates burden, agriculture contributesnearly 50 per cent of this component, or closeto a quarter of rates overall.

Farmers have no access to additional localgovernment services but pay much higher ratesthan those living in residentially zoned areas.This burden continues to rise to the point wheresome farms are being forced into unviability.

Earlier this year VFF members voted infavour of a resolution requesting the StateGovernment abolish the collection of rates forproductive farm land, excluding residences.Farmers should not have to pay a tax on theirmeans of production.

The VFF will continue our conversationwith the Minister to ensure this issue remainson the governments agenda.

Local farmers have been battling withcouncil rates for a long time and LeongathaSouth farmer Max Jelbart says its unfair.

A lot of the farming communities dontuse the bulk of the services that the shireprovides, he said.

Most farmers rates are very substantialeven though they have minimal road frontageand dont use the services provided by thecouncil more than anyone else.

The rates debate will continue on untilcouncils can make a move on the rates systemfor farmers.

Farm rates unfair

one or more, you may want to consult your doctor:

do others accuse you of turning the television too loud?

do others accuse you of not paying attention?

do you misunderstand 50 for 15 or 60 for 16?

can you hear better with one ear than the other on the phone?

have you stopped at-tending plays and lectures because of the strain ex-erted to hear what is being said?

do you have trouble understanding someone speaking to you from an-other room?

do you have dif cul-ty understanding speech when there is background noise?

do you miss the punchline of jokes?

do you seem to hear the words but not under-stand them?

do you often have to ask people to repeat what they say?

There are various types

of hearing tests avail-able, including pure tone audiometry.

A machine called an au-diometer produces a range of beeps and whistles (pure tones). You press a button or otherwise indicate when you hear the sounds. If you listen to the pure tones through headphones, your air conduction hearing is being tested.

This tests your outer hearing pathway as well as your inner ear. If you lis-ten to the sounds through a bone conductor a vibra-tor held against the mas-toid bone (located behind the ear) the sounds your inner hearing pathways can hear are measured.

To nd out more, contact your doctor or audiologist.

information courtesy Victorian Governments Better Health Channel: www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au

How good is your hearing?HEARING is some-thing that we take for granted and in many cases, perhaps we do not even realise it is degenerating.

These questions can help you determine if you have a hearing loss prob-lem. If you answer yes to

POLICE BRIEFSPOLICE BRIEFS

Bus hits cowA COW has come off second best after it was hit by a mini bus on the South Gippsland Highway just out of Leongatha.

Police believe the cow had escaped a nearby pad-dock and wandered onto the road when it was hit by the bus and killed just before 8 oclock on Friday night.

The 71-year-old driver from Toora and two pas-sengers were taken to Leongatha Hospital with minor injuries.

The bus was carry-ing 20 male occupants, with the majority coming from Melbournes eastern suburbs.Fake ID ned

A 17-YEAR-OLD female will receive nes totalling over $300 after being caught at McCartins Hotel using fake identi cation.

The girl was ejected from the premises after staff members at the hotel detected her using a false ID last Friday night.

She will receive a $61 ne for being on the prem-ises underage and a $244 ne for using a fake ID.

Investigations are con-tinuing as to how the girl

obtained the ID.Persons found respon-

sible for supplying ID to someone underage will re-ceive a ne of $244.

Leongatha police Ser-geant Dale McCahon warned people considering giving their IDs to under-aged people, they are eas-ily traced.

You can be facing al-most $250 in nes for giv-ing someone else your ID to get into the pub; its not worth it, he said.

Squatters break in

WONTHAGGI po-lice are investigating the forced entry of a number of properties in Venus Bay over the past few weeks.

It was discovered last weekend a house on Lees Road in the second estate and another in Zenner Drive had been broken into.

Although nothing was stolen, it appeared people had broken into the homes and slept there.

Both houses received a couple of hundred dollars worth of damage.

The two properties are holiday houses and back onto one another.

Anyone with informa-tion is encouraged to con-tact the Wonthaggi police on 5672 1222.

Flipped over: police are investigating this single vehicle crash that occurred near Foster yesterday morning (Monday).

THE STAR, Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - PAGE 9

By Jane Ross

JESSIE Macaulay loves to play cards.

And its that lifelong habit that has led to an amazing connection with her long deceased younger brother.

His name was Walter John Lay and his family called him Wattie.

He joined the RAAF in World War II and went down with the rest of his crew in a Hudson bomber on New Years Day 1942.

He was stationed in Borneo and the plane went into the sea near Ambon Indonesia when its engine failed.

Wattie had married only a few weeks before when he was home brie y on leave.

Remarkably, nearly 70 years later, a man called Grant Ashton was walk-ing on a beach in Darwin

Amazing link with the past

Re ecting: Jessie Macaulay re-reads the story in a Darwin newspaper abouther late brothers dog tag being found on a Darwin beach.

A RURAL reference group is to be set up in Bass Coast Shire.

Its aim is to continue the dialogue be-tween council and farmers who are ag-grieved at the rate burden they face.

Speaking at last weeks council meet-ing, Cr Jane Daly agged the reference group, saying discussions so far had indi-cated the need.

Were just waiting to hear back from the farmers.

Its a great way forward.Talks between farmers and council rep-

resentatives followed the lodging of a pe-tition last month asking council to review the rating of farm land.

The petition bears 106 names and was backed by 26 letters.

It said agriculture in the shire was un-der threat because of an unfair rate burden; with farmers making up three per cent of rateable properties, but paying 10 per cent of the total rate revenue.

They are calling for a differential

farm rate.As farmers, the burden of the present

rating system is not equitable and is unsus-tainable for farmers to protect their envi-ronmental and productive enterprise.

In line with local laws, council let the petition lie on the table for a month.

In the interim, discussions were held with farmers.

Cr John Duscher said those were very productive.

The door is open for further discus-sion; its about value they add to our community.

Cr Gareth Barlow said it was necessary to consider issues of concern to the farm-ing community and he and his colleagues agreed to establish arrangements for on-going dialogue between the parties.

Cr Phil Wright added, I see this as a really big step. Farmers give great land-scape and amenity values and get no return for their efforts. Hopefully much comes out of this.

ers telephone contact book and looked up under C for card ladies.

And there was Mrs Macaulays telephone number.

Mrs Macaulay said when she was told the story of the dog tag, she was shocked, thrilled and emotional all at once.

Its wonderful, she said, still not quite believ-ing it and unable to work out how the tag could have made its way to Darwin.

Its so amazing.Part of her emotional

response was prompted by the fact that her brother Peter had died only two weeks beforehand.

He was 10 years younger than Wattie and his older brother was his hero.

Mrs Macaulay, who is the eldest of the three siblings, said Peter would have been absolutely thrilled with the nd.

Peter had wanted to join the Air Force too, but having lost one son that way, his mother said no and Peter became a soldier instead.

As the closest living relative, the tag will given to Mrs Macaulay.

She said shes not yet sure what she will do with it, but she thinks she will pass it on to her nephew, the only male in the family with the surname Lay.

when he spotted a dog tag embedded in rock. He recognised the item as an identi cation tag for an Australian serviceman and on cleaning it, could make out the name.

A story about it in a Darwin newspaper named

Watties sister as Jessie Macaulay of Wonthaggi.

A woman reading that story recognised Mrs Macaulays name and was sure that was someone her late mother played cards with in Inverloch.

She had kept her moth-

In service: Wattie Lay in Air Force uniform with his mother Jessie Macaulay.

Bass Coast moves on farm rate issue

PAGE 10 - THE STAR, Tuesday, August 23, 2011

LIVING VICTORIA WATER REBATE PROGRAM

1 JULY 2011 TO 30 JUNE 2013

APPLYFOR AREBATE

> All Victorian households can now get a rebate on water efcient washing machines, rainwater tanks, dual ush toilets, pool covers and a range of other products. Rebates available from 1 July 2011.

> A small business connected to a reticulated water supply with 20 or less employees can for the rst time get a rebate to improve the water efciency of their business. Rebates available from 19 July 2011.

> For information on these and other water saving rebates contact your local water corporation, call 136 186 or visit www.water.vic.gov.au

The Living Victoria Water Rebate Program provides rebates of up to $1000 for homes and gardens and up to $2000 for small businesses. Victorian Notice to Mariners

The following Notice to Mariners is published for general information.

Australia VictoriaNo.099 (Permanent) of 2011South Gippsland Venus BayAnchoring Prohibited Zone

Date: EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY

Details: Mariners are advised that an area where anchoring is prohibited has been established around an outfall diffuser pipeline. The length of the outfall diffuser pipe is 109 metres. The anchoring exclusion zone extends in a radius of 150 metres from the mid point of the diffuser pipe located: 38 45.677 S, 145 50.919 E (WGS84)

AUS Charts and publications affected:AUS 801Australia Pilot, Volume II NP14

Victorian Charts and publications affected:Schedule 2 of the Vessel Operating and Zoning Rules made under Notice no 1 under Section 15(2) of the Marine Act 1988. (www.transportsafety.vic.gov.au.)

Further notice:No further Notice will be issued.

Lisa FaldonDirector, Maritime Safety3 August 2011 DO

T619

9/11

THE Rotary Club of Inverloch is holding a Sports and Leisure Expo at the Inverloch Com-munity Hub on January 14 and 15, 2012.

All proceeds from the event will be divided between the Inverloch SES and a humanitarian arm of Rotary International, Interplast Australia.

Interplast Australia sends teams of volunteer surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and allied therapists to developing countries in the Asia-Paci c regions, to provide free treatment and medical training.

Businesses are invited to take part to showcase their business. Thirty

sites are available inside the hub and 20 more outside. To nd out more, call Ken on 5663 5256 or Terry on 0423 749 227.

READY to leap into some-thing new? Regional Arts Victorias Creative Lead-ership Program could be the answer.

They are looking for young people who will complete VCE this year or have done so in the last two years and who are considering a career in arts management to apply for the creative leadership program.

Between February 4-12, 2012 they will provide aspiring arts leaders from regional Victoria with the opportunity to extend

their career options and experience in the heart of Australias arts capital Melbourne.

For further details or to submit an expression of interest form, please go to rav.net.au.

Applications close October 14.

A PUBLIC meeting will be held at the Dumbalk Recreation Reserve on Tuesday, August 23.

The meeting is to nominate a committee of management for the Dumbalk Recreation Reserve for a term of three years.

For further information, contact Nicholas Hill on 5664 4413 or 0418 129 981.

CRUNCH TIME (Nick Adamson, Leigh Owens, Scott Hogan) are playing at the Wonthaggi Work-mens Club this Saturday night, to help Tad Hendry raise funds for their next Bryns School build-ing project in Cambodia. Tickets are $15 if you book in advance or $20 on the night. For more infor-mation contact the Wont-haggi Workmens Club.

AS PART of Leongathas Daffodil Festival St Pe-ters Anglican Church Leongatha is running the family Bible and... displays.

KOOROOMAN House resident Jock Mackay has recently been presented with a plaque recognising 70 years of valuable service to Freemasons Victoria.

Jock joined the Freema-sons on July 25, 1941 and

was past Grand Inspector of Workings.

His son Ian Mackay has been a Freemason for 38 years.

Both men are members of the Korumburra branch of Freemasons Victoria.

A NICE sunny day made the Loch Primary School jump-off day a success last Friday.

The whole school had to complete six activities set by the teachers, all in their co-operative learning groups.

The teachers also sup-plied the students with a delicious lunch.

The school raised $1100, all of which went to the Heart Foundation.

theme of the opera La Bo-heme and tells the story ofa group of young artistsand musicians strugglingto survive in Lower EastSide New York.

The 2013 play will beMurdered To Death by Peter Gordon. It will bedirected by David Smithand is a hilarious spoof ofthe Agatha Christie genre.A bungling inspector istrying to solve the murderof the houses owner, but nds that the murderer isnot nished yet. Will theinspector stem the ow ofthe murders before the au-dience dies laughing?

The 2013 musical is to be Blood Broth-ers by Willy Russell andwill be directed by PeterMcAlpine. Loosely basedon the novel The CorsicanBrothers by Dumas, the story revolves around fra-ternal twin brothers whoare separated at birth, eachbeing raised in oppositesocio-economic situations.Falling in love with thesame girl causes a tear intheir friendship which ulti-mately leads to the tragicdeath of the brothers.

Lyric announces new showsLEONGATHA Lyr-ic Theatre has an-nounced a number of shows and plays for 2012 and 2013.

The 2012 play for March is to be Habeas Corpus by Alan Bennett.

It was rst performed at the Lyric Theatre in London in 1973 and in-cluded Alec Guinness in the cast. It is a comedy play which concerns the

ageing Dr Wicksteed and his pursuit of a young pa-tient. His wife, too, has designs on another Sir Percy Shorter, a contem-porary of her husband. All sorts of complicated co-medic situations evolve to make this a most amusing play. The director will be Jack Millar.

The 2012 musical will be Rent to be directed by Scott Miller. The mod-ern story is based on the

For the long haul: Ian Mackay and his father Jock who has been in the Freemasons for 70 years. Farewell Barb: Barb Carpenter is about to step down in her role as Leon-gatha Chamber of Commerce and Industrys secretary/treasurer. Barb and

husband Graham will be closing their shop to pursue travel in their retire-ment. Chamber president Darryl McGannon presents owers to Barb at last Wednesdays business networking meeting, thanking her for her outstand-ing service-she will be greatly missed!

THE Dewar family has taken up the offer and set up a table for the event.The display includes a gold pendant which is made from gold prospected at Bal-

larat by Ian Dewars grandfather in the 1890s.

Family Bible: the Dewar table will be part of the St Peters Anglican Churchs display.

For the cause: Loch Primary School student Lara loved showing off her skipping skills at the jump-off on Friday.

WHALES are now along the South Gippsland coast, but can sometimes be hard to nd.

Whale fans unable to catch a glimpse of the

Whales onlinemammals should check out a video posted by Parks Victoria on the internet.

The video depicts Southern Right Whales swimming in Bass Strait off Port Welshpool.

See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHSkiZxDEzc&feature=share

THE STAR, Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - PAGE 11

THE value of volun-teers to the Country Fire Authority has been con rmed in writing.

The CFAs revised volunteer charter spells out the roles and importance of volunteers to the CFA, and their right to be consulted on matters affecting them.

Korumburra CFA captain of 25 years, Bill Rodda, presented a copy of the latest charter to South Gippsland Shire Council last Wednesday.

The charter was originally drawn up with the former Bracks Government.

Council itself has prepared a volunteer charter in relation to the some 700 volunteers who serve council in many ways.

Volunteers valued

Here you go: Korumburra CFA captain Bill Rodda presents a copy of the CFA Volunteer Charter to South Gippsland Shire Council mayor Cr Warren Raabe.

Mayors messageCr Veronica Dowman

LIBRARIES have become essential com-munity centres that offer more than just books. They provide life long learning and literacy programs, internet and audiovisual resources, and have experienced staff to help with accessing specialist information.

Library services are funded by both state and local governments. This nancial year the State Government had cut their portion of library service funding to some libraries in Victoria. There was a huge pub-lic outcry and this decision has since been reversed. Council was one of the groups who joined the campaign to lobby the State Government to restore the funding.

I am pleased to report that West Gippsland Library Corporation has re-ceived a new funding agreement from the State Government which guarantees fund-ing for the next two years. This is a great result for our community.

Another outcome from the reversal, is that a Libraries Ministerial Advisory Committee will be appointed to review the

services of Victorian Libraries. This Com-mittee will help to determine State Gov-ernment library funding into the future.

Council recognises the importance of libraries and has provided an increased budget to West Gippsland Library Corpo-ration this nancial year, to extend open-ing hours at Inverloch and Phillip Island branch libraries.

With the Ministerial review now un-derway it is important to continue to show your support for your local library. This week, West Gippsland Library Corpora-tion is celebrating Childrens Book Week from August 20 to 29 at libraries across Bass Coast. This years theme is One World, Many Stories and there are great competitions for children to enter.

If you havent visited your library lately, why not take a look, in person or on-line.

Cr Veronica Dowman, mayorBass Coast Shire Council

LEONGATHA and Inverloch SES units will receive new operational equipment as part of AAMIs ongo-ing annual sponsorship of VICSES.

Since 2003, AAMI has contributed $2.25 million, allowing the VICSES to pur-chase operational equipment which enables the 5500 volunteers to carry out their invalu-able work in serving their communities.

AAMI executive manager sponsorships John Bennetts said the Victorian SES plays an integral role in supporting the commu-nity through crises across the State.

The East Region, consisting of 26 units with 800 volunteers has experienced high operational demands in the past year re-sponding to multiple events, including ood and storms state wide, road crash rescues, land searches, and the biggest air evacuation rescue effort Australia has seen, he said.

The equipment provided today will help these SES units continue to respond to future emergencies.

Whether they are dealing with natural disasters or a road accident, its in all of our best interests to have our VICSES units equipped with the tools they need when dealing with the hundreds of accidents or emergencies they attend.

Under the program, which supports each of VICSESs 141 operational and 10 support units, Leongatha SES unit received a Stihl Polesaw, Chainsaw Sharpener, Fluo-rescent Lighting Kit, Power Cord Reel, Spine Board, eFlares, Asenders, and some Karibeeners.

Inverloch SES unit received a Power Cord Reel, Branach Fed Ladder, Submers-ible Pump, and a Hooligan Tool.

The funding allows VICSES units to buy essential equipment required to carry out their often life saving work, Mr Ben-netts said.

Val Bremner and Anthony Lindhart from Leongatha SES unit thanked AAMI for its continued support.

New equipment for SESNew equipment: AAMI sponsorship of cer Nick Addison, Anthony Lindhart and Val Bremner from Leongatha SES and VICSES regional manager Clint Saarinen.

PAGE 12 - THE STAR, Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Letters guidelinesALL letters should be kept to 400 words or less.The Star reserves the right to edit all letters for length and style. Writers details, including full name, address and phone number (not for publication), must be included.

E D I T O R I A L

SURELY it is time to clean up so many of our dirty habits.

For so much of my life I have shared the effects of the bad habits of our parents generation. Their well intentioned, but nave dedication of their working lives to a misguided sense of economic progress by the over-exploitation of our natural re-sources has had consequences.

The political and economic leaders of the past promised that Australia could feed the world. A fairytale of increasingly biased pro-ductivity was our mission, without courting the environmental and per-sonal cost of creating chemical de-pendant monocultures and a toxic environment.

Fortunately there is now an in-creasing number of well respected environmental whistleblowers, who through scienti c research or obser-vation, have challenged our public knowledge and perceptions. Rachel Carsons Silent Spring, heralded the potential chemical Armageddon by the indiscriminate use of agri-cultural pesticides. David Suzuki, David Attenborough, David Bel-lamy, Tim Flannery and others have spent much of their working lives in research and media communica-tion and education to tell the other side of the disturbing consequences of our voracious and wasteful con-sumer lifestyle.

How many households make a serious attempt to be self suf cient? In every aspect of our lives, when we feel we are in need of the best advice, we seek out an expert or two to best deal with the crisis in our lives. Now is the time to listen to the experts and the science to guide us how to restore a healthier environment, economy and person-al lifestyle.

This is a chance of a lifetime to embrace a smarter, greener, cleaner way of life. It cant always be busi-ness as usual.

In my lifetime I have witnessed a major revolution in the better use of safer agricultural chemicals. No more open tip trench waste burn-ing, better recycling. No more rot-ten waste discharge from our milk factories fouling our waterways,

IT pains me to hear the constant criticism directed towards Vi-cRoads.

Have you not seen the im-mense amount of work taking place between Meeniyan and Leongatha?

Hundreds of wonderful green stakes have been positioned on the sides of the road. I would like to know, however, when will they be planting the tomatoes?

David Baggallay,Meeniyan.

ON a recent, gloomy Saturday morning we had our day consid-erably brightened by the pleasant and more than helpful service we received in two Leongatha busi-nesses. Thank you and congratula-tions to A.W. Smiths top shop and the CSC Bakery.

Dianne and Steve Finlay,Leongatha

COUNCIL Meeting Question Time is a key way for community mem-bers to raise issues of concern. It is an important part of the meeting and Council of cers try to provide the best information available in re-sponse to these questions.

We are always looking at ways to improve the effectiveness of question time. The most recent review of the Councils meeting procedure made the changes below. Other improvements are incorpo-rated as opportunities arise.

We recognise that there are oc-casions when answers involve a high level of technical detail. In these instances, we will endeavour to have a plain English explana-tion and provide the technical de-tails either in written form on the night, or by email to the questioner.

To ensure that question time runs ef ciently, if we receive mul-tiple questions about one issue, we will attempt to collate the questions, so that similar queries are addressed together.

The community is able to lodge questions up until the start of the meeting, however we do urge peo-ple to get their questions in at least 24 hours beforehand. Submitting questions early allows of cers time to get the information needed for a response and to prepare any written handouts that might be needed. It also allows time for questions to be collated if appropriate.

Often the issues raised during Question Time relate to agenda items. In that case, the concerns raised through the community questions can be considered and

IS our new premier jumping on board Tony Abbotts scare cam-paign without regard for regional Victoria?

Mr Baillieu stated on Win News last Thursday (August 18) that mod-elling they commissioned shows a loss of jobs due to a carbon price.

It turns out though, that the modelling didnt factor in tax cuts, pension rises or compensation as part of the carbon price package. In fact the supposed job losses were against a reference case and indeed its said the report actually predicts jobs growth in Victoria under a car-bon price.

Treasury modelling too projects growth, with the Victorian econo-my growing by 30 per cent to 2020, with a carbon price in place.

There are worrying noises com-ing from Mr Baillieu about not sup-porting a transition to clean energy.

The Liberal-National coali-tion went to the election with, and passed into law, a 20 per cent re-newable energy target by 2020, but Mr Baillieu has referred to this as an aspirational target of late.

An analysis by energy group SKM-MMA and industry experts Ernst & Young shows 31,000 new regional jobs created by 2030 if we move to a clean energy economy. This includes 6300 new power sec-tor jobs alone in regional Victoria.

Is Mr Baillieu being forced to take the Federal Liberals irrational and negative approach for purely political reasons? I hope not, were seeing national paralysis as a result, and we dont want that in Victoria.

Neil Rankine.Dalyston.

ELWYN Matthews, (The Star, Au-gust 16), has concerns about the in-terim carbon tax and proposes that all taxes could be replaced with a one per cent debit tax.

Theres no doubt that opportu-nities for taxation reform, through the Henry Tax Review, were defeat-

ISNT great when a little commu-nity of 11 takes pride in their area and also has a sense of humor?

A collection of four houses on the northern side of the Dumbalk to Dollar Road on a straight stretch of road, over the past six months started to have a bit of fun.

One member of their commu-nity decided to plant a garden and a few shrubs opposite this little hamlet.

Neighbors started to talk and for a bit of fun they thought that a sign at the start and end of the 90 metres would be a good idea.

As a bit of one-up-man ship on the larger town of Dumbalk (110+) they thought that rather than being called Dumbalk or Dumbalk East they would call their place Dumbalk Heights. Well this was good and most of the passing ve-hicles thought this was a sound idea because they were on higher ground than the town.

Signs were made and placed at each end of their homes indicating Dumbalk Heights and its popula-tion of eleven.

The garden opposite was look-ing very presentable indicating the obvious care and pride that the resi-dents had in their community.

To add a touch more class they placed two very well made and at-tired mannequins, one at each end leaning over the sign and apparent-ly enjoying a glass of chardonnay or holding a bouquet of owers.

Both mannequins and signs were well off the roads and posed no more danger to passing vehicles than any of the Shires parapherna-lia on other roads.

So all was well and everybody happy and even the mannequins were borrowed for the Walk for Life fundraiser at the Dumbalk rec-reation reserve in April this year.

They were returned to their fa-vourite positions observing the traf- c with serene smiles on the faces. A male mannequin was installed on a chair watching the passing traf c.

He was again well back from the road sitting in the now ourish-ing garden.

But then someone complained! After six months of gracing the

neighbourhood and adding a few smiles by the passing drivers on this very straight stretch of the road somebody took offence and went to the Shire.

Shame, said the Shire, we cant have the locals having a bit of fun and pride in their commu-nity. So out with the mannequins and signs.

Now who has been planting this garden here? You have planted trees and shrubs near the road! Hey they cant go there! (Even if, not 60 metres away, there are fully ma-ture trees closer to the road.)

So if you are diving up or down the Dollar Road and pass through the now fairly mundane hamlet of Dumbalk East, just remember that a rather nice group of people just wanted to have a little fun and brighten up your drive.

Ian and Elaine Snell,Dumbalk Heights

POOWONG, Mirboo North and Foster pools beware!

The South Gippsland Shires Strategic Direction for Aquatic Facilities in South Gippsland is a document which people must take the time to read (carefully).

To its credit, the council has to date nancially maintained wonder-ful facilities at all six public pools across the shire and has committed to fund the general running of all pools for the next ve years. But only three pools will get money for upgrades within the next ve years as they are the higher attendance venues.

At present, the strategic direc-tion dictates that a pool only has to hit one of the trigger points to prompt a review of the facility (in consultation with community and committee of management) and a recommendation will then be made to council (who will be doing this review is not outlined) with regard to its future viability, which may include closure of the facility.

So in reality, any one of the pools could hit a trigger with a simple change in legislation which requires an upgrade (this is not very clear), failure to operate within an-nual budget, failure of something requiring capital investment (eg pool ltration system), a drop in at-tendance for two years, and OH and S failure.

In reality, for example Poowong could have a ltration breakdown this year and this would be a trig-ger point.

If this goes to council the pool is at de nite risk of closure. Cr Warren Raabe clari ed that even Leongatha Splash could hit a trig-ger. Well that is correct, but when the two pools go before council for review, what are the different chances of survival?

In their presentation at the Poo-wong town meeting, the council put up all the money gures for all to see and yes, the smaller pools dont run at a pro t, but how can any cold water pool, allowed to open only for a strict three months of the year, make a pro t?

So of course in this day and age it is all to do with money and those preparing the report will no doubt focus on this.

I would urge our council to be strong and not look at our wonder-ful pools in dollar and cents terms, but as a lifestyle bonus within our shire. These are assets not nancial liabilities.

It is more important that our kids learn pool safety and commu-nities be strengthened around the centre of a pool, no dollar value can be put on this.

And I would urge all concerned residents to read the strategic direc-tion carefully and for submissions to be put in by September 9 to save our pools, because unfortunately it

myself for years. I own most ofwhat I need anyway these days andlike many people have shoppedaround. But now I recognise anevent looming which representsrather profound social change although personi ed by one littlemusic shop.

I have been trying to achievesome level of musical success as aninternet musician.

The standards are dizzying!The number of musical pieces onthe net are in the millions. In the1970s, every man and his dogthought they would play music andbe a guitar hero. I think that brightoptimism has become seriouslyfaded. Young people are more in-clined toward being sporting heroesTeachers at the schools would bebest placed to tell the truth of mysuspicions. Is music gradually van-ishing as a social event?

The music shop has to competein an intensely dif cult trading en-vironment. But thats becoming thesame for all small retailers.

1. The internet can undercut ev-erything that local retail stores canoffer.

2. Simple, immediate over thecounter and spur of the momentdecisions vanish if the shop closes.A simple spontaneous purchase ofa cheap guitar, harmonica or evena kazoo becomes a thing of the past to be replaced by intentional, in-ternet based acquisitions.

3. The vanishing of the mu-sic shop is a drum roll prior to thevanishing of the bookshops, the artsupplies places and gradually everyperipheral beyond food, clothingand hardware. And, astonishingly,perhaps even a small town like Le-ongatha.

So, do we want a town? Do wewant community? It seems to methat I, along with everybody else,will have to refrain from purchasingcheaply on the internet if we wantto retain local resources.

Its the price that we must pay.Refuse to buy locally and the re-source will vanish. The music shopis probably a classic example. Infact the adage use it or lose it(normally applied to our bodily fac-ulties) is absolutely true of our localbusinesses.

But my other real concern isthat the vanishing of the music shopis a small vanishing of joy. Music issuch a wondrous medium. Brilliantwhen devised slowly and intention-ally with every component wonder-fully harmonised and orchestrated.

Music can involve everybody.Anybody can sing along. Hugenumbers of people can be simplyand joyfully distracted from a work-ing life by participation in music.

So, the local shop closingdoesnt mean that music will die.But it does seem to me that manyyoung people wont be looking inthe shop window with enthusiasmand thinking another $10 and I canafford it!

So whats is my point? Id liketo see a very courageous local busi-ness person, with a willingness totake a risk, pick up this thread andrun it for a bit longer. Carry thetorch! Stand up for local businessagainst the internet.

Stand up for encouraging theyoung locally to partake of thiswondrous stuff, music whetherthey can ever make a living out ofit or not. Professional music maybe a dif cult achievement, but ama-teur music still brings enjoyment tosmall numbers of people.

Please excuse me if this letter isa little disjointed. Its not a thesis.But I had so many ideas on the sub-ject that I rather just jotted downthoughts as they came to me.

My thanks to Clarkie for theinnovation so many years ago. Agreat source of enjoyment to me.Thanks to Archie who pickedup the thread and to Belinda andthe current owners (and Rick). Andthanks to The Star for printing thisletter.

Michael Warner,Leongatha.

A cleaner, greener, smarter way of life

casein is now a major revenue prod-uct. Landcare is now established and is an exciting revolution in the balanced development of our rural landscape sustainability.

If you dont believe in man-made environment change, you must have your eyes closed. Bring on the environmental revolution and the government incentives. I work in the Landcare industry and live in a government subsidised stand-alone solar powered ve star energy ef cient home.

Embrace change. Life is good.Richard Lester.

Leongatha

Question time

addressed by councillors later in the meeting. It is important to remem-ber that councillors do not debate issues during Question Time. This can only happen as part of an agen-da item.

From the September meeting, the running order of the meeting will also change.

Those reports requiring a Coun-cil decision will move forward in the agenda. This means that the reports that have the high degree of community interest will be considered in the early part of the meeting.

We believe these changes will improve the experience of Ques-tion Time and the Council meeting for members of the public, and we encourage the community to con-tinue to be a part of this democratic process.

Cr Veronica Dowman, Mayor,

Bass Coast Shire CouncilStill waiting

Bouquets

Carbon scare

Tax return

Pool threat real

Dumbalk Heights no more?

will take more than just increasing usage to save a pool as the strategic direction stands at present.

Wendy Tilling,Poowong.

ed by vested interests. Such a tax as Mr Matthews proposes would cer-tainly stabilise world markets and currencies by avoiding gross specu-lation. But are we paying more tax than we need to?

We do need a disincentive, to avoid the passing of present costs to future generations. This is what the carbon tax is supposed to be about. We certainly need more than just a taxation system to achieve this.

Firstly we need leadership. Our Prime Minister hasnt explained the need for a carbon tax and Mr Abbotts negativity is running our country and the economy down.

Secondly, we need to ac-knowledge the natural limits of our fragile planet an