Japan has to be one of the cleanest places i've ever visited. The streets of all Japanese towns are spotless; not a cigarette butt or a bottle top to be seen. But on my daily walk through Ballarat I'm staggered at the amount of rubbish I encounter.

Broken glass, dog s**t, cigarette butts, bottle tops abound. Every morning without fail I see little piles of dog droppings in the Bridge Mall. The areas around Maccas on Bakery Hill and Coles and Safeway car parks are a disgrace, yet the council seems satisfied to have a dirty town.

We have some of the most efficient parking officers in the world. Maybe we could have them police and fine the litterbugs? This problem spans all age groups - young or old I've seen them all allowing their dogs do their crap on my nature strip.

Until we instil some sense of civic pride, this will continue.

Michael Lillie - Ballarat

Rate payers need to be aware that funds spent by the Ballarat City Council on the "Public Participatory Process" to ascertain what local citizens want to see on the Civic Hall Precinct may be wasted. A predicted population increase and the perceived need to limit growth to Melbourne, has resulted in Ballarat being targeted by the State government to take more people. The result is that local citizens' expressed desire and need for more open space in the city centre may be abandoned. In contrast to the ten previous concepts, the five new ones all appear to include an eight storey block of government offices, as well as a row of shops and more car parking. This is allegedly to allow for relocation of a State Government agency from Melbourne to Ballarat. Moreover, three of the five concepts for the precinct released by Herestudio on Saturday 14th November, entail demolishing the library and replacing it with this office block. In the other two, the offices are placed in the north east corner of the site in the position of the current two storey car park. Only one "concept plan" retains the Civic Hall in its entirety contrary to nearly 3000 citizens' wishes according to an earlier petition.

Is this really what Ballarat people want to make their city more people friendly? Are the social, psychological and physical health of Ballarat citizens being sacrificed in order to protect Melbournites? Are Ballarat citizens, without their consent, being treated as sacrificial lambs for the greater comfort of others? The reasoning underlying the State Governments' decision depends on the accuracy of the Bureau of Statistics' estimate of continued population growth. However, this may be unduly optimistic, as a surplus of housing in Sydney and a drop in price in Melbourne, as noted in the press this week, is already indicating that the rate of population growth is lessening.  We should be urging the State Government to apply caution in their rush to plan for hypothetical future growth and abandon unwelcome impositions on regional cities such as Ballarat.

Penelope Greenslade, Ballarat

Although many Australians assume that Climate Change is not caused by human activity, there is doubt about that. If we are certain that our activities are not causing problems, then we should not make changes to how we supply our energy needs. However, there IS doubt - a strong possibility that our use of fossil fuels is having a detrimental effect on our climate. If we ignore this doubt, we are risking our future by continuing with "business as usual". Just in case our activities are the cause of climate change, we must reduce our emissions - this is the path of safety. Not to do so would be irresponsible.

What have we got to lose? A few old industries (coal, oil and gas) will be replaced by new ones (renewables). Just because the old industries are big and powerful is no reason to keep them. They're replaceable and probably dangerous.

Our Government is saying that Australia will make an effort to reduce emissions if we are shamed into it, but only the minimum required. Is that responsible behaviour? We should be aiming to do the most we can possibly manage. At the Paris talks, we expect our Government to strive for maximum targets. Don't accept the risks of a minimum effort. Be responsible!

We're marching at the weekend to make that clear.

Joe Boin - Invermay