I am surprised that so many candidates for council have wasted their time-and column space-on this lower order issue.

The hand wringing about political parties is spurious for two reason. One, so many of the candidates have themselves run for state and federal parliament with party representation-including some such as Ben Taylor, who wrote to complain about this very issue.

Two, nobody has made a case for why political parties are a fine thing for federal and state politics but not for local government.

I think most people would be happier knowing which candidates have party memberships. If some people are standing at this election with the endorsement of a party I say good on them for being so organised.

Matt Briody, Golden Point

We have now lost another business Timkin. At its peak it employed over 300 but costs grew too great and so it downsized and is going to Melbourne. Since the 1960s I believe we have now lost over 30 manufacturing businesses in Ballarat;, Eureka Tiles , Franklin Caravans, Vitclay, Timkin, Norton Villiers, Sunshine Bakeries, SunBlest bakeries, MB John to name a few. I am sure Ballarat people can add to this list . So the biggest issue the council should concentrate on is jobs. They should forget the warm and fuzzy stuff and get companies to de-centralise from grid-locked Melbourne and give them incentives to come here .

So far we are promised 9000 new jobs in the new West Employment Zone but how many are there to this point?  Maybe 40 and we have just lost 40. We have been promoting employment for a long time and you would think would have had companies queuing up.  Soon we will have an unemployment rate of 15% resulting in higher crime rate, family splits, tension on the streets more police needed all caused by unemployment. Idle hands brings idle minds. We already are at a high level of youth unemployment. 

Quinton Wilkinson, Lake Gardens

Those of us who are members of lefty, un-Australian groups like Ballarat Climate Action, BREAZE, and Get-Up are getting cranky. We've been agitating forever for governments to seriously tackle the climate emergency, and we're heading for burn-out with the futility of it all. Despite dire warnings from the world's best scientists hardly anyone is concerned. What is astonishing is that young people, who themselves and their children will suffer the most horrific consequences of climate change, are the least concerned of all.

Yet young people, who have so much to lose also comprise an immense force for change. Hordes of them throughout our nation, interconnected through their electronic devices, are a latent, massive, organism of overwhelming persuasive power. Its power must be unleashed. We need to see young people in sustained, coordinated protests. We need to hear and read their passion in the media. We need them to publicly annihilate the moronic arguments of climate change denial, presented daily by corrupt politicians, the fossil fuel industry and so-called business leaders.

Warming of the earth to 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial era level is inevitable and it will bring the certain destruction of Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef. Should warming exceed 2 degrees we're facing global catastrophe, well within the lifetimes of today's young people. Kids and young people, you can still preserve much of your future. Your schools, centres of higher education and workplaces must become hotbeds of climate rebellion. Time is running out, so get with it.

Lawrie Wilson, Ballarat