Not asking the real questions that matter to regions
Successive metro-focused state governments may well have had trouble getting a handle on the infrastructure and service needs of the regions but Regional Partnerships, this last incarnation of the various unelected and unaccountable bodies state governments, both Liberal and Labor, have created over time to represent us to government certainly takes the cake as the worst yet. Regional Partnerships' biannual "sticky note on wall" session, just completed, is apparently the evidence-based post-democratic replacement for listening to local state members and councils with an actual, but apparently unfashionable, electoral mandate. I don't want centrally-appointed government "yes men and women" to be the engine room of ideas for my city. They won't take the fight to Spring St for Ballarat or the region for an overdue fair share of infrastructure spend or understand our real aspirations. Regional Partnerships is nothing but a rubber stamp for poorly targeted pork barreling heading for a future election cycle that the tea leaves of a party focus group have indicated might swing a key demographic. Whatever it's inflated rhetoric, let's not take this seriously. If political parties in government want real regional input, come here and ask councils, water authorities and hospital boards. They'll give you actual answers.
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Cr Mark Harris, City of Ballarat
BAD TIMING ON A GREAT DAY
Saturday was a magnificent day for the Ballarat Cup; a great opportunity for masses of people to come to our fine city and enjoy a wonderful day out. However, inexplicably, the decision was made to undertake scheduled track works on the Ballarat train line, denying the visiting hordes an opportunity to catch a train to Ballarat. How anyone could think that Ballarat Cup day is an appropriate day to undertake scheduled track maintenance is beyond belief. This is simply more evidence that Daniel Andrews' city-centric government knows nothing, and does not care about regional Victoria.
Joshua Morris MP, member for Western Victoria
ASBESTOS: NOT A THING OF THE PAST
Asbestos is a killer that continues to claim the lives of Australians including men, women and young adults, years after it was banned in Australia in 2003. To save lives, we're on a mission to educate more Australians than ever before about potentially dangerous asbestos products still lurking in one third of Aussie homes. After losing a dear friend and colleague to mesothelioma, the memory of what asbestos did to my mate Harold Hopkins, and that it might have been avoided still fills me with deep sadness. Harold is among the countless Australians whose lives have been lost because they inhaled asbestos fibres. As ambassador for Asbestos Awareness Month, former DIY renovator and tradie, I've met many, many people who, like me, have lost someone dear to them and been unnecessarily exposed to asbestos fibres. Friends, grandparents, husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons and tragically, even grandchildren have succumbed to asbestos-related diseases because they inhaled asbestos fibres. The 'first wave' of victims were the miners and manufacturers of asbestos and their wives who died from mesothelioma when they breathed in fibres while washing their husband's work clothes. The 'second wave' of asbestos-related deaths were tradies who'd worked with asbestos-containing products. Their partners also became victims and sometimes even children who'd inhaled fibres died in their early 20s before their lives had even begun. In recent times, in what's been dubbed the 'third wave' of victims, homeowners, DIYers and tradies have been identified as those most at risk when they renovate homes, unknowingly disturb asbestos and inhale the fibres that can kill.