First, some 24 months ago the Ballarat Station was refurbished, particularly the north platform, and those rooms have been available for lease for the past 18 months.

Obviously, our local politicians don't use the train; if they did, they would have noticed that whoever undertook the refurbishment forgot to include the east end of the north platform.

Now that this oversight has been brought to their attention, when will this be rectified?

Second, with all the plans for the redevelopment of the rail station precinct, I do not understand why there is no plan to remove the VRI Hall and the Kingdom Hall at the corner of Lydiard and Nolan streets.

They are of no heritage value, are rarely used and are structurally unsound.

If these buildings were demolished, a great vista would be created that looks back across the railyards to the south-east of Ballarat.

A viewing area with seating could be installed in their place so as people could appreciate this new aspect of Ballarat's landscape .

Ron Egeberg, Soldiers Hill

I read with interest Cr Mark Harris' Letter to the Editor (Courier, 5 January) concerning investment in regional rail. I can assure Cr Harris that investment in Ballarat's rail services is a priority of mine and of the Andrews Labor Government. In fact, it has been a priority since I was first elected to parliament with the then incoming Bracks Labor Government.

Cr Harris should know better than most that it was the Liberals, under Jeff Kennett that closed so many of our country rail lines and allowed Ballarat rail services to fall into a poorly maintained state. Only under Labor were rail lines reopened to Ararat and Maryborough and a new station built at Wendouree. Labor's Regional Fast Rail project also saw the modernisation of our line which has resulted in a near tripling of patronage. More recently, it was the same Liberals that neglected regional Victoria again when they failed to order any new V/Line carriages in their first two years of government, while further cutting $120 million from V/Line's budget. Although they promised a passing loop at Ballan ahead of the 2010 election, this was never constructed.

Since Labor has returned to office, we have continued delivering. We have put extra carriages on the line, are adding extra services and our record $518 million investment to upgrade the Ballarat train line will see large sections of duplicated track, additional passing loops along the line, second platforms at Ballan and Bacchus Marsh and improved stabling. Ballarat residents will also benefit from improved bus services thanks to the Andrew Labor Government's Ballarat Bus Review.

The new Ballarat Bus Network is delivering more direct and improved routes, more frequent services and better connections to trains. Instead of trying to criticise the largest infrastructure project in our region.

Geoff Howard, Member for Buninyong

The Federal Government's Inquiry into crystal methamphetamine has received multiple submissions from multiple groups of "experts". A lot of these submissions make the same claims in more or less the same words. But do they make any sense? These expert groups include the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association, the Western Australian Network of Alcohol and Other Drug Agencies, the National Drug Research Institute and the National Association of People Living with HIV Australia. Not everyone would agree that stigmatisation does more harm than drug-use does.

Arnold Jago, Nichols Point