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Offshore wind farms dangerous

AUSTRALIA is a signatory to EAAF, which provides important flyways and habitat to millions of the world’s migratory birds. China, Japan and Korea are also signatories. Areas of importance are nominated and classified under water bird criteria and the Ramsar Convention. Corner Inlet has been acknowledged as one of the most important in Australia. The Corner Inlet Ramsar Site, which is estimated to support 50 per cent of the migratory birds in Victoria, as well as being a major flyway between Tasmania, Flinders Island and Corner Inlet. There is no way the state government and the Star of the South can honestly guarantee the migratory birds and their habitat would not be affected by scores of wind turbines installed beside them. It is not a surprise the state government would jeopardise the Ramsar site, the Commonwealth government, not complying to the Ramsar Convention and supporting the wind farm location, is a concern.

Bryan Kesby,

Traralgon Political games

THE National Party is a classic case of a party who take their supporters for granted, with a strong Nationals vote in East Gippsland propped up by a popular federal member Darren Chester. There is a strong argument in the state election for a protest vote to lower their winning margins and smarten them up. A classic example is in the difficult area of drug and alcohol addiction, which affects regional people who need urgent access to intensive treatment. The human toll of addiction is at the centre of misery suffered by many victims and their families. The Nationals Melina Bath has politicised the opening of a new rehab facility in Traralgon to get support in the Morwell electorate by lobbying to ban people from outside the local area being admitted. This would impact on East Gippslanders. In parliament and on community radio, Ms Bath has put a somewhat confusing message that summed up a person’s access to health care can be based on their postcode. Ms Bath’s approach is based on the assumption that people from outside the Latrobe Valley won’t hear what she says on FM radio. Imagine if Gippslanders were denied access to the Royal Children’s Hospital based on our postcode. The Nationals cannot be running around Gippsland playing communities off against each other in such a disgraceful fashion, and a swing to the ALP might just send them the right message.

Phillip Edwards,

Hazelwood South Representing local views

I REFER to Leanne Vella’s letter (‘Weighing into the debate’ - Latrobe Valley Express - 9/11/22) in which she lamented that her local ALP candidate was not even from the Latrobe Valley, and came from Drouin. I thought she might be interested to learn that ‘parachuting’ candidates in from other electorates is a common practise and, worse, perfectly legal. In fact at the upcoming November elections, there are at least two other candidates standing in Morwell who have also come in from other areas. But it doesn’t stop there - I wonder if she realises that four out of our five present Upper House, Eastern Victoria Region MPs don’t live locally? One lives at Ballarat; his predecessor lived in Carlton North, two others apparently live in the Yarra Ranges, while another rents an office at Warragul. Is it any wonder that Gippsland is last in line for state funding, that our roads are crumbling, our schools in need of urgent maintenance, and we are faced with the loss of our last two power stations, the closure of our timber industry and an escalation in power costs in our farms and homes? And they think they deserve another term. Imagine if we had five local, committed MPs actively working to represent our region instead of one?

Greg Hansford Upper House candidate, Freedom Party of Victoria The Latrobe Valley can’t afford Labor

THE Latrobe Valley can no longer afford the ‘debt and deficit’ culture of the Andrews and Maxfield Labor Party. According to The Australian Financial Review, Victoria’s budget debt in the financial year 2022/23 is projected to soar to over $1,800,000,000.00, with an increasing state deficit of $9,700,000,000.00. That’s a massive debt that our grandkids will be left to pay off. In effect, money that would have been better spent on new hospitals, more schools, better roads, modern trains and improved services and care for our ageing senior citizens. So what are Maxfield’s Labor Party conniving to impose upon us. The premature closure of Yallourn power station in 2028, then gradually some of the Loy Yang power stations. At a time when Victoria’s electricity prices are the highest ever known. According to The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO, spot prices in Eastern Australia, including Victoria, have doubled in recent years, they were $130 mega-watt hour in 2019 across the average first quarter, during the heat wave conditions of the droughts. Today, they are a staggering $264 mega-watt hour. The only reason Labor want to close power stations is to satisfy the ideology of the Greens. In modern politics, Labor’s primary vote is among the worst in its history, hence their reliance on Greens ballot box preferences. This same preference dependency is the reason former Labor Party Member Tracie Lund is a candidate in this election. Her preferences will be needed to boost Labor’s two- party preferred vote. The false environmental excuses for power station closures have proven to be nothing more than political lies, statistical exaggerations and media misinformation. The ozone layer has not disappeared, the seasonal temperatures have not increased, sea levels have not risen and the carbon dioxide we exhale in every breath is a colorless, odorless and harmless gas. In fact, the carbon in our atmosphere is so negligible its measured in parts per million. According to CSIRO, the mean global annual level of CO2 in the atmosphere was 410 parts per million (2019). In percentage terms that’s 0.04 per cent of our atmosphere containing our harmless, odorless and colorless carbon dioxide gas. Any measurable increase in atmospheric carbon is almost certainly due to more than 100,000 jet aircraft flying every day across the world, exhausting millions of litres of burnt aviation fuel, since the mid 20th century. As mentioned we can’t afford Labor, but neither should we indulge the overt corruption and collusion of the Andrews administration. Their abuse in office includes everything from excessive COVID-19 lockdowns, to cronyism toward infrastructure contractors. In reviewing Labor’s unacceptable COVID-19 incompetence, we found that Victorians in Melbourne suffered 262 days in lockdown - the longest and harshest in the world. When most capital cities like Brisbane, Countdown is on: With the state election coming their say in today’s letters section. up, voices from different sides of politics have had file photographs Adelaide and Perth had only with Sydney on 159 days. The corruption in Andrews’ around 60-70 approach to days, infrastructure is profound, with billions of Have your say dollars awarded sub-contractors, to the again same corporations and again, to build and THE Latrobe Valley Express welcomes letters to the editor. Preference will be given to brief, concise letters which address local issues. The editor Liam Durkin, reserves the right to edit letters for reasons of space and clarity, and may refuse to publish any letter without explanation. The Express does not publish letters from anonymous contributors. Letters must include a phone number, email address and the author’s hometown for purposes of substantiating authenticity. The views expressed in letters to the editor are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Latrobe Valley Express management or staff. Email letters to news@lvexpress.com. au and include ‘letter to the editor’ in the subject line. Deadline for letters is Thursday 3pm. unnecessary sky rails across Melbourne suburbs, unneeded new metro tunnels costing over $11 billion, and the creation of the needless Level Crossing Removal Authority that’s estimated to cost tax payers $14.8 billion to alter 110 level crossings. The truth is; no more than a dozen actually warranted maintenance based on safety and traffic considerations. This scurrilous type of ‘rorting’ is magnified, when the use of unionised workers results in exorbitant pay packets, a proportion of which then goes to their respective unions, who in turn donate to the Labor Party’s political campaigns. What we have witnessed over the past decade is the nexus of Greens extremism, complicity of state Labor governments, and the corruption of corporate Australia to market a lie. Its estimated that 99 per cent of homes with solar panels still depend on mains power, with 80-85 per cent of mains power being generated by coal gas power stations. Renewable energy has proven expensive, inefficient and unreliable, costing Australian tax payers $13 billion per year. The undeniable truth is it’s impossible to change weather, climate or nature, but exceedingly easy to influence students, stock markets, media and the general public. If voters of Latrobe Valley want to safeguard power generation jobs and stop the premature closure of Yallourn and Loy Yang power stations, please put the Labor-Greens and Independents candidates last on your ballot papers when allocating preferences.

Tom Quinn, Moe Policies not rock throwing

WE are close to the state election, and the trend state wide shows the ALP team winning. In the Latrobe Valley, MPs elected into both houses under the National Party banner have had easy work, throwing rocks at the ALP government, in essence then saying ‘duh, look at me I’m such a fighter’. Even so, despite silly games, major projects and the Commonwealth Games have been

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