Viewpoint
19/11/2013
Published in The Murray Valley Standard, page 8
No salvation from hoons In reference to Rock of Salvation story (MV Standard, Thursday November 14). I live in George Avenue, Murray Bridge, and it has become a street of burnout competitions morning, noon and night. On the Thomas Street end of George Avenue the road is black from tyre rubber leading from various driveways. I have rung the police on several occasions to be told to play detective and get number plates and times and descriptions of person driving. I wouldn’t want to be standing on the footpath when they’re doing 100km down the street and get killed. It’s only a matter of time before they go through a fence, or worse, kill someone. Concerned citizen, Murray Bridge Spreading Christmas cheer We must congratulate the Murray Bridge Council on their fantastic town hall Christmas decorations. The wreath and piece of garland are truly awe inspiring! I’m sure the pine tree lights will be fantastic as well. The promised “banners” haven’t appeared as yet – so we will wait with patience. What a shame a bit more finance and effort couldn’t have been spread along the whole Bridge Street precinct. If we look at the 2011/12 financial report form the council’s website we can see that “Professional Services” jumped from $535,000 to $1.229 million over those 12 months ($694,000 increase). I guess that would cover some of the consultants who assisted with the apparently now dead Bridge Street re- development. Wouldn’t it be great if instead of using so much cash on ideas and theories that maybe $10-20,000 was used to fund a massive lot of Chrismas decorations that could be used over many years into the future? I suspect we may currently have some councillors who are unwilling and/or unable to question the council’s financial direction with regards to the centre of our “regional city”. Andrew Baltensperger, Murray Bridge Thanks to `relayers’ At Cancer Council SA, every day we are inspired by the dedication and selflessness of so many individuals who stand together to help beat cancer and lessen the impacts of this terrible disease. This year’s Murray Bridge Relay For Life, held on October 26-27, was yet another example of `hope in action’ and gave hundreds of people the opportunity to celebrate, remember and fight back against cancer. Through your incredible efforts, the Murray Bridge community has already raised more than $42,000 and we expect that figure to rise in the coming weeks. These funds help Cancer Council SA continue to fund critical cancer research and prevention programs and enable us to give practical and emotional support for all people affected by cancer. Our nurse counsellors speak with more than 1000 regional callers each year who seek information and support through calling Cancer Council Helpline 13 11 20. Many of you will also be familiar with Cancer Council Lodge where we provide a `home away from home’ for regional people affected by cancer when they are in Adelaide for treatment. Last year we were able to provide 33,000 room nights of accommodation to guests and their carers at our lodges. Thanks to your generous support, every day Cancer Council SA is making a real difference to real lives. We are proud that our united efforts have resulted in a 30 per cent improvement in survival rates over the past two decades, equating to about 61,000 Australian lives saved. We won’t win every fight, but thanks to your support we will win the war. Every day there is hope, because every day we’re a step closer to beating cancer. Thank you again for your amazing efforts and we look forward to `Relaying’ with you again next year. Professor Brenda Wilson, Chief executive, Cancer Council SA. Christmas cakes available Since the inception of our Christmas cake program in 1965, Lions in Multiple District 201 (Australia) has donated approximately $65,000,000 and many charities have benefited from those donations (profit from cakes). Under our charter, all the profit made by any Lions club has to be donated, by either money or kind, back to the general public. We have donated to many charities, just to name two, the Fred Hollows Foundation and the Lions save Sight Program. We have recently completed the Lions Save Sight 2 program, these program have all helped save sight and returned sight to many millions of people throughout the World. Australian Lions help finance many foundations, the Lions Medical Research Foundation, Lions Blood and Childhood Cancer Research Appeal, and the Lions Drug Awareness Foundation Inc. Did you know that eating a Christmas cake can help prevent blindness, well that is if you eat Lions Christmas Cake? All proceeds from the sale of these cakes will be used by Lions for their Lions Save Sight projects, and other humanitarian projects. To order your Lions Christmas Cake phone freecall 1300 300 305. Tony Matthews, National Lions Christmas Cake Committee Start thinking about election Dignity for Disability is a passionate defender of human rights, and some of the human rights enshrined by the United Nations are `the right to equal access to public service in their country,’ and the `right to take part in genuine elections.’ With the few sitting days that remain before the South Australian election next year, it feels as though the voters are being railroaded into a reactionary change to our voting system that has the potential to disenfranchise small groups wishing to con- test, as well as voters who will lose the voice provided by smaller parties. Our democratic rights are too important to be rushed through parliament in this way, and smaller parties are the way of the future as the support they have gained is due to widespread disenchantment with both Labor and Liberal. Smaller parties and Independents have shouldered responsibility for legislation in the SA Parliament for many years now, and time has shown them to be both reasonable and responsible. People living with a disability, their family carers, support workers and many people employed in the wider disability sector have benefited from the strong voice of d4d’s MP Kelly Vincent, in the absence of widespread community rumblings against smaller parties, it seems the Labor government are barking up the wrong tree on this one and are actually trying to stitch it up all their own way. Rick Neagle Dignity for Disability (d4d) president, Kensington Gardens SA Liberals two-faced In regards to the article (Sunday Mail, November 10, 2013), “Heading to export to all Asia, say Liberals”. I find what Opposition leader Steven Marshall says in this article a bit two-faced. On one hand he appears to be the farmers’ best friend by offering to open up new export opportunities for the agriculture industry. But on the other hand, he and the Liberals have dealt them a cruel blow by openly allowing legislation to go through a few months ago, which would see farmers subjected to the requirement to install water bypass devices at their own expense (the ultimate benefit of this going to SA Water) and the metering of “large” dams, whereby farmers are now placed at the mercy of faceless bureaucrats who have the ability to place a wide range of taxes on the water that farmers use, even though the water falls freely from the sky. Why don’t we do what other countries are doing for their farmers (as well as their other industries) and start by offering farmers in South Australia subsidies to enable them to be more competitive with the Asian countries? How can our farmers compete in Asia when in some countries wages are as low as $2 a day compared to around $20 an hour over here? If the Liberals are really serious about looking after the agricultural industry, then they should further repeal all laws that either infringe upon or deny property owners the right to pursue their own prosperity on their own land, instead of supporting those laws like they have done in the past. Karl Braendler, Hahndorf.
