Non-core poll
The voting card stated ‘The “Sunbury Poll” is a poll of voters within the existing boundaries of the municipal district of the Hume City Council to determine the level of support for a stand-alone Sunbury Shire Council.’
Not to be a final decision, just to determine whether further action was warranted. It was a voluntary poll. At all levels of government, Australians do not vote in voluntary polls on important issues. In November, we will not be voluntarily voting to “determine the level of support” for Liberal or Labor.
I followed the lead to that poll thoroughly, reading and listening to everything. There was no question in my mind what I was voting for. If it had been voting for a final decision, I would have had no idea what I was voting for, nor would anyone else.
The Liberals are the party that invented Core and Non-Core Promises, though I cannot think of a single Core promise.
Don Hampshire, Sunbury
Reserve must be kept for kids
The residents in the vicinity of Wyralla Crescent and Carinya Drive, Gisborne are well and truly being short-changed and treated with contempt by the councillors who support the sale of the Wyralla Crescent park reserve.
Why do these councillors want to sell off and carve up the only open space parkland in the estate? The reserve should be retained and developed as a children’s playground like many others in the shire.
The residents in this estate have been paying many thousands of dollars in rates over the years and should not be losing parkland that other estates in the shire enjoy and take as an entitlement.
Robert Gregory, Gisborne
Too little too late for school
Only four months ago the Napthine government was removing classrooms from the Kyneton Secondary College year 7 complex. Now, after Labor’s $11.5 million funding commitment and years of campaigning by locals, the government has been forced to take action.
This last minute budget announcement will be welcomed by our cash-strapped schools but falls well short of the $11.5 million promised by Labor to completely rebuild and relocate Kyneton Primary School. Labor’s vision for public education in Kyneton is in keeping with the many hours of community consultation that went into development of the Kyneton Education Plan.
In contrast the Napthine government has announced funds to patch up existing facilities. The additional work required of the primary school is particularly onerous – the consultation requirements and timelines attached to the funding appear to be designed to force Kyneton Primary School to stay where it is. This is despite the existing site being too small and the school council unanimously supporting the move to the Edgecombe Road site.
Mary-Anne Thomas,
Labor candidate for Macedon
