Politics is a dirty word

  Bass Coast Shire has been deprived of rate revenue totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars by only charging rates   applicable to farming properties on land for which sand extraction permits had been issued. The oversight has affected existing ratepayers who have been required to cover all Council costs without the input of revenue from major corporations who were granted permits for sand extraction. Ratepayers who live alongside some of the properties which were given planning permits for sand extraction in the 1990’s say “once those permits were issued the rateable value of their land should have reflected the value of the resource, it was no longer simply rural land for farming purposes. Once development permits are issued for subdivisions, rates are calculated on the new value of that land, so why are sand extraction companies given a special deal?” 

 The Victorian Government is still keen to go ahead with the wholesale destruction of native vegetation and wildlife on the eastern side of Westernport despite calls from the United Nations to limit the extent of sand extraction. The United Nations Environment Programme has called for urgent action to avert a "sand crisis," as global demand has surged to 50 billion tonnes a year amid population growth and urbanisation. In a report released on Tuesday, the U.N said “Sand is the most exploited natural resource in the world after water, but its use is largely ungoverned, meaning we are consuming it faster than it can be replaced by geological processes that take hundreds of thousands of years,” It said “the needs and expectations of our societies cannot be met without improved governance of sand resources, "and  also called for a reduction in demand by reusing sand from recycled materials like concrete and mining tailings instead of using naturally occurring sand. S...

Australians may be living real-life chaos theory after the  federal election on May 21. It  gives an opportunity for those who bother to vote  t o  change the country's  direction. There have b een too many examples of incompetence, arrogance, greed and stupidity and it is important to send a message to Canberra. The best way to do that is not to vote for any candidates who are members of main-stream parties. So put Liberals, Nationals, Labor and Greens at the bottom of your ballot papers. Do the same at the next State elections and politicians may begin to realise that voters are not as gullible as they think we are. Government propaganda (fake news) has been eagerly spread by news outlets including the ABC. It is the party system that has failed Australia. We don't vote for a Prime Minister; we vote for a local member and those MPs get together and appoint the person leading their political party. So, politicians owe allegiance to their party - not to the pe...

 Rabid members of the Australian Republican Movement and some politicians keep trying to revive the flawed concept of dumping the monarchy and turning Australia into a republic. So far, they have failed to explain how this country will benefit after changing from a constitutional monarchy to a republic – will it cut the waste of taxpayers dollars? No. Will it be more democratic? No. So why spend more money on a system that offers no benefits to society? If they feel that we must change, they may as well accept reality. We are already the 51st de facto state of the United States because for decades our governments have always done everything requested of them by the American President. Bite the bullet and ask to be formally absorbed into the United States. If that doesn’t appeal, we can wait to be taken over by China or some other country! The Republican movement needs to drop the idea – or come up with a model that is acceptable to Australians - perhaps making the President o...