Politics is a dirty word

 The State government decision to increase royalties on brown coal should be followed by a similar move on charges paid for sand extraction. The tripling of Victoria's brown coal royalty rate will net an extra $252 million over four years which, the Government says, will help to pay for the  infrastructure, health and education plans. A similar amount could be gained from sand. The sand extraction companies currently pay virtually nothing in royalties, and only pay council rates based on the value of each site as farm land – even though the value of the resource on each site is often nany millions of dollars. The value of the resource should be rated as soon as planning permits are issued in the same way that development land is rated. That could help to remediate the effects of the destruction of vegetation, wildlife habitat and contamination of groundwater. 

  Dissatisfaction with Government performance was a key driver in the last Federal election and we need to build on that at  state level. The Victorian election on November 26 is an opportunity for everyone to defy the party system and elect people to represent electorates rather than political party machines. It makes sense to vote for genuine independents, not anyone who is a party hack. To maximise the result, put any Labor candidates last on the ballot paper, Greens candidates next last, then Liberals, Nationals and Democrats. Voting on the draconian emergency powers legislation demonstrated that the only party which showed any regard for the community was Sustainable Australia. It’s likely that there will be a choice of true independents to vote for in most electorates to meet local and regional needs. An example is the seat of Bass where the Government and Bass Coast Shire are keen to encourage sand extraction by destroying native vegetation and wildlife habit....

 The Victorian State Government and Bass Coast Shire are doing everything possible to clear native vegetation and destroy wildlife habitat in the Bass Valley. Despite extensive records showing the habitat value of the vegetation for a wide range of species including birds such as Powerful and Barking Owls, they are allowing unfettered extraction of sand to meet development requirements in Melbourne and elsewhere for concrete. Numerous studies have identified the regional importance of native vegetation on the land proposed for sand extraction. The Sand Extraction Strategy, Lang Lang to Grantville was approved in 1996 to protect the natural values of the area but is now being ignored by politicians and bureaucrats. As well as over 120 bird species , there are many mammal/marsupials,including koala, mountain brushtail possum, sugar glider and swamp wallaby. The bushland being removed includes the only remaining riparian vegetation on the Bass River.