Congratulations to Hamish Macdonald and The Project crew for their courage and investigative journalism exposing the questionable purchase of water under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, which may have ripped off good hard-working taxpayers.
This is yet another chapter in a book that is getting bigger, containing story after story of water mismanagement. What have voters done to deserve all this?
And as it all plays out we have ongoing damage to the environment and the reputation of hard-working food producers who get tarred with the ‘‘irrigator’’ brush. It is unforgivable, and a blight on a political system which has put environmental votes ahead of sound water policy for more than a decade. Future generations are sure to look back on the first 20 years of the 21st century and wonder how we could get it all so wrong
I can only hope this is the beginning of uncovering the total political mismanagement of our water resources. In the meantime, with an election coming we need to ensure that we put our vote in people we can trust, who are committed to fixing the mistakes that have been made.
Labor moves
Dick Ashby, Numurkah
Bill Shorten recently announced that on becoming prime minister he will appoint a woman as Governor-General when the present incumbent’s term expires.
I believe his intentions are obvious; (a) to muster the women’s vote at the federal election, and (b) after gradually undermining and politicising the position of the appointed Governor-General in the next four years, hold a referendum to create a republic and president on the grounds the constitution is not working properly.
Healthcare push
Nigel Hicks, Independent candidate for Nicholls, Wyuna
A serious commitment needs to be made to provide full and adequate healthcare in the Nicholls electorate. Currently patients needing specialist care have to travel to Melbourne,
often at great expense and discomfort. To address this, Goulburn Valley Health in Shepparton needs turning into a fully equipped training hospital.
This will not only bring desperately needed medical treatment to the area but it will also bring students to the area, some of whom will stay on to provide specialist care or become GPs in our towns.
It’s time for the Nicholls electorate to be taken seriously and not fobbed off with funding announcements that have no mention of timeframe of delivery.