LETTERS
Federal cuts to transport needs are no surprise The cancellation of the extension of Frankston to Baxter line is no surprise as the federal government has no infrastructure revenue to fork out (“Budget cuts end travel plans” The News 21/11/23). Governments in Australia are not as wealthy as they used to be, partly because most of our gold was sold by a former Liberal treasurer for $300 an ounce and the rest what is left is in the vaults at the Bank of England not in the Reserve Bank of Australia, which is a government bank. Victoria is in debt with a government not wanting to cut expenditure and government programs and will soon make a treaty with Aboriginals which will add to Victoria’s debt. The Kananook station car park is being built and funded by the federal government on City of Frankston land, which may be unconstitutional as the Australian Constitution does not recognise local government. If it is constitutional, Frankston Council should receive rates from the Commonwealth to help in the relief of ratepayers’ increasing rates bills. Russell Morse, Karingal
Pharmacy needed On Thursday 19 October, having severe breathing problems after two heart operations, I sought help at Frankston Hospital’s 24/7 emergency department. It was so crowded and busy that I waited nearly seven hours before being seen by a helpful doctor. Medicine was prescribed, but I was amazed to hear our impressively developing public hospital did not have an emergency pharmacy to dispense my prescriptions – quite unbelievable. Phone calls by a friendly triage nurse gave worrying news that at 10pm every Frankston pharmacy was closed, except Cranbourne Road Chemist Warehouse, which was open until
10.30pm – we had only 30 minutes to get there. My husband and I were lucky to be independent with a car but could only feel sadness and concern for many other patients, especially those with sick children. Later, I was amazed yet again to read that the Albanese government had delivered almost $10 million for a special Indigenous First Peoples health and wellbeing centre in Frankston CBD, including redevelopment of the “local Aboriginal gathering place”. No such favoured handouts for any other groups, let alone much needed 24/7 pharmacy for Frankston Hospital’s emergency department. Meredith Neumann, Frankston
Carbon capture hoax The Albanese government has shown it supports fossil fuel donors over our environment by recently passing the Sea Dumping Bill 2023 in the Senate. The Bill will allow Santos, Woodside, ExxonMobil and other gas companies to pipe their carbon dioxide (CO2) under the seabed for carbon capture and storage (CCS). The Bill will also allow Japan, South Korea and other countries to transport their CO2 waste to Australia to be injected into old oil and gas reservoirs. Japan wants to exploit the 33 billion tonnes of brown coal in the Latrobe Valley for hydrogen exports and, by coincidence, Latrobe City Council recently voted to send its mayor and CEO to Japan to advocate for hydrogen from coal. But the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) project cannot proceed if the CO2 waste can’t be safely transported and stored via CCS. CarbonNet is part of the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions and seeks to partner with the HESC to transport CO2 waste under
Bass Strait. Could CarbonNet receive a final investment decision from the Victorian government in the near future? With the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) being held in Dubai from 30 November, it will be interesting to see how CCS is promoted as a decarbonisation solution. Will our elected parliamentarians be attending COP28 to represent their constituents or their fossil fuel friends? Dale Stohr, Crib Point
Religious views Too bad, so sad: The Commonwealth, Section 116, shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth. Australia is not a Christian nation, by definition it is a secular nation. If we want to be a Christian nation maybe we should start reading and applying the good parts of the Bible, and therein lies the real hypocrisy of the Christian values many proclaim are the foundation of this country. Actually, a Christian caliphate would not be much better than an ISIS caliphate, which is documented in history by Christian actions of the past and the alt-right Christians of today. The Bible in many cases is much worse than the Koran in its teachings. I have spent some time on this. Many alt-right white supremacist groups base their manifestos on Christianity and the bible, KKK for example. Prayer? OK with me so long as all prayers are offered. Rotate them through the religions, there are over 4000 of them, same with pastors in schools. We should celebrate non-Christian sacred holidays in the same manner as our biased celebration of Christian holidays and give time off and have sales. I’m for this one. But in lieu of that, maybe we should ban Christian festivals and Christmas and Easter should be abandoned and the Easter and Christmas holidays should be scrapped without being
replaced, which will add to Australia’s productivity. Australia is supposedly a democracy, don’t go trying to force Christianity down my throat. The Christian inquisitions did not work in the past and will not work today. Joe Lenzo, Safety Beach
Give us the break What a pleasant surprise to view letters on various subjects to find and congratulate, especially one clever, thoughtful outlook on how some of the “woke” factor elements, such as abnormally bad manners, ugly shouting, wanting to obliterate the word Christ as the spiritual/humanity of Christ’s human birth and redemption of the human race actually took place (“Christian approach” Letters 14/11/23). A few people do not want The Lord’s Prayer to be said before our political gatherings. However, voters have a personal obligation to find out how the candidates line up on their voting intentions. It is very important that we don’t put our country, and its future voters in jeopardy, by such foolhardy voting. We have done very well using the present constitution. As for Judeo/Christian religious worship in the manner for which it was successfully put into effect and a break to think about it, most people have always enjoyed the break, whether for religious or personal interests. The extra payment now given to every worker will be replaced by a few very important, individual type staff (as still must exist, and they will as people always need medical attention 365 days a year) with other such important industries such as farming, food production and care, but the rest will go into an ordinary working day. Maureen Federico, Frankston South
Letters - 300 words maximum and including full name, address and contact number - can be sent to The News, PO Box 588, Hastings 3915 or emailed to: team@mpnews.com.au
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28 November 2023
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