FEATURES Hope for a fairer deal

By PETER WALSH

MY HOPE for 2023 and beyond is simple –to see regional Victoria gets its fair share of the cake.

To see its roads and rail services rescued from their current state of decay – there’s nowhere you can travel in regional Victoria without having to weave from side to side to dodge potholes, crumbling edges and, in some cases, whole stretches of rod where the surface has been chewed up by traffic use way beyond its capacity.

To see enough doctors and allied health professionals attracted to regional hubs and towns to save people waiting months to see a GP – or heading to a big city for help. And for the many country towns in dire need of hospital upgrades, and replacements, to get their share of the billions of dollars being splashed around infrastructure projects in Melbourne.

If we don’t get progress there now, playing catch-up will only deepen the regional and rural health crisis.

To see enough teachers attracted to country schools to give students, especially high school students, the range of subject choices they need to have a reasonably level playing field when aiming for university spots and future careers. But we also need to remember the formative years of education are irreplaceable in equipping our young people with the skills they need to make the most of the

Ideal for breeding

Sir, Widespread and lasting rainfall on the east coast of Australia in 2022 has led to a sustained period of ideal breeding conditions for Australian waterbirds – and recreational duck hunters are getting ready to enjoy a bumper harvest in 2023.

Duck hunting in Victoria is an ethical and responsible way for health-conscious Australians to enjoy a naturally renewable and free-range source of meat.

The meat from harvested wild ducks is generally higher in vitamins and lower in cholesterol and sodium than chicken; and by utilising birds that live, breed, and grow in wetlands, hunters are harvesting a resource that uses land unsuitable for agriculture – thus ensuring healthy ecosystems rather than the large-scale monocultures created by crops such as soybeans.

Harvesting and utilising ducks as a meat resource can also lower the overall food mileage.

Hunters know where and when their meat was harvested, and exactly how it has been treated right up to the point it goes onto their table.

The sustainability of hunting has been proven and supported by leading wildlife scientists around the world, and Victoria’s season is tightly controlled.

If anything, the Victorian legislators can be accused of being too conservative in restricting hunting times and daily rest of their time in school. To see their schools upgraded and better equipped so our children don’t want to abandon their hometowns in search of more choices.

To see serious and significant investment in childcare across regional Victoria, where it’s not like Melbourne, or Geelong and Ballarat, where you have a choice of care alternatives.

In too many regional towns there is no choice, because there is absolutely no childcare. How can we expect to attract young families to regional Victoria if we can’t offer them something as basic as reliable childcare so parents can work if they want to?

To see a drastic overhaul of the aged care industry, so regional Victorians who have done the hard yards, who have been contributors, get treated with the dignity, respect and compassion they deserve.

Increasingly the only news about the aged care sector is bad news. There needs to be enough investment to ensure quality residences staffed by quality personnel, are available so our senior citizens can live in safe and peaceful surrounds with the thanks of us all for their contribution to regional Victoria.

Unfortunately, my hopes and my vision are almost certainly at odds as the vision I see ahead in 2023 is an uphill battle to harvest limits on hunters. Native ducks can be harvested in Victoria only by appropriately licensed individuals, and only during the recreational duck season (legislated to run from March to June). Victorian legislation enshrines that hunters must make all endeavours to recover all ducks that they hunt – and that at least the breast meat is harvested. So not only do hunters eat what they harvest – they are legislatively required to do so.

Victorian hunters are awaiting the announcement of any seasonal restrictions, but with positive announcements made in both Tasmania and South Australia in recent weeks, the pressure is on the legislators to announce the season soon.

This will allow hunters time to make plans to get into regional and remote Victorian communities, and not only get their harvest – but put vital dollars back into those communities.

The Victorian Department of Jobs, Precints and Regions’ June 2020 report Economic contribution of recreational hunting in Victoria found that the gross contribution to Gross State Product from recreational hunting by game licence holders in Victoria in 2019 was $356 million.

More specifically, the gross contribution from duck hunting was $65 million, and from quail hunting the tally was $22 million.

Considering the impacts of widespread flooding on Victorian communities and

Community and Loddon Shire debate on ‘welcome to country’ ceremonies has triggered responses from Loddon Herald readers fight for just some progress in all or any of the above.

Jill Fitzgerald writes: No Australian citizens need to be welcomed to our own country, I am Australian born and bred. This is my country.

Andrew Roberts writes: I’ll do it for $250.

Regional Victoria is, and always has been, out of sight, out of mind, with this Andrews Government.

Just take a quick look at the Swan Hill hospital upgrade. It is a two-stage multi-million dollar project and wouldn’t it make sense, while the workers are there now doing stage one, that stage two planning and approvals get fast-trackED so all that personnel and equipment can stay on site and work straight through?

But I doubt anyone in Spring Street is listening, even though The Nationals had this strategy as a priority if elected the chances Daniel Andrews and his gang will pick up on this blindingly obvious solution to get the hospital up to speed will be ignored.

While the Premier and his union cronies try to hide the billions and billions of dollars in debt being racked up on the out-ofcontrol ‘Big Build’ (which should be called the Big Bill for accuracy), my Nationals colleagues and I will be in there fighting to make sure regional Victoria remains a priority on the political agenda.

*PeterWalshisthememberfor MurrayPlains businesses in 2022, such an injection of cash in 2023 would surely be welcomed.

LucasCooke CEO FieldandGameAustralia

Yes to a duck season

Sir, Tell the same lie often enough and it will be believed. Those opposing a duck season claim duck numbers are low, after two consecutive La Ninas! (Loddon Herald, January 19).

Drive in the country and see for yourself, there is water everywhere and ducks. The official survey flies over\ set lines on the East coast and this year the birds are dispersed away from those lines and still breeding. Believe your own eyes!

Duck numbers will fall, when the water recedes over the next year, and they can either be dead in the wetlands, or hunter’s freezers, as simple as that.

There is little better that seeing the sun rise over a wetland, calling in ducks from afar (no it’s not as simple as just blowing a caller), taking a carefully measured shot and seeing your trained dog joyfully swim out and make the retrieve.

For those who have never tried roasted wild duck with a sublime sauce, then perhaps I can understand why you do not see the point.

BillPaterson GlenWaverley

Your Online Words

Nick Marlow writes: What is the justification on wasting ratepayers and taxpayers money on this deliberately divisive crap? The Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation will be laughing all the way to the bank. And like all such tokenistic crap, absolutely no benefit to the genuinely needy amongst the Aboriginal people. Kel Stewart writes: I caught a live on

1. What animal has the longest lifespan?

2. How far away can a wolf smell its prey?

3. What is the world’s most poisonous spider?

4. How many times can a hummingbird flap its wings per second?

5. What type of energy does an unlit match have?

6. What is a dog’s permanent tooth count?

7. What does someone who believes in antidisestablishmentarianism oppose?

8. In English, what does the Latin word Tempus mean?

9. In a polo match, how many chukkers are there?

10. How long is a nautical mile?

11. In Jurassic Park, who played park owner John Hammond?

12. What is the name of the anthemic dance in The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the beginning?

13. What film won Steven Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director?

14. Zurich is the capital of?

15. What was the nationality of Marco Polo?

16. Which is considered a semiplanet?

17. What is the name of the river that passes through Baghdad?

18. Which country has the greatest number of natural lakes?

19. What is the only sea that doesn’t have any coasts?

20. Tennis was first presented as an Olympic sport in what year?

Answers

Australia Day on Facebook where the Aboriginals were at Parliament House or somewhere protesting and the language that came out of their so called Elder was absolutely disgusting ... every swear word in the book. Bruce McCahon writes: Vocal representative of the rabble minority.