OPINIONS @

Respect and preservation needed

SallyJoyce (B Applied Sc (EnvMgt)),Monegeetta

It is with dismay, sadness and angry frustration that Parks Victoria thinks that it is acceptable to remove the Eucalyptus pauciflora from Mount Macedon because they are destroying the view to Melbourne from the Mount Macedon Memorial Cross.

Parks Victoria should feel ashamed that their priority is tourism. It is akin to killing the goose that laid the golden egg! Parks Victoria should be preserving these important outlier Eucalypts and not removing them because of aperceived inconvenience to the tourist public that want to look at Melbourne from afar!

The memorial cross was first erected by aprivate citizen following WWI to commemorate those who died and provide work for the unemployed at the time.

The cross and its immediate memorial reserve have been listed as an historic site on the Victorian Heritage Database on the September 1, 1994, and not long after on November 11, 1994, declared awar memorial reserve.

The primary view of the memorial cross was assessed by the Macedon Ranges Landscape Assessment, 2018 as from the footpath looking to the cross.

The southern view, where the E. pauciflora (snow gums) grow is secondary. This view is not important and of no significance to the heritage and memorial status of the cross.

The small and significant stand of snow gum that occur below the cross as well as asimilar stand that occur at the Camels Hump are both at 1000m and are an important gene pool to aspecies that incurred enormous destruction in the Victorian High Country last year due to fire,pests and disease.

What has happened in the High Country has been likened to an ecological collapse. The snow gum are not regenerating and the ecology is changing to atype of tussock rich grassland.

We need to respect the stands we have left within this state. They may be an important resource for genetic material and seed sourcing for rehabilitation. They are asignificant part of an ecological richness that is Mount Macedon. The Mount is isolated to other similar landforms and plant communities and have no natural means of distant distribution. This stand affords respect and preservation. Not to be trivialised or diminished in the name of short term anthropomorphic visual inconvenience at odds with the primary view of the memorial cross.

Time to pull the plug

MMack, Bendigo

Once again the duck shooters and the Game Management Authority are claiming that "science" is on their side. Curiously, they dismiss the longstanding science of annual surveys conducted by Professor Richard Kingsford at the University of NSW.

Kingsford's 40 years of survey data across one-third of the continent show that "game" duck species are in serious, sustained decline and have not recovered despite recent record rains.

Instead, the shooters have welcomed a new computer model commissioned by the GMA. It's intended to simulate past patterns of decision-making for shooting seasons, and continue those into the future. What could possibly go wrong? Those past decisions progressively destroyed adult breeding stock and broke the resilience of duck populations.

Already two of the eight "game" duck species are on the threatened list and several others are not far behind.

The Andrews government cites passionate views on both sides of the duck shooting argument. But Ibelieve the majority of Victorians consider the "sport" to be unacceptably cruel.

According to the GMA, the number of licensed duck shooters is shrinking and only half of them bother to take part in the season. It's time topull the plug, Premier.

Continued support rhetoric

Christine Clark,Riddells Creek

The response from Maria Weiss Director of Community Macedon Ranges Shire Council (Continued support,January 24) to my letter (No Justice for Riddells Creek Men’s Shed,January 17) is full of rhetoric and very similar to aletter from her in August last year.

She and they, the NH and council, totally ignore the reason this came about.

No one has been taken to task over the incorrect and unprofessional cancellation of the auspice agreement.

Rhetoric: Using language effectively to please or persuade. Ileave you to judge.

Costofliving crisis

PeterWalsh, Leader of The Nationals

Victorians are staring down the barrel of acostof living crisis.

They needrelief on their household bills and more room in their weekly budget to keep the pantry stocked.

This isn’t aproblem that is months away, it’s currently on our doorstep, and every day of inaction is another day Victorians areforced tomake their weekly budget stretch as far as possible.

We have seen gas and electricity prices continue to climb, with one gas company announcing it will increase Victorian household gas bills by 26.7 per cent.

And the Andrews Labor Government’s attempt to revive the SEC will do little to drive down energy prices.

Thesummer schoolholidays are about todrawtoaclose, the averageprimary schoolstudent needs $500 for stationary, uniforms and books to commence term one,thatfigure is more than $700 for a secondary student.

Instead of Labor looking after their own, they should beoffering immediate assistance to hardworking families –such as back toschool vouchers which have previously been called for bythe Liberals and Nationals.

No student should be starting the year behind the eight-ball, but it may be aharsh reality for many Victorian students.

Victorians don’t need over-budget, overtime major projects that are decades away from opening, they need common sense solutions to help their weekly budgets now.

Under-diagnosis of womenwith heartdisease

orshort of breath. Other atypical symptoms include nausea and abdominal, neck, and shoulder pain.

It is important for women to know that early menopause, inflammatory conditions such asrheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and complications during pregnancy -such as pre-eclampsia, hypertension, and gestational diabetes -are all important risk factors for women.

So, if youare awoman over 45* please have aheart health check with your GP and discuss your obstetric history with them if youhave had children. This enables proactive prevention to be taken toreduce risk. (*Over 35for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples).

Heart Research Australia aims toreduce the devastating impact heart disease has on families and the community by supporting world-class and emerging researchers to conduct ground-breaking research into the prevention, diagnosis andtreatment of heart disease.

For more informationortodonate, please visit www.heartresearch com.au

On behalf of the thousands ofAustralians impacted by heart disease every year, thank you foryoursupport.

Newrecordfor brush-tailed phascogales in Cobaws

Wombat ForestcareInc,Glenlyon

Abrush-tailed phascogale was caught on motion-sensing cameras in the Cobaw State Forest by Wombat Forestcare citizen scientists.

This is only the third record of this threatened species in the Cobaws and aconsiderable distance from those records. Brush-tailed phascogales are listed by the Victorian government as vulnerable to extinction.

This discovery coincided with the Department of the Environment’s intention to start their storm recovery clean-up of fallen timber in the Cobaw forest in the same area.

The Cobaw State Forest is classified as aSpecial Protection Zone and under normal circumstances it would be illegal under the State government’s Code of Practice for Timber Production to remove any timber, however the Department of Environment is using its powers under the Forests Act to prevent and suppress fire and will sell the wind-fallen timber.

If this operation resembles the works that they have authorised in the Wombat Forest, large machinery areas would be created, and all large logs removed leaving behind piles of bark and fine branches.

The environmental damage in the Wombat is adisgrace.

Dent, CEO, HeartResearchAustralia

Nicci

This February is REDFEB, heart awareness month. In addition to encouraging people towear red and donate, Heart Research Australia is raising awareness about the under-diagnosis and undertreatment of women with heart disease.

Heartdisease is not just aman’s disease. Globally, it is the number one killer of women, and we’ve found over recent years that women are doing worse after their heart attacks, they’re more likely to have another heart attack, and more likely to die orhave heart failure than men within the five years following their heart attack.

Timeiscritical and ahuge issue with womenisthe delaytotreatment. Women goto hospital later after symptoms start, which reduces the window ofopportunity for effective treatment and increases the risk of complications and damage to their heart.

Women also tend todevelop symptoms ofheart disease at amuch later stage of the illness than men and their symptoms are often vaguer. Some feel extremely tired

The storm damage at the Cobaws was relatively minor and any storm recovery works need to be handled sensitively. Fallen timber is essential for species such as the phascogale, which forages amongst it for invertebrates, and should be left on the ground.

In other similar forests where fallen timber has been taken for firewood, phascogales can no longer be found.

The Department of Environment management has not responded to requests to discuss this recent discovery.

The brush-tailed phascogale (phascogale tapoatafa) is asmall, nocturnal, carnivorous marsupial with abrushytail that feeds on invertebrates as well as small reptiles, birds and other prey.

Their preferred habitat of open dry forest and woodland has been the subjected to widespread clearing and modification, and the decline in their numbers has led to them being listed as vulnerable in Victoria.

The Cobaw State Forest near Lancefield is aMessmate dominated forest with large granitic boulders.

Long-leaf box and narrow-leaf peppermint with grassy understorey can be found in some areas.