Support for forestry and timber
CONGRATS Gippy Times on its expressed support for the forestry and timber industry in the Tuesday, September 27 paper.
The article on page five highlighted the value and success of local Andy Wickham’s business in making and selling a range of timber products.
Although Australian sawmills meet the national and international standards that are endorsed by leading environmental groups, the industry is under continued attack from the noisy ‘anti’ voices.
I have recently become a director of a sawmill started by my great grandfather 130 years ago, and know clearly that supply of sustainable resources is a major challenge.
And surely it would be a tragedy in the extreme if we had to import timber.
Go timber and thanks Gippy Times.
Alex Arbuthnot
Sale
Plan is in place
VICTORIA’S mental health workforce is overworked, fatigued, and being forced to close waiting lists as demand continues to increase, with many would-be patients waiting over a year for appointments.
The Nationals understand that people need mental health support when they need it, not a year from now.
That’s why The Nationals and Liberals have a plan to slash wait times for mental health support for Victorians, and provide two million additional mental health appointments.
The plan is part of a newly announced Mental Health Workforce Strategy which could see up to 200,000 more Victorians able to access timely mental health support every year.
The Nationals and Liberals in government will fund an additional 750 psychology supervisors in Victoria, and launch a new matching service to help psychology graduates find the right supervisor for them, across all parts of Victoria.
Those additional supervisor positions will increase Victoria’s capacity, by adding up to 1300 new psychologists over the next two years.
Under Labor, which was warned three years ago in the Royal Commission into Mental Health’s interim report that it must prioritise building Victoria’s mental health workforce, there are currently more than 6000 mental health job listings online.
We need innovative solutions to fix the mental health crisis, and only The Nationals and Liberals have real solutions that will rapidly build Victoria’s mental health workforce.
The workforce strategy also includes recognising counsellors as mental health practitioners, which would unlock an additional 2000 practitioners to deliver mental health support in our schools.
The Nationals and Liberals in government will establish the nation’s largest worker recruitment drive, with more scholarships on offer, extra training places opened for psychologists and psychiatrists, and relocation incentives to join the workforce.
Danny O’Brien
State Member for Gippsland South
Royal Visit to Gippsland
WHEN the exciting announcement that the 2026 Commonwealth Games would be hosted in Regional Victoria was made earlier this year, there remained the tantalising possibility that this would coincide with what would have been the centenary birthday of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Alas, this is not to be as we continue to grapple with the profound sorrow of this month’s news that our late Sovereign Lady has been recalled by God to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Instead, the 2026 Commonwealth Games, which will include multiple events being hosted in Gippsland, is now a unique opportunity to have the new King of Australia, His Majesty King Charles III, replicate the 1954 Royal Tour of his parents.
Our King will certainly be in Victoria for the Commonwealth Games’ opening ceremony at the MCG, but the real priority must be to ensure that the King conducts a Royal Tour of Gippsland and attends the sporting events that will be held in our region.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to put the global spotlight on Gippsland, as a visit by The King would bring hundreds of millions dollars worth of international publicity to our part of the world.
Such an occurrence would be just the tonic we need to get Gippsland tourism going again, and market our region’s unique assets to a worldwide audience.
Additionally, this would give everyone in the region fond memories that last a lifetime, as the vivid recollections of those who were alive for the 1954 Royal Tour demonstrate, many of which were published recently during the Platinum Jubilee and during the National Mourning for Queen Elizabeth II.
I therefore urge our State and Federal MPs, together with local councillors in Latrobe City, Wellington, and East Gippsland, to immediately establish dialogue with Buckingham Palace to ensure that there is a Royal Tour of Gippsland as part of the 2026 Commonwealth Games, and ideally sooner.
Nicholas Tam
Traralgon East
Do we really need a King?
FAREWELL Betty Windsor! Being crowned 18 months after I was born, you have been a constant presence in my life.
But now you are gone, off on whatever journey, if any, that occurs after the lights go out; and the appointment of your successor raises some disturbing questions for Australians.
For example, why is it, in the 21st century, that our Parliamentarians must swear allegiance to The King of a foreign land? Not the people of Australia nor our constitution (which, itself, has some 60 plus references to the Crown).
This is, frankly, insulting to an otherwise independent nation and people.
And why do we need a head of state anyway? Plenty of countries don’t, making do with their chief justice and a constitution that he or she enforces.
If you think that having a head of state will protect us from the predations of politicians, you only need look at what our current one failed to do when our previous PM tried to secretly sign himself up as ‘Minister for everything’.
So, time for some hard questions and a debate about who we are and who are politicians are loyal to.
This has nothing to do with her death and is not meant to disrespect her achievements and life. This is about our future.
King Charles is a nice bloke, and I must give him credit for his commitment to the environment. However, I must ask, “why should we swear allegiance to him?” Can anyone give me a credible answer to this question?
To those who say we need a head of state to protect us from the likes of a Donald Trump, I say you need to think some more about possible models for a nation.
It’s not hard, we just need to start talking about it.
John Gwyther
Coongulla
Issues with local trains
I REFER to a paragraph in the article of the September 9 issue of the Gippsland Times (‘Cafe booted from Bairnsdale line’) which quotes the Department of Transport:
“The majority of Bairnsdale services have been operated by modern, comfortable VLocity trains since 2018.”
Has this person ridden in one of these carriages for more than two hours?
I recently had the “pleasure” of travelling from Southern Cross to Sale on a Sunday morning.
I had a sore back before we got to Dandenong!
Fortunately I had a coat I could use as a cushion behind my back.
I feel for any passengers going onto Bairnsdale and beyond!
Sue Taylor
Sale
New vaping laws could save lives
RELAXING Australia’s draconian vaping regulations could save up to 104,000 lives by 2080 and prevent untold suffering for their families and friends.
According to a new study, it would save over two million years of lost life in Australia alone.
The study, conducted by academics from the University of Queensland, The University of Melbourne and the United States, examined the impact of regulating nicotine vaping as a consumer product, as it is in the US.
The study took into account the health benefits for daily smokers switching to vaping, estimated at five per cent of the risk of smoking, as well as any increase in harm from vaping in those who would never have smoked.
The study also estimated that, under the current restrictions on vaping, the goal of less than five per cent of adult daily smoking by 2030 will be missed by a wide margin.
The national smoking rate will only reach 7.5 per cent for males in 2080 and five per cent for females in 2064.
With relaxed vaping laws, a five per cent target for men will be reached in 2042 and for females in 2036.
Australia remains the only western democracy to require a prescription to legally access nicotine vaping products.
Since the effective ban came into force in October last year, the vaping black market has exploded, selling dodgy disposable products to young people, while limiting access by the adult smokers who actually need them.
New Zealand recently legalised nicotine e-liquid for use as a consumer good. Smoking rates have been declining rapidly since, and young people have been successfully protected by basic consumer protections like mandatory age verification before purchase.
If Australia is serious about reducing tobacco’s burden on our public health, Australia’s outdated vaping regulations must be urgently changed.
The evidence for vaping is convincing, and modelling indicates that easy access to nicotine for vaping could save the lives of hundreds of thousands of smokers.
What are we waiting for?
Dr Colin Mendelsohn
Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association
The comfort-level on board trains servicing the Bairnsdale line is up for debate.
