Re: Marveloo: necessity the mother of invention
What a wonderful invention, congratulations! I am in the same boat as the Di Giandomenicos with my 19-year-old daughter and I would love to see Marveloos appear in other councils. I am grateful to Don and to Maroondah Council for paving the way!
Ursula Nesci (via web)
Re: Ringwood library plans lagging
$22 million on a library. Libraries are redundant, like the pay phone! Good money wasted!
Enerjaiza (via web)
Re: Toolangi Forest: new laws hold anti-loggers back
The Victorian government should be careful what it wishes for.
The Coalition was elected by the slimmest majority in the 2010 election.
The seat of Seymour was taken on the preferences of the popular Plug the Pipe campaign, which opposed the state government's determination to impose upon us the controversial Sugarloaf pipeline, which crossed farmland and irreparably damaged a section of Toolangi State Forest. Without the support of many courageous community campaigners willing to stand then against state government bullying, pro-logging Minister Peter Walsh would not now be in government.
Steve Meacher, Toolangi
What else would you expect from a government and a minister who are so on the nose to the public of Victoria?
They cut funding to education and health, resulting in the closure of many TAFE courses and hospital beds, yet maintain VicForests, a huge loss-making semi-government body who we subsidise to cut down our native forests, 80 per cent of which goes into woodchip.
Come up to Toolangi and see the devastation, the loss of habitat for many of our unique species of fauna and the utter destruction of the magnificent understorey.
Our state's faunal emblem, the Leadbeater's possum, is critically endangered due to logging and bushfires.
Fires starting in regrowth coupes are likely to generate fires of such intensity due to their huge load of fine fuels and perfect fuel ladder that they would be almost impossible to control. Given the right conditions, this could have an impact on Healesville and surrounds. Mount St Leonard is much closer to Healesville than Murrindindi is to Marysville, or Kilmore to Kinglake!
The forest has far more value standing as carbon credits than being clear-felled-destroyed and sold mainly for woodchip at huge losses to the people of Victoria.
A government with even a small amount of common sense would surely realise that developing these areas for tourism is the only way to go for now and for the sake of future generations.
Mal Sissins, Toolangi