Concern for service groups
In reply to Trevor Roche's excellent article in the Advertiser published on June 11/2016, "Common Sense Must Prevail."
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I know of a young person who would like to become a volunteer firefighter but is now unsure what to do because of The Andrews government’s meddling in the CFA. I am sure there are others in the same position.
The question that we all should be asking ourselves is how safe are our other emergency service groups made up mostly of volunteers such as the SES, life savers, relief and recovery agencies etc from the Daniel Andrews government.
And what about all the other volunteer services (there are too many to mention)?
I hope all Victorians are aware of who they are really voting for on election day, July 2.
Jan Pagliaro, North Bendigo
Citizens urged to be curious
In response to Robert Smallpage’s letter: “ Is Jury rigged to deliver favourable outcomes?” one would after examining the evidence say, yes.
Citizen’s of Bendigo should be very wary of this selected oligarchy who will be presented as a body representative of Bendigo , but not representing Bendigo.
This jury fails the test of two essential items of any modern democracy, the test of representation and accountability.
Dispite all the rhetoric about this random selection being fair and equitable for gathering opinions , it is a top-down agenda by council, and does not provide an equal opportunuity for all citizens to participate in any discussion or addressing a given issue.
Mark B.Brown {Government Department, California State University , Sacromento} stated: ‘When viewed in isolation from other political institutions , citizens juries have a limited capacity to fulfil the participation element of democratic representation.”
John Parkison {ANU}: “Legitimacy problems associated with Deliberative Democracy” is another paper on how Citizen’s Juries are not quite a democratic process”.
The rhetoric that “this will provide direct and effective communication between those who control and influence” has been abused as the participants who attended the information sessions found the jury has already been hand-picked.
These sessions were held in an attempt to placate any opposition to the needs of councillors to produce a new council plan setting out key strategic issues and outcomes.
We really need new councillors, as this is a top-down agenda. Not an agenda initiated by a truly democratic Citizen’s Jury which chooses its own agenda.
Bill Colllier, Golden Square
Not winning votes
The same old tired slogan “Stop the Boats” together with the usual spin about “saving lives at sea” is once more being toted out as both major parties swing into election mode. These sentiments might have a shred of credibility if they were matched with some compassion for the deaths and mental and physical harm endured by refugees and asylum seekers languishing in primitive, unsafe off shore accommodation with inadequate medical care. Where is the concern for the deaths of offshore detainees, Reza Barati, Hamid Khazaei and Omid Masoumali? Sorry, Malcolm and Bill, this kind of transparency is not a vote grabber!
Janine Mc Dougall, Riddells Creek
- Letters commenting on election issues must bear the name and full address of the writer(s). Responsibility for election comment in this issue is accepted by Bendigo Advertiser editor Nicole Ferrie, 67-71 Williamson Street, Bendigo. Writers should disclose any alliance with political or community organisations and include their telephone number for verification. Election candidates should declare themselves as such when submitting letters.