Will leaders show way?
I look forward to seeing all members of the Bendigo Business Council, CEOs and managers of the businesses that currently close on Sundays now being on duty and open and employing more staff.
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I also look forward to prices of meals and drinks, clothing, footwear and all other apparel slashed by another 25 per cent and, if need be, go and see a Liberal MP late Sunday evening.
Standby, all pigs cleared for take off.
Ken Price, Eaglehawk
Our ‘second Gold Rush’
I refer to the article "You say renewable, resources Minister says undoable" in the Bendigo Advertiser on February 23.
It is negligent of some of our politicians in this nation at the moment for continuously putting down, demonising and blaming renewables for recent largely unrelated power system issues and saying that a future with near to or 100 per cent renewables is unachievable, and supporting continued use of coal and possibly even new coal-fired power stations .
Their comments are starkly at odds with every technical expert who says a well-planned transition to 100 per cent renewables is indeed technically possible and will be the cheapest energy option for the future for the community and business.
Their highly misguided talk of new coal generators is opposed by business, the operators of existing coal generators, the finance providers and the community who all say new coal generators would be uneconomic (when compared to current and future renewables) and un-investable. And they certainly are not "clean" in any way.
Meanwhile, here in Bendigo on Wednesday, almost 100 local community, council and business leaders and members of the public were joined by world-renowned renewable community energy pioneer and expert Soren Hermansen and all were 100 per cent committed to Bendigo being 100 per cent powered by renewable energy by 2036. Soren's island of Samso in Denmark achieved 100 per cent renewables within eight years back in the 1990s and they have since established a Community Energy Academy, visited by over 5000 people each year, helping other communities around the world move to a clean, renewable and prosperous future.
Community owned renewables for Bendigo would keep most of the $100 million spent each and every year by Bendigo residents and businesses in Bendigo, rather than lining big offshore businesses pockets.
An extra $100 million each and every year staying in Bendigo can be Bendigo's coming "second Gold Rush".
Chris Corr, Bendigo Sustainability Group
Usurping human rights
Tony Abbott recently stated that for the LNP to win the next election one plan should be to remove the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Human rights is defined as “A right that is believed to belong to everyone”. So when Mr Abbott is advocating the disbanding of the AHRC, he is saying government should not defend human rights within our free and democratic society. I must ask, who then shall defend the inalienable rights of the people within Australia?
Under the charter of the AHRC, the protection of human rights within Australia is paramount, especially for those who are in no position to defend themselves. This encompasses the aged, children, Aboriginal and Torres Strait people, the disabled, the basic rights and freedoms in our society, discrimination against sexual preference, race, religion and that annoying issue concerning asylum seekers and refugees.
We have already usurped the human and legal rights of asylum seekers, so it is testimony to a continuing part of the slippery slope where our government betrays the unwritten contract between a government and the people in Australia with regard to human rights.