Free parking a chance to give back
Further to my Letter to the Editor (Saturday, Oct. 10) re Push for free parking:
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It has come to my attention that influential councillors of Bendigo City Council believe that the traders in the Central Business District do not want to have free parking offered to their customers in the lead-up to Christmas.
This opinion is no doubt supported by undisclosed recent data collected by the council. If this is true, CBD traders obviously will be happy to see overflowing free carparks at the Marketplace and other satellite shopping centres.
If it is not true, maybe a quick survey of CBD traders by the local chamber of commerce Be.Bendigo would reflect that instead.
The council is no doubt concerned at a potential loss of revenue through parking fees.
They may not be as concerned about losing a rare opportunity to give something of substance back to the business community which has been largely crippled by COVID-19.
Barry Cail, Axedale
Gas led recovery concern
There has never been a more pivotal moment in history when we should be listening to the scientists and leaving the remaining fossil fuels in the ground.
But unfortunately, hot on the heels of Scott Morrison's announcement of a "gas led recovery" comes the news that the NSW government has approved mining giant Santos's huge, destructive coal seam gas project in Narrabri, 170 kilometres northwest of Tamworth.
Santos plans to drill no less than 850 coal seam gas wells, each up to around one kilometre deep, on the traditional lands of the Gomeroi and Gamilarwaay People.
60 per cent of the land is located in the pristine forest of the Pilliga, and 40 per cent is located adjacent to prime farmland.
The Pilliga is home to our iconic koala and, following last summer's tragic bushfires, the species has become more threatened than ever before.
CSG, also known as "Unconventional Gas", uses explosives deep underground to access the CSG seam. This results in "rogue" gas escaping into the atmosphere, and pollution of the water table.
It often makes local water unfit to drink; not to mention that the necessary plant and thousands of metres of pipework render the land unusable for farming.
Drilling for "Unconventional Gas" is most certainly dangerous to human health and flies in the face of the inevitable, future switch to renewable energy, which will leave millions of dollars worth of stranded assets.
Please tell your local politician to take a message to parliament that we don't want this "gas led recovery".
Trevor Scott, Castlemaine
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