Letters: readers praise Bendigo community for music festival, Oz Day events

It was an outstandingly enjoyable event over five days in a your beautiful city, with sufficient time between concerts to enjoy the city's sites and facilities.

I look forward to coming again next year.

I also wish particularly to commend the drivers, cyclists and pedestrians of Bendigo for their their courteous behaviour I come from Melbourne where aggression and rudeness is the norm, so I really appreciated the contrast.

The members of the Rotary Club of Bendigo Sandhurst would like to sincerely thank the City of Greater Bendigo for the wonderful support it provided to our club in the staging of last week's Australia Day community event at Lake Weeroona.

We are all volunteers, trying to do our best to put on a very enjoyable, family-focused event, and this would not be possible without the great support of the mayor, councillors and staff of the CoGB.

We also thank a small army of other wonderful volunteers who help us on the day each year, as we can't do everything required just on our own.

Each year our members take great pleasure and pride in organising this free event, which is meant to be inclusive of all, and recognition in general of how fortunate we are to live in Australia, and the Bendigo region in particular.

We hope the variety of entertainment provided on stage by talented local musicians, and wonderful contributions by local clubs, organisations and community groups, along with an excellent array of market stalls, led to a happy day for all who came along.

In closing, we would like to congratulate the 2024 CoGB Citizen of the Year, Heather Wearne; the CoGB Young Citizen of the Year, Montanna Maud, and our clubs' selection of Gabrielle Richards as Australia Day Ambassador for 2024.

They have been leaders and passionate contributors to the betterment of our community, and we congratulate them for being formally recognised for their long-term work and significant achievements."

The very recent decision of the Allan state government to allow duck (and quail) shooting to continue speaks of a government drunk on its own power; or rather, terrified of a couple of small but vicious self-interest groups.

The government's own Parliamentary Inquiry stated that this all-out carnage should be stopped: the reasons are multitudinous.

The majority of Victorians are opposed to duck and quail shooting-more than 77 per cent.

Democracy is dead when the vehement wishes of a small self-interest group can over-rule the wishes of the majority.

Where will this sort of approach to government end up? Will every small self-interest group now get its own way at the cost of the majority?

The World's Greatest Shave is arguably Australia's favourite fundraising campaign spanning 26 years - with more than two million Australians taking part by shaving, cutting, and colouring their hair, to raise vital funds for the Leukaemia Foundation and people living with blood cancer, in Australia.

The World's Greatest Shave, however, wasn't immune to the devastating impact of COVID-19, which created the most formidable challenge the campaign has faced in its 26-year history.

With the World's Greatest Shave being the single biggest source of income for the Leukaemia Foundation, the organisation took a significant hit and saw fundraising figures drop dramatically.

The World's Greatest Shave had to pivot, and this year we farewell the beloved chins as we launch a new era of the campaign, with a vibrant, bold, contemporary, and more personal approach - to support the growing number of Australians impacted by blood cancer.

The new-look World's Greatest Shave celebrates the everyday heroes in our community doing 'bloody beautiful' acts of shaving, cutting, colouring, or donating.

The new creative direction will feature real human participants and a catchy new slogan 'That's Bloody Beautiful', which will resonate more deeply with Australians.

There has never been a more important time for World's Greatest Shave to be back in force, with more Australians diagnosed with blood cancer now than ever before - underscoring the urgent need for increased support, additional resources, and more funds.

More than 140,000 Australians are currently living with blood cancer. Incidence of blood cancer has soared by 47 per cent in the past decade, making it a significant public health issue in Australia.

Funds raised through the World's Greatest Shave ensure that the Leukaemia Foundation can continue to provide vital support to blood cancer patients and their loved ones, and fund ground-breaking research, in the hopes of one day finding a cure.

We urge the Australian community to sign up to shave, cut, or colour their hair for World's Greatest Shave by visiting worldsgreatestshave.com