Letters, December 7, 2022

Hall value

A COUPLE of years ago the Old Soldiers’ Memorial Hall at Oakbank was in danger of being sold.

The local community rallied to save the hall, formed a working group and adopted a plan to turn its fortunes around.

Since that turning point, the hall committee has worked tirelessly to transform the hall into a genuine community asset.

Initiatives such as the introduction of an informative monthly Oakbank Soldiers Memorial Hall Newsletter keeping the locals abreast with hall related matters, the creation of a vibrant monthly market, clever submissions for Government grants, donations from like-minded community groups and generous individuals plus local businesses have all assisted in converting the hall into a place that the original and subsequent working groups envisaged, that is a hall used by the community.

Regular bookings plus one-off celebrations now populate the booking diary, but there is always room for more.

Whilst there is still more work to be done pertaining to the hall’s ongoing upgrade, it is pleasing to observe that the reintroduction of the Dawn Service on Anzac Day was well attended by the local community, as was the Remembrance Day service on November 11, to honor the very being of the hall’s existence. In addition to those important occasions, the committee is attempting to further embrace the Oakbank Community spirit by holding an annual quiz night and more recently a Christmas party for young and old, both well attended.

The point of this correspondence is to say thank you to those people who see Oakbank as a community with a caring heart and an asset that symbolises our community. The hall belongs to all of the residents and businesses of Oakbank and it is up to us to ensure not only its survival, but to let it reach its full potential through our community spirit in whatever form that may take.

Jon Cranna, Oakbank

Greens potential

LAST week’s letter writer Kon Stachovic, as well as claiming fantastical and conspiratorial points, inadvertently complimented the Greens.

If, as he suggested, we Greens can achieve a seamless transition to low cost, limitless, renewable energy while in Opposition, then just imagine what we could do if elected to Government!

Our electricity supplier would be back in public hands instead of sending profits to overseas shareholders; we would be reducing the cost of electricity to households; and we would be fast tracking renewables for use here, interstate and overseas.

We need to work together to create and implement practical solutions to the challenges we face. The less attention given to theories not supported by evidence, the better off we’ll be.

Lynton Vonow, Lobethal

Conservation win

AFTER almost a decade of environmental and climate change neglect I have been surprised and pleased to learn recently  that at present 19.75% of Australian land is totally protected for the prime purpose of biodiversity conservation under what is known as the National Reserve System.

The fact that the land protected under the National Reserve System must be designated a ‘protected area’, to be conserved forever, with effective legal means guaranteeing its perpetual conservation, provides confidence that the biodiversity being protected will not be in danger of being destroyed.

The National Reserve System has its origins in the Rio Earth Summit of 1992 and was later ratified by the Australian Government.

With a fast growing population in Australia putting more and more pressure on the environment, the National Reserve System is seen as an important step towards protecting many of Australia’s most important areas of biodiversity and assisting in countering climate change.

Brian Measday, Myrtle Bank

Animal discrimination

IN our country where discrimination by race is abhorred and indeed, it is unlawful to practice racism, I find the attitude of speciesism just as offensive.

If we value all human life as being valuable and of equal standing under the law and our treatment of each as important, why should we not value the lives of animals in the same regard?

The fact that one animal may have been here for long enough to call it a native, while other animals may have only been here for a few hundred years, should not mean that equal consideration is denied.

Why should a person, like John Wamsley, be awarded for his work when he promoted the killing of cats with the reasoning that they are a threat to native wildlife?

All these animals have a right to their lives, without our human species killing them. Most readers were probably very young and many not even born, when Wamsley engaged in buying properties and “eradicating” the area of non-native animals like cats. If we need to reduce the overbreeding of any species, it should be undertaken in other ways.

C.A.T.S. Cats Assistance To Sterilise Inc has reduced the numbers of cats efficiently, cost-effectively and humanely by assisting residents with the desexing of nearly 135,000 cats.

After 32 years C.A.T.S. is still going strong and we believe this is because we have based our organisation on kindness and assistance, which has been strongly supported by the wide-spread community.

Christine Pierson, President C.A.T.S. Cats Assistance To Sterilise

Bandwagon

I SEE the Greens have jumped on the bandwagon to attack Scott Morrison.

No doubt they, like Albanese, are short on how to run the country and cover their inadequacies by attacking the man who had the unenviable task of getting Australians through the worst pandemic in decades.

Shame on you, remember his actions saved thousands of lives, what did you do to help? Bugger all, Mate!

Clive Bulmer, Forreston