This community consultation was a commitment I received from PTV CEO Mark Wild in February this year.

With a firm commitment from the Victorian government, I hope we have now turned the corner to getting a better train service on the northern line. Finally all the relevant people are coming to the table to work on a sustainable, long-term plan.

As member for Indi, my commitment is to continue to work with all levels of Government to get improvement in our train service and public transport system.

It’s not too late to have a say and I encourage everyone to tell PTV what the transport needs are for your community.

The Regional Network Development Plan draft report will be released on October 30.

I HAD to do a double take when I saw the cartoon titled "James Hird Falls on his Sword" (The Border Mail, August 20).

I could not believe my eyes. Given that we are a bunch of fairweather friends – true blue and fair dinkum when it suits us but ready to put the boot in when some sports hero falls from grace – just the same, how could anyone do that to James Hird?  What a pack of ingrates. And where is the loyalty?

I would still support Essendon even if the whole team had voted for Tony Abbott, and there was never a better player, captain or coach in the history of the Bombers than James Hird.

And I do know something about the history of the Bombers. My uncle, Leuitenant Christopher Fogarty, who was a real hero, played for Essendon and North Melbourne and University as did his brother Captain Joseph Fogarty. 

Chris was killed at Gallipoli and Joe was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry tending the wounded under fire at Gallipoli and later in France.

 I know enough about them and their kind to be certain that they would have been proud of Hirdie and the way he has conducted himself throughout this politically and financially motivated circus. 

A gladiator being given the thumbs down would have been a more appropriate cartoon. I wonder who could be depicted as Caesar. 

I would like to say thanks to James Hird for some of the best football anybody ever watched and to send him a message. The game will never be the same again and you are better out of it. The loss is ours, not yours.

THE Abbott government is very good at one thing: putting whole groups of people offside. Now it’s the clumsy attempt to curb legal protests by environmental groups over mining operations.

The government’s attempt to amend the environmental and biodiversity protection act is purely political. The proposed amendment would only allow the directly affected landowner the right to protest. This completely ignores the fact that whole areas are affected by coal mining and CSG drilling.

It is well established that water aquifers over a wide area can be contaminated by CSG operations. Such an amendment would limit the legitimate avenues in challenging the power of the big miners.  

Australia already has one of the highest rates of endangered species in the world. Such a government sponsored amendment would only exacerbate this dire situation.

Conservationists, farmers and environmentalists need to be duly alarmed at this move by the Abbott government to hand over more power to overseas mining interests.