It’s just another pointless media opportunity to try to shift the issue.  

Calling on government to commit to funding to fix the train service is a few years late.  The government-funded ARTC committed millions back in 2012 and its timeline is meant to fix the line by the middle of 2016.  

Now it is up to the state government to give us better trains. This is pure spin by the sitting member.

No wonder people are sick of politics.

I APPLAUD Indigo Mayor Bernard Gaffney and the councillors for their desire to see transparency for local beef producers.

It is a shame that the same cannot be said for our local shires and councils. Wodonga ratepayers have requested an audit into the Wodonga Council's spending and this should be extended into shires such as Indigo and Wangaratta.

Indigo Shire's recent move to add an additional tourism body to an already fragmented tourism industry smacks of nepotism and wasted community funds. Residents need to be fully informed (transparency) before councils throw money at new ventures.

Indigo Shire has already demonstrated its inability to manage its financial affairs with the failed Indigo Way project. Is it now going the same way with its tourism department?

SO here we are well into this forced-upon farmers Murray Darling Basin Plan and the Murray Darling Basin has been throttled to a mere shadow of its former self by scare tactics and one-sided narrow mindedness.

To think that Dartmouth dam is at 70 per cent capacity along with Hume Dam at 40 per cent and NSW farmers are getting bugger all or no allocation is a blight on this nation.

It is well known that half of all stored water is owned by the Australian Government (environmental water) along with private investors. The rice industry is crippled.

We have an irrigation system once the pride of our nation and supplying clean safe food to Australians and the world that is now a mere shadow of its former self, to a point where water providers are questioning the viability of keeping it going.

Wake up to yourselves Australians and make damn sure we support irrigated farming, a fair go for our farmers and a triple bottom line approach to modernising the basin.

If you think that sitting down and meeting with the zealots running all this will achieve what you want then I suggest you live in Noddy land. We must all demand a better go for the horse has very nearly bolted.

Time is of the essence

In response to Graeme Hind (The Border Mail,  August 21).

Mr Hind, you are missing the obvious. If I can remind you, prior to the last federal election we were all told repeatedly the consequences of voting for an independent. 

It is abundantly clear the independent has not been able to address the important issues for Indi.

Since taking office she has said that in a majority government she can take issues to Parliament and make speeches, or invited people to write with their issues.  

The pulling power of independents only comes about in a hung parliament, and it's a rarity. Your comment that Sophie Mirabella is acting like she is the member sounds like jealousy. Whoever the Liberal candidate might be, they have every right to start their ground work and get to as many meetings as they can muster.  

Don't blame Sophie if she's getting action. In fact, we should be thanking her.