This land backs onto the local petrol station and is a potential disaster waiting to happen. After a visit from mayor Bernard Gaffney, an approach to Indigo Shire Council followed by an article in the Ovens and Murray Advertiser little has been done to clear the area to make it safer for residents and the many visitors to the town.

THANK you Mick McGlone for your insightful and honest editorial and no doubt all farmers will join me in a vote of gratitude (The Border Mail, November 14).

Being raised in this area, I attended school with many farming kids and frankly I envied them. I thought they had it all even though most of them had to pull their weight in addition to doing their homework.

Today, over 50 years down the track I am thankful I remained employed on a regular but moderate income, a luxury in comparison to so many on the land. 

Primary producers always have been and will remain the backbone of our most fortunate country.

THE Australian bushfire problem is due to large areas of eucalypt forests.

Eucalypts are desert trees which require very little water and also transpire very little into the atmosphere. They do little to maintain rainfall and so maintain desert conditions. As well as this, their foliage is toxic and highly inflammable.

No gardener puts eucalypt leaves in his compost heap and the fallen leaves are toxic to other plants on the soil surface. Eucalypts are a native species only because they have poisoned all of their competition. 

Their flammability leads to bushfires of extreme temperatures which destroy any flora or fauna in their path. We may as well be planting petrol bowsers.

A hectare of fodder trees will produce as much animal nutrition as a hectare of grass. If these trees replaced the eucalypts, we would have increased rainfall, a cooler planet, lower water tables and an increased biodiversity of animal life. 

We should be sending in bulldozers to clean out the eucalypts and begin planting nurturing trees after bushfires.

I HAVE read a press release by Sophie Mirabella asking for feedback on Indi’s mobile black spots. I have seen photos of her at official functions, most recently partnering the Minister for Communication at a Benalla Council briefing on the NBN, as well as ads in which she announces or takes credit for government initiatives in which she has played no part.

Until the election of Cathy McGowan, neither was treated as a local electoral issue by her. The NBN was initiated by the Labor Party, while inadequate internet connection and dangerous mobile black spots were platforms on which Cathy McGowan campaigned and on which she continues to lobby.

It is this sort of behaviour which has helped transform Indi from a very safe Liberal seat to a marginal one won by a local Independent with a strong record of community involvement.

Coalition ministers are welcome to come to Indi and support their candidate, but as party members, not as government representatives on government business. To present her as the heir apparent is an abuse of government power and ministerial responsibility.

Sophie Mirabella is one candidate among many and should be treated as such.

Cathy McGowan is our elected representative and should be respected as such.