The debate about water allocations continues between Victoria, NSW and South Australia with no resolution.
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Typical governments think the solution is to buy water from farmers when a solution of sealing the irrigation channels would be more effective and not affect our valuable agricultural production.
In the drought in the 1970s it was proposed to seal the irrigation channels with mats made of used car tyres. If this proposal had been adopted then it would have two major effects in reducing the leakage of water from the irrigation channels and solved a major problem of disposal of the used tyres.
For example, the large Mulwala Channel which feeds water from Lake Mulwala into southern NSW has reportable a water leakage of up to 30 per cent due to the sandy terrain it runs through.
John Walker, Wangaratta
Abortion is not an automatic offence
Dr Christian Kunde of the Country Labor Albury Lavington branch is right to challenge Greg Aplin. So far, three jurisdictions (Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT) have enacted laws to provide for exclusion zones around clinics offering services to women including terminations. It is about time NSW stepped up to the plate to protect the privacy of women.
However, I must correct him on one matter. He states “The Crimes Act (1900) makes abortion illegal in NSW,….”. Sections 82, 83 and 84 state that whoever unlawfully administers any drug or noxious thing or unlawfully uses an instrument or other means with the intent to procure a miscarriage shall be liable to imprisonment …”
District Court Judge Levine noted that the use of the word “unlawful” envisages circumstances in which the act must be lawful. He accepted the principle applied in R v Davidson [1969] and held that if operations to terminate pregnancies were skilfully performed by qualified medical practitioners with the woman’s consent, the operation would be lawful provided the accused: “had an honest belief on reasonable grounds that what they did was necessary to preserve the women involved from serious danger to their life, or physical or mental health, which the continuation of the pregnancy would entail, not merely the normal dangers of pregnancy and childbirth; and that in the circumstances the danger of the operation was not out of proportion to the danger intended to be averted.” He further said “… such a conscientious belief on reasonable ground would have to be negatived before an offence under s63 could be proved. Wald (R v Wald [1971]) expanded the relevant grounds that may cause a serious threat to the physical or mental health of the woman to include social and economic factors.
So it is true that abortion is in the Crimes Act (1900) but it is not automatically an offence to procure an abortion.
David Thurley, Lavington
Maintenance is important
Earlier this year Albury City Council did remedial work to Griffith and Waugh roads and David Street, probably costing a lot of money and no doubt justified.
Places I travel, Kiewa Street outside Albury High School, Wyse street and Wahroonga Road, on the edge of Lavington – what about maintenance to these?
Kiewa and Wyse streets are busy. I have been in touch with the council and haven't had a reply.