No thanks Maccas
Love or hate McDonald’s, or “Maccas”, I have always admired them for three reasons: Ronald McDonald houses are a God send for families of children in hospital. Every Maccas funds local sports and charities. And most of all, they are one of, if not, the biggest employers of young people leaving or going to school. They teach young people all facets of serving customers, work skills and ethics, and people skills.
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But one of our local Maccas has gone on my blacklist, and that of many others. One Maccas is forcing its customers to use the automatic ordering kiosks and if you don't use them, you will not be served. Even the staff are against this, as are many customers.
I would rather go to one of the other Maccas who don't force you (East Albury and Albury) than support these kiosks. As the staff have told me, these kiosks will eventually replace the cash registers and the personal service. In other words, they will cost young people their job opportunities.
Maccas has gone whaccas and only through the public rejecting use of these kiosks will anything be done about it.
Steven Taylor, North Albury
Case of bad management
Two years ago I rallied against the Murray-Darling Basin Authority for its poor river management which resulted in an unnecessary, catastrophic flood and a range of unacceptable environmental consequences. Now we have the opportunity to question its ability to manage the resource and the river during a dry time.
The one thing that remains clear is the MDBA is unable to fulfil its responsibilities and we are left with disgruntled and angry communities and environmental disasters.
The MDBA now needs to ‘fess up’ and start taking proactive steps to address the damage which has been caused over the past decade.
In a recent interview Phillip Glyde, chief executive of the MDBA, said the Basin Plan was “trying to correct 100 years of over-allocation”. The recent fish kills should be telling authorities that their management of the water resource over the past decade is making the system worse, not better. In 94 of the 100 years that the system was supposedly ‘over-allocated’ there were recordings of fish deaths but none were of the magnitude of those we’ve seen recently.
The only major change in the past 10 years, compared to the rest of the past century, has been the 2007 Water Act and the fact that the major owner of water is the Commonwealth government. This has led to a major change in the management of the river systems. It used to be run by the states but now is under the control of the Commonwealth and MDBA. It seems pretty obvious that’s where the problem lies.
The question needs to be asked, where has all the water gone? In late 2016 we had floods and most of the Basin was at 100 per cent capacity, with Menindee Lakes at 96.5 per cent. Just over two years later these lakes are nearly empty and we have what is being termed a ‘natural’ disaster on a global scale. But it’s not a ‘natural disaster, it’s a man-made disaster.
The damage being caused to both the environment and rural communities could have been avoided if the MDBA had listened to the rural communities that live in the Basin.
I would ask all agricultural representative bodies to call for the resignation of Mr Glyde, and Neil Andrews as chairman.