Our thanks to you
As one of the co-organisers of the rally in Tocumwal last Thursday, I would like to make three public acknowledgements. Firstly, to the NSW Police, thank you for your support and help with keeping all road users and rally participants safe. We did not expect a crowd of 3000 and had not allowed for this in our pre-planning. Your quick thinking and ability to read the situation allowed those in attendance to get their message across in a safe and controlled manner.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Secondly, to the media who took the time to cover the rally and report on our issues, thank you. And lastly, and most importantly to the business owners, community members, food producers, community leaders, and the community of Tocumwal, thank you for showing our government that our concerns are real, we are not a trouble-making minority as Minister David Littleproud would have others believe. Stay united and stay strong, it is time to fight.
Shelley Scoullar, Speak Up Campaign Albury
Facts and not emotion
We see that the husband claims he could not return to Sri Lanka because he was a terrorist member of the Tamil Tigers and would be persecuted. Others say that he was lying about being a terrorist. Either way he has no credibility and every court in Australia has rejected his claim.
What has this family cost you and I as taxpayers? We have paid to keep them for four years and when you add the legal costs they have incurred, it runs into the millions. Of course the lawyers love it because it makes them rich rorting Legal Aid for these futile appeals. The bottom line is that a family with no grounds to stay in Australia has cost us a fortune in an attempt to queue jump and disadvantage legitimate refugees.
Breck Scott-Young, East Albury
Why the long wait?
It is now over three years since funding was confirmed by the Labor government to build a roundabout at the dangerous Murray Valley Highway and Woods Road intersection.
Regional Roads Victoria has been tasked with construction. In May they indicated they are still in the planning stages, and anticipate to have the roundabout completed by mid-2020. Regional Roads Victoria have known about the funding for over three years. I can't imagine that planning would possibly take that much time. It's not like the problems at this intersection are new to them, or that they have never planned for and built a roundabout before. Why is it taking so long? And why isn't the Labor government asking questions?
The nearby Yarrawonga P-12 and health care hub are still waiting for a safe crossing opportunity for students and community members. The Yarrawonga community will also have to suffer through another summer and spring period when population booms due to traffic increases through tourism, creating an even more unsafe driving environment around the Murray Valley Highway and Woods Road intersection.
It is totally unreasonable for this community to have to wait all this time for action.