Party, or a protest
Yes we do live in Australia, thankfully not China, and yes we do have the right to protest.
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But we do not have the right to show no regard whatsoever to the law and to the public.
These people protesting need to take responsibility for their actions. Most people who want to protest go about it in a peaceful, civilised manner.
But not the super-gluing, cementing, blocking traffic, climate change activists.
All they are doing is evoking anger and disgust and by doing so they are not reaching the people that they say want to - the politicians.
If I had a chance to talk to them, I would say if you closed all the mines and factories, what would you do with the millions of people that would lose their jobs, many of whom would have mortgages and need to support and educate their children.
I would ask them, how many of you go to university or TAFE, or receive a free education or paying minimal fees, who do you think pays for this?
The government and the public.
Years ago, if you wanted to protest about something, you would go to Fitzroy Gardens, set up a podium and many people would turn up and listen to the speakers, it did not need to disrupt traffic or cause other disruptions.
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But I don't think that would be exciting enough for these activists, it'd be too tame.
As one reporter said, it seems more like a party than a protest.
They are doing more harm than good to their cause.
Ethel Wilson, Lavington
Driving a hard bargain
What got me thinking, however, was why has the money been loaned, rather than simply given to the council?
Isn't a government's job to support significant infrastructure?
Couldn't this have been a budget item?
I suspect Albury Council will be happy enough with a 50 per cent discount on the interest payments, heck, I am too as an Albury ratepayer - $425,000 is nothing to sneeze at - but you just wonder whether we could have got an even better deal.
Brian Markson, Thurgoona
Simple to understand
Some time ago Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie gained some notoriety by announcing that she would like to see the Albury-Wodonga region population triple to 375,000, apparently without any thought for where the land/water/energy/money/waste disposal for this was coming from.
Now she is back in the news suggesting that the current change in climate can't be seen as the cause of droughts dating back to pre-European days.
Clearly, the greenhouse pollution recently added to the atmosphere can't have affected the climate before it was added, but of course no one is claiming that it did.
This pollution has already caused a one degree increase in global average temperature and one of the impacts of this is more frequent and severe droughts, such as the one we are having.
We shouldn't have to explain this to a senator.