Loss of rod event a real shame
I read that Albury has lost the Australian Street Rod Nationals to Hawkesbury near Sydney. I don't claim to have read every article, but I gather the Albury City Council was too demanding or officious.
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The decision to hold the Hot Rod Nationals in Hawkesbury was obviously an easier option for the organisers. Who could blame them for going somewhere else if it was too difficult negotiating with the Albury City Council? Business owners have just endured two years of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. The earnings from the Hot Rod Nationals would have brought millions of dollars into Albury and surrounding areas. Even without the pandemic, no business can afford to let thousands of visitors and their wallets go elsewhere.
I moved to Brisbane nearly four decades ago, but I grew up in Albury. In 1979, while still in Albury, I took my two young sons to a hot rod parade. Hundreds of owners and enthusiasts drove their street-legal hot rods down Dean Street in a procession that lasted about an hour. There were hundreds of colourful, gleaming, hot rods with fancy paint jobs on them, and my boys loved it.
A few years ago, I met a hot rod owner who drove down on that trip to Albury from Queensland in 1979. Back then, he was a young boilermaker who built his own hot rod. In the 1980s he established his own bus and coach-building business and was very successful. He has just sold up at 75.
He has retired with three hot rods, a 1952 Ford Customline, an F250 truck imported from the US and a long goose-neck trailer he built himself. Hot rodding has been an interest that has lasted him a lifetime. He is still in touch with his old mates and they drive their vehicles down to the bay every few weeks and meet up for coffee. Not all young men who drive hot rods are undesirable. With adequate policing and the right attitude the Albury City Council could have hosted this huge event. It's a shame they squandered the opportunity.
Lizzie Haydon, Runcorn, Queensland
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Victoria used to be the manufacturing heart of Australia.
We now have the opportunity to bring manufacturing home to Victoria - where it belongs.
Over the past 20 years, more than 50,000 jobs have been lost in the local sector. And now the COVID pandemic has exposed holes in our supply chain, including an over-reliance on other countries for the provision of essential medical supplies, such as personal protective equipment (PPE).
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Victoria has a real opportunity to create thousands of new jobs and attract millions-of-dollars of investment, while regenerating our own capability to produce critical supplies that we've otherwise lost to overseas. Rebuilding our local and regional economies will be a vital piece of Victoria's recovery.
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