Firstly Scott Morrison's commitment to the interchange was nothing more than a promise made during an election campaign; his aim a failed attempt to draw votes away from the independent member for Indi. Surely she is not so politically naive that she cannot see this.

Secondly from where does she (and media outlets) draw the conclusion that McKoy Street is a dangerous interchange? Where is the traffic and accident data to support this contention?

Finally, if you want to save lives, lobby the federal government to provide a significant share of the money needed to build a greenfield hospital for Albury-Wodonga. This will ultimately save thousands of lives in our community.

A few years back, getting a coffee at 6am in Albury was hard, but there are plenty of places that now open at 6am - and they are all busy. Coffee Mamma, Gurus and Timber are a couple of staples that are always open.

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How many costs blowouts can our nation afford? In various areas we are exceeding estimated expenditure. In areas like aged care and disability I believe it can be justified, but in others, such as water management, it is heading towards a massive and unnecessary waste of taxpayer dollars.

This could especially occur with the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, with Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek insisting it be completed "in full and on time", despite this being virtually impossible following three years of disruption through COVID-19 and floods. This involves recovering massive volumes of water, despite the strong and growing view from scientists that it is not actually needed for the environment.

Which brings me back to the original question about cost blowouts. Originally, total implementation of the Basin Plan was estimated at $13 billion, much of which has been spent. If Ms Plibersek gets her way and proceeds with water buybacks to achieve outdated targets, water market experts have estimated the cost at $20 billion. Surely we will not go down this ridiculous path, just so the Albanese government can appease environmental lobbyists.

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