We were at one time (somewhere in the distant past) promised a solution, in the form of a truck bypass, but alas once again being invisible to those supposed to represent our interests, this too went the way of the dodo.

Now that the inevitable has happened, fortunately with no loss of life, we are expected to sit quietly again. Enough is enough. Driving in country areas has its own unique risks, but avoiding becoming road kill is and should not be one of those risks.

Trying to get a road repaired is a Herculean effort, especially and at times it seems specifically if you are in the North East, requiring numerous and often fruitless appeals for work to be done.

We sit here and watch billions of dollars being spent (or do I mean wasted) in Melbourne on roadworks, the likes of we can only dream about, as we desperately try to avoid another pothole, this has got to stop.

If someone next time dies, and yes, there inevitably will be a next time, what are we going to get from Spring Street? More reasons why they can't do the bloody obvious and remove the trucks from the Main Street or will the government finally realise that their food, drink and clothing comes from rural Australia and we deserve not to be neglected and ignored.

Councillor Darren Cameron's comment "Worshipping trees is boring" is very disappointing, all life requires trees.

I applaud councillors Jess Kellahan and Ashley Edwards for wanting to defer this current housing estate development approval until further consideration is made for the mature trees and green spaces.

Associate Professor Paul Osmond, of Building and Environment UNSW, highlights this necessity. According to him new housing estates will be the "slums" of the future, due to poor planning. The heat in these new estates, caused by the abundance of concrete, asphalt and dark roofing with a lack of trees is a serious problem that needs to be addressed before it is too late.

He believes that these new builds are unsustainable and will be detrimental to human health and lives, and that we need to change our way of planning and take into account trees and green spaces.

Perhaps Darren Cameron needs to rethink boring and instead realise we can't live without trees.

MORE COMMENT

Why do the NSW and Victorian governments ignore the pleas of the mayor of Albury Kylie King and others for a decent hospital to service the Albury-Wodonga area?

Bill Tilley, the member for Benambra, praises the work of the people who work in the Albury hospital. He gives them credit in saying that "They're dedicated people but ... this current hospital is not fit for purpose. They are fighting failing infrastructure - buildings and operating theatres no longer fit for purpose".

Building the Albury hospital at its present location was always a bad idea due to it having no room for expansion.

At the time, an example of this poor decision making was demonstrated in a helipad included in the build which could not be safely used due to its close proximity to the continuous stream of people and traffic entering and exiting the hospital. Consequently, from the outset, all patients requiring urgent medical attention outside the limitations of the Albury hospital and its clinical staff have had to be airlifted to Melbourne, or if the weather was too poor for aircraft, they were and still are, taken by ambulance to the Wagga hospital for treatment.

One of the reasons the rural city of Albury suffers from a lack of interest by government is because it is a safe Liberal seat. I learned this years ago when there was talk of a freeway being built in the area and a decision had to be made concerning its location. I was engaged in a poll which found that because Albury is a rural region, most of the population I spoke to were Liberal voters who were unwilling to change their vote, even if it meant the direction of the freeway would change. And so, the cheaper, inadequate, internal freeway was built.

Nothing has changed. The situation remains the same.

The population of 300,000 now living in this region will have to demonstrate that they are unwilling to take second-best a third time and show that they are willing to change their vote if we cannot have the hospital we want and deserve.

A big shout out to the lovely ladies at the Wodonga CWA, they did a great job supplying Devonshire teas and selling their great cookbooks at Wodonga Show on Saturday.

They also look after our community with kindness and generosity.

I was lucky enough to win first prize in their raffle, a wonderful hamper with everything you could need for delicious afternoon teas.

Thanks ladies!