Most of my life I have lived in capital cities but in 2024 I moved to Rutherglen. Last Thursday while playing golf I managed to slip and required medical attention. As a result the doctor asked that I have an ultrasound done so that she could give better advice re my condition. This seemed an easy thing to follow up and get done. Unfortunately I was just not prepared for the advice from the following: Corowa Hospital an appointment may be available in four weeks time, Albury eight weeks, Yarrawonga eight weeks and Wangaratta eight weeks. Thankfully my condition and pain are bearable, but what if it wasn’t. The appalling lack of services in this region is very concerning. John Enderby, Rutherglen Manning is the right candidate for the job Good on Steve Manning for putting himself forward to give back to his community by putting himself forward to represent us as the Member for Ovens Valley after the November election. And good on Voices for Ovens Valley for surveying the Ovens Valley community, identifying our concerns, and the personal qualities we want in a candidate: integrity, honesty and a willingness to listen and consult. And good on them for finding Steve Manning, whose story shows he is the man for the job. We are fortunate that this respectful and courageous man and his family have chosen to live in Wangaratta and to actively contribute to the community. Professionally, Steve teaches the skills he’s learned and practised in his electrical business to the sparkies of the future at TAFE. Beyond that, he’s shared his sports knowledge as head coach at Wangaratta North Football and Netball Club and he’s used his initiative to make the important stand against Violence Against Women in the football community. And he’s answered a call to help lead Project 365 in its work supporting mental health. This shows Steve as an ideal person to become the Independent Member for Ovens Valley, to work with respect and integrity on our community's issues, unconstrained by policies fashioned to harvest discontents, real and conflated, from across Victoria, which have little or no relevance to Ovens Valley. I urge Ovens Valley's electors to find out about Steve in the 90 or so days between now and the election and decide if he is the best person to represent Ovens Valley in Spring Street. John Naylor, Wangaratta Flawed process for council community grants At the latest council meeting on Tuesday (this week), the question has surfaced; Are the councillors of Wangaratta truly representative of the Wangaratta community? This comes as not only was the Reconciliation Action Plan shot down, but the community grants program came into question again. Councillors Fuller and Winters both rejected the amendments which allocated funding to previously unsuccessful projects, only to be spoken down to by Mayor Irene Grant and later by Cr Benton. I concur with Cr Fuller when he reported "I see a flaw in the system if we're needing to take this path" and Cr Winters who eloquently pointed out "Our policy says applicants must meet the eligibility criteria specific to the relevant funding program, and that our funding processes must be fair, transparent, and free from bias. And I cannot support this motion. What objective and consistently relevant reasons do we have for reconsidering these three applications, and not the other unsuccessful applicants." Many fantastic and important projects will miss out on funding, it is an unfortunate fact of the application process. The reason there is criteria to be met is to ensure fairness in selection and provide equal opportunity to all applicants, so no small application who is better suited is trumped by a more popular choice. Cr Benton's reasoning that the event needs to continue for the good of the community is not justification for throwing away recommendations from due process just to do as he sees fit. Why is this being allowed to occur? Why is a fair go no longer the case with council? I am bitterly disappointed that these are the people that apparently represent me, as this does not reflect the townspeople. Reminder to the residents of Wangaratta, all council meetings are posted in full on YouTube for public view. John Allan, Wangaratta
