I am the third of four generations of the Sheppard family to have attended the Whitfield Primary School.

Having recently attended the 150th anniversary of its inception I couldn't let the occasion pass without congratulating all involved in the organising of the anniversary celebrations.

You thought of so many things for everyone to be involved in, from the oldest to the youngest.

I really enjoyed opening the time capsule and seeing what it contained, catching up with former pupils was special, and see my granddaughter participating in various activities.

The new kindergarten, within the grounds, is amazing.

It must be the most modern and well-equipped in Victoria.

Thankyou for providing us with the opportunity to celebrate the 150th anniversary.

Brian Sheppard, Whitfield

Jess Wilson abandons millennials, blocks new homes

The only way to make housing fairer for young Victorians is to build more homes, faster.

That’s why we’ve (Victorian Labor Government) introduced the biggest shake up to planning laws in decades into the Victorian Parliament.

Our reforms cut red tape, speed up approvals – and get homes built near transport, jobs and services.

Industry backs them because they’ll deliver more homes, more quickly.

But it’s clear not everyone understands this.

This week, Jess Wilson and her Liberals will vote to block these reforms – stopping more homes from being built and locking young Victorians and millennials out of the housing market.

Jess Wilson’s Liberals have outed themselves again as the party of NIMBYs and red tape – determined to lock young Victorians out of well connected areas and keep communities frozen in the past.

This year they tried to cut planning reforms that were already in place – including reforms to make it easier to build a townhouse.

Had they succeeded, it would have been the biggest planning rollback in Victoria’s history.

The NIMBY planning rules Jess Wilson defends have driven the population backwards in her own electorate.

While Liberals cut and block, Labor builds.

Our plan gives young Victorians a fair shot at living close to the things that matter to them.

The Liberals need to explain why they’re standing in their way.

Sonya Kilkenny, Victorian Minister for Planning

Closing VicHealth is a backward step

The Public Health Association has launched the Save VicHealth campaign after the Victorian government announced it will effectively shut the doors of the world’s first health promotion foundation, VicHealth.

Closing VicHealth will prove a disaster for the health of the people of Victoria and must be reversed.

The independence of the agency that has been vital in preventing chronic disease, and was structurally separated from constant pressures of a Department of Health that has been struggling and in atrophy since the COVID pandemic, almost guarantees that prevention efforts will all but disappear.

As belts tighten in government, programs that focus on the essential work of preventing disease become the casualty.

Caring for people who are ill will always be an important and immediate priority. It is always urgent.

But reducing the commitment to preventing diseases of the future consigns more Victorians to need those urgent, and often costly, health treatment services.

Premier Allan must not fold one of the world’s leading preventive health agencies into the health department where the enormous pressures to address the urgent will inevitably shrink commitment to the important work of thinking and acting on initiatives to stop Victorians getting sick in the first place.

Destroying VicHealth will also worsen preventive efforts at the national level.

That’s because VicHealth is part of the Prevention Agency Chief Executive Forum comprising the heads of health promotion agencies from VIC, WA, SA and QLD, whose members share insights and expertise and address local and national challenges.

When hard-headed, economics-focused agencies like the Productivity Commission are making strong evidence-driven recommendations to improve our investment in preventive health, any decision to weaken VicHealth is an ill-informed step backwards for the state, and beyond.

We’re Australia's peak body for public health and advocate for the health and wellbeing of everyone, so fewer people get sick.

Learn more at https://www.phaa.net.au/

Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin, Public Health Association of Australia CEO