Neil Daly is ready and willing to help Opposition Leader Matthew Guy ‘Recover and Rebuild Victoria’. By Neil Daly
HAVE you ever had a chat with Matt?
I haven’t, though he invited me, and I imagine many others, to contact him. His email of April 23 2022 said:
“Dear Neil,
As Victoria heads towards a State Election in November this year, it is more important than ever that I hear from you on what matters most and how we can rebuild following two years of lockdowns, lost learning, a mental health crisis, cost of living pressures and attacks on small business.”
HAVE you ever had a chat with Matt?
I haven’t, though he invited me, and I imagine many others, to contact him. His email of April 23 2022 said:
“Dear Neil,
As Victoria heads towards a State Election in November this year, it is more important than ever that I hear from you on what matters most and how we can rebuild following two years of lockdowns, lost learning, a mental health crisis, cost of living pressures and attacks on small business.”
At last I thought I may get to talk to the aspiring premier, for up until now he had ignored my emails about the need for a Western Port Strategic Management Plan (WPSMP). Armed with the email, I wrote:
Dear Mr Guy
Thank you for the invitation to ask you a question. I have via your parliamentary email address, asked you on four occasions if your party was prepared to develop a “Western Port Strategic Management Plan” prior to the upcoming state election. The last email was dated 07/02/2022; subject heading: WPSMP_ Article: “It’s time to set the agenda”. To date, there has been no reply to any of my emails. I might add that the leader of the Nationals has also ignored my requests about the same subject. My question in the emails to you still stands. The readers of the Bass Coast Post would also be interested in your reply. Thank you for your time.
Yours sincerely
Neil Daly
23/04/2022
Within minutes of sending my epistle, back came the reply. I was amazed until I read the response:
“Thank you for emailing the Office of Matthew Guy MP, Leader of the Opposition.
It's great to hear from you. We have received your email.
All emails are reviewed by our team and we will respond as appropriate.
Due to the volume of correspondence we receive, it may take a little bit of time for us to get back to you.
To keep up with the latest on our plan to Recover and Rebuild Victoria, please go to https://www.matthewguy.com.au/our-plan
Kind regards,
The Office of the Leader of the Opposition.”
As I “go to print”, still no chat with Matt!
I’ve been prompted to tell you about my experience for Planning Minister Richard Wynne’s decision to approve a massive expansion of Grantville’s sand mining operation flies in the face of the environment message that Meryl Tobin presented at the public hearings.
Meryl recently commented, “Doing things piecemeal doesn’t work with the environment. We need to look at the whole picture.”
Meryl succinctly sums up where the government has gone wrong with its ‘sand decision’ and ignored its own PR messaging. For example in the Strategic Extractive Resource Areas Information for community and landholders (SERA) it says: “SERAs aim to get the right balance so that communities can continue to develop, but not too close to where quarries are or to where important areas of sand, stone and gravel resource can be found for use in the future.”
In Grantville’s case, it’s now up to the community to put up with an expanding quarry on its doorstep and any fauna that doesn’t like it – move!
It’s a pity that as yet flora and fauna are not represented in parliament, but perhaps that day will come for the Australian Earth Laws Centre is “working to create and promote Earth centred law and regulation, including (but not limited to):
In the meantime, while the battle goes on, I would suggest more than ever we need a WPSMP to protect this region from further extractive exploitation, primarily geared to satisfy Melbourne’s expansionary needs – ‘miles away’ from this quarry.
If I ever get to chat with Matt, I’ll mention this; I’ll also say that if he’s still keen to “Recover and Rebuild Victoria”, he has a chance to take up the challenge to devise an ecosystem-based business plan for the Western Port region. I would add that he and the Nationals’ leader should listen to people like Meryl, for any ‘recover and rebuild’ plan cannot ignore this region’s history and its contribution to Victoria’s environmental wellbeing.
If looking for further guidance, the Healthy Waterways Strategy and, in particular, the “Overview” in the publication “Co-Designed Catchment Program for the Westernport and Mornington Peninsula Region”, is a valuable insight to the region’s attributes. It promotes the concept that by “Working together, the full environmental, social, cultural and economic values of the region’s waterways can be realised.”
The same message goes to the state government as they have not come forward with a strategic management plan, and have now shied away from the holistic approach they should have embraced if they truly believe in an equitable and sustainable future for this region.
Closer to home, I’ve contacted the newly endorsed Liberal party candidates for Bass and Nepean, inviting them to join in the push to devise a WPSMP. Will they respond? I guess it all depends on Matt.
Dear Mr Guy
Thank you for the invitation to ask you a question. I have via your parliamentary email address, asked you on four occasions if your party was prepared to develop a “Western Port Strategic Management Plan” prior to the upcoming state election. The last email was dated 07/02/2022; subject heading: WPSMP_ Article: “It’s time to set the agenda”. To date, there has been no reply to any of my emails. I might add that the leader of the Nationals has also ignored my requests about the same subject. My question in the emails to you still stands. The readers of the Bass Coast Post would also be interested in your reply. Thank you for your time.
Yours sincerely
Neil Daly
23/04/2022
Within minutes of sending my epistle, back came the reply. I was amazed until I read the response:
“Thank you for emailing the Office of Matthew Guy MP, Leader of the Opposition.
It's great to hear from you. We have received your email.
All emails are reviewed by our team and we will respond as appropriate.
Due to the volume of correspondence we receive, it may take a little bit of time for us to get back to you.
To keep up with the latest on our plan to Recover and Rebuild Victoria, please go to https://www.matthewguy.com.au/our-plan
Kind regards,
The Office of the Leader of the Opposition.”
As I “go to print”, still no chat with Matt!
I’ve been prompted to tell you about my experience for Planning Minister Richard Wynne’s decision to approve a massive expansion of Grantville’s sand mining operation flies in the face of the environment message that Meryl Tobin presented at the public hearings.
Meryl recently commented, “Doing things piecemeal doesn’t work with the environment. We need to look at the whole picture.”
Meryl succinctly sums up where the government has gone wrong with its ‘sand decision’ and ignored its own PR messaging. For example in the Strategic Extractive Resource Areas Information for community and landholders (SERA) it says: “SERAs aim to get the right balance so that communities can continue to develop, but not too close to where quarries are or to where important areas of sand, stone and gravel resource can be found for use in the future.”
In Grantville’s case, it’s now up to the community to put up with an expanding quarry on its doorstep and any fauna that doesn’t like it – move!
It’s a pity that as yet flora and fauna are not represented in parliament, but perhaps that day will come for the Australian Earth Laws Centre is “working to create and promote Earth centred law and regulation, including (but not limited to):
- the theory and practice of Earth jurisprudence
- Earth laws and Indigenous First Laws
- ecological law and governance
- rights of nature
- the law of ecocide
- Greenprints and Earth-centred bioregional law.”
In the meantime, while the battle goes on, I would suggest more than ever we need a WPSMP to protect this region from further extractive exploitation, primarily geared to satisfy Melbourne’s expansionary needs – ‘miles away’ from this quarry.
If I ever get to chat with Matt, I’ll mention this; I’ll also say that if he’s still keen to “Recover and Rebuild Victoria”, he has a chance to take up the challenge to devise an ecosystem-based business plan for the Western Port region. I would add that he and the Nationals’ leader should listen to people like Meryl, for any ‘recover and rebuild’ plan cannot ignore this region’s history and its contribution to Victoria’s environmental wellbeing.
If looking for further guidance, the Healthy Waterways Strategy and, in particular, the “Overview” in the publication “Co-Designed Catchment Program for the Westernport and Mornington Peninsula Region”, is a valuable insight to the region’s attributes. It promotes the concept that by “Working together, the full environmental, social, cultural and economic values of the region’s waterways can be realised.”
The same message goes to the state government as they have not come forward with a strategic management plan, and have now shied away from the holistic approach they should have embraced if they truly believe in an equitable and sustainable future for this region.
Closer to home, I’ve contacted the newly endorsed Liberal party candidates for Bass and Nepean, inviting them to join in the push to devise a WPSMP. Will they respond? I guess it all depends on Matt.