By Ajanta Judd AS WE readjust to the easing of Victoria’s COVID-19 restrictions, we are being prompted to step tentatively out from our social isolation into a very changed working environment. Within the comfort zone of our own homes, we’ve had the opportunity, if we were inclined, to pause and reflect upon our personal circumstances – to get in touch with what we really want, what matters the most to us – and perhaps restructure our way of being in the world. Hopefully, that’s been the most commonplace experience: an externally imposed ‘recalibration’ (thanks, Coronavirus, for the opportunity!). But for some, especially many parents home-schooling, or those who have not been well supported, it has been a struggle and one fraught with anxiety. Coming out of this lockdown, many people will be trepidatious whilst others might embrace their new found liberty as though they’ve just been released from prison. (I see this in supermarkets where I’ve observed a distinct lack of social distancing, as though we are scot-free of coronavirus). | Ajanta Judd is an experienced tutor and mentor in community development, counselling & therapy plus small business operations. She runs Island Small Business Services and the free online Women Connect Tech Club at PICAL every Tuesday from 10am to 1pm, assisting and problem solving with a diverse range of device and computer issues. |
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By Peter McKenzie AFTER several years of fighting the development of 83 new house blocks next to a wetland reserve in Reed Crescent, Wonthaggi, we finally have a result. The developers have won. The thousands of hours and dollars put in by numerous objectors – individuals and the South Gippsland Conservation Society – came to nought. Not a total surprise because we were fighting in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), the jurisdiction orchestrated from the start by the developer Grebe Investments Pty Litd. The reason we were there was that the developer lodged a claim that Bass Coast Shire Council had taken longer than the prescribed 60 days to decide on the development application. Damn the council, you might think. By Frank Schooneveldt THE Big Bang occurred around 13.8 billion years ago. Homo sapiens (wise man) evolved only 200,000 years ago. There are now around 7.8 billion members of Homo sapiens living on planet earth (2020). Is this sustainable? There is not much of planet earth that Homo sapiens has not touched, altered, changed or destroyed. Homo sapiens is still evolving and like all the other Homo species will die out and be replaced by a new species, either of the Homo genus or something entirely different. Some people think Homo sapiens are special. Some people think Homo sapiens are the rulers of the earth. Some people think Homo sapiens are immortal. Some people have a view that they do not fear death because they were created by a god. And therefore they will go to a god. They believe they are immortal. “THESE are angry little morsels.,” Jennifer wrote when she sent this piece in response to a request from the Post to keep a diary of her week of working at home and home schooling. "I thought about prettying them up, but why? If you can’t be honest in a diary format, then what is the point of writing?”
While some of us are thriving in these crazy times, Jennifer’s brutally honest account reminds us that, others are buckling under the increased demands and loss of personal space. * Jennifer asked that the diary be anonymous so names have been changed. By Maddy Harford THAT familiar, irritating sound – not unlike fingernails across a blackboard – pierces the waves of emerging consciousness – again! It’s been every morning for more than a week now. The noise persists for differing lengths of times; always getting louder and louder until it stops with a muffled thump. I lie quietly, hoping he will get up and deal with it. No movement from the other side of the bed. Perhaps it hasn’t yet pierced his waves of emerging consciousness. How could it not?! I will say at the outset, though, that we share this task fairly equitably, depending on how well each has slept that night. Esteemed local elder Eulalie Brewster looks back on some of the turning points of history she has experienced in her 93 years. By Eulalie Brewster The polio epidemic In 1937, when I was in grade five, the polio epidemic meant that for eight weeks we couldn’t go to school and school lessons came through the post. It must have been spring – October and November – and it felt like a holiday. We spent the time building huts, climbing large tea trees in back garden, reading, helping with chores. We had a big garden for play. A friend sometimes came to play. Her older sister had a crippled leg from a polio infection some 10 years earlier. By Tim O’Brien THE Lang Lang Holden Proving Ground is 877 hectares, slightly more than 2000 acres, most of it preserved bush. In a region which, once densely forested, has now just remnant pockets, the site is a unique parcel of West Gippsland coastal forest. It is ideal for preservation for the environment and as habitat for endangered flora and the wildlife which once ranged this region. With the right government support, it might also be purposed for wildlife tourism, for indigenous culture and education, for complementary leisure activities, and as a research centre and breeding ground for wildlife affected by bushfire. This region is a centre for nature research and internationally famous for its wildlife tourism. Given the loss of habitat in the West Gippsland region generally, and the recent vast losses of wildlife and habitat along the length (and inland) of the east coast, the 2000 acres of coastal forest covering this site makes it too valuable an asset to lose “to the property market” – too valuable to the local and broader environment and too important to the threatened species of the Westernport region. An open letter from John Parsons
Hi Geoff, I have just read your article Salutations from the high ground in the Bass Coast Post. Firstly, pardon my language but I am only using words that have been used by certain others in your article. I know that you and I are poles apart on many issues including this one, but we still manage to have an amicable discussion about just about everything. So with some trepidation (because I still want to remain friends) I make the following points to you. I think we both agree that climate change is occurring. It has for millions of years. We have had ice ages and we have had ages where it has got so hot that flora and fauna have died and ice has melted as proven in our own waterline area where the sand is mined after the seas had risen so many millions of years back. So what can we do about it? By Jessica Harrison A TENT here or there, a car parked for a long time in the street, or a young woman washing in the basins at the shopping centre toilets may be subtle signs that not everyone in our coastal community has a roof over their heads. Until now, The Miners Rest Caravan Park and the adjoining Capital Motel in Wonthaggi were the place of last resort for a place to stay. Now they are due for demolition and the residents must find alternative housing by July 2020. As caravans are removed, the site is becoming more desolate for the remaining people. Salvocare, the Salvation Army housing agency, is doing what it can to help people relocate, but there are very few housing options for people living on low incomes. By Pete Muskens MY ASSOCIATION with Cape Paterson is not a long one, I was first acquainted with it in 2012 and within a year had bought a house from people who were drawn to the similar quiet of Tasmania. As a Darwin friend described it, “Cape Paterson is one of the few quintessential beach places that have not succumbed to suburban sprawl”. For most of my life, I’ve been a “west coaster” who’s become increasingly disillusioned about what’s happened to places that had a wonderful mix of rural land abutting quiet villages. Alas, places such as Torquay, Jan Juc, Ocean Grove and Queenscliff have been engulfed by unseemly sprawl in the rush to get “sea views” at the expense of the quiet that made these places attractive in the first place. By Frank W Schooneveldt BASS Coast Shire Council keeps telling us there is a $600 million backlog in infrastructure issues. We know. Every day we all experience bad roads and footpaths, erosion and poor drainage – all in need of urgent attention. We want to see our Shire shine with the very best it can offer – community facilities such as swimming pools, recreational grounds and arts centres that bring us together as a community and give our kids the best start in life. Infrastructure spending means local jobs. So how do we fix this backlog? It’s simple. We make rates fair for all. By Loran McKean LET me tell you my story. I’m a single mum with a five-year-old daughter. I moved from Queensland to Victoria with nothing but a suitcase, a car seat and a child on my hips. I came to Inverloch, where my mum lived, and then to Wonthaggi. This was a very welcoming community, there were services to help and I was able to rebuild my life. At that point I realised that all my experience and 10 years of farming didn’t mean much unless I had a certificate. I needed to further my education to target some of the jobs I was looking at for next year. So I went through my job search provider and they got me on to Bass Coast Adult Learning (BCAL). I loved the idea of getting my Certificate II in horticulture because it opens a lot of doors in landscaping, gardening and nursery work. By Craig Little IN THE beginning, ten years ago, we were attracted to the Waterline area for its rural, coastal character. As we explored we loved it more, for its natural beauty and towns and villages, of which Coronet Bay was just one. More recently we have enjoyed the experience of progress and development, the growth of innovative local hospitality businesses, and new services based on care and quality. Residential and retail developments are expanding, and towns such as Wonthaggi and San Remo are forging ahead. By Cate Anderson LINE dancing?...You're kidding, right? That's pretty much the standard response I receive when I mention my twice weekly dance classes in Wonthaggi. There's no doubt about it, line dancing gets a bad rap. All those images of tough cowboys and their gals in hard core boots and jeans, hands in pockets, tapping away to godawful country music. I'll be honest, I thought it was going to be just that kind of bootscooting when I first poked my nose in at the local line dancing class in Wonthaggi. By Catherine Watson RECENTLY some 40 senior council staff gathered to watch a series of short films about LGBTQI people living in Bass Coast. Co-hosted by council CEO Ali Wastie and Cr Geoff Ellis, the films were the centrepiece of a workshop for staff to discuss how they could make their workplace more welcoming for people of diverse sexualities and genders. Ms Wastie told staff she wanted the council to celebrate and welcome LGBTQI members of the community, and to send a positive signal to employees who identify as LGBTQI that they could “bring their full selves to work”. The Post asked her to elaborate. By James Archibald THE problem of wage theft is rife within hospitality and has been for at least the past 30 years that I've been part of the industry. As a local café owner who operates according to the award, I’m frustrated that many businesses continue to pay cash and that wage theft continues. By Catherine Watson ANOTHER week, another report of a high-end city restaurant underpaying staff. It’s business as usual, with many of the underpaid staff on migrant visas or in other vulnerable positions. But it would be a mistake to believe that country workers are in a better position than their city counterparts with wage theft common in the hospitality industry here as well. A friend of mine worked at a local café. She started on $18 an hour, cash in hand. She worked five days a week, including Saturdays. After three months her pay went up to $20. Shopping centres might be privately owned enterprises but they should also be civic spaces where people gather to discuss the issues of the day, argues Felicia Di Stefano By Felicia Di Stefano WE WERE kicked out of the Wonthaggi Plaza last month. For over two years a local refugee support group, South Gippsland Rural Australians for Refugees, had been meeting outside the plaza for an hour on the first Saturday of each month. We distribute information about refugees, explaining why they need to flee their birthland, to inform people about the current treatment of refugees, films we are screening, and to have various petitions and letters signed. Low pay, irregular hours, no job security … welcome to the precarious world of work for an increasing number of Australians. By Kaz I HAVE been in the workforce for 32 years, longer if you include the babysitting and cleaning jobs I did as a high school student. Despite two university degrees in education and the arts, most of my professional working life has been shaped by short term contracts, casual employment and small gigs such as running workshops as a sole trader. Wonthaggi student Jessie Harrison explains why she’ll be joining next week’s global climate strike. Post: How much do you worry about climate change? Jessie: I worry quite often. Every day there are more reports on the news: the hottest day on record. The other day I heard a report that we have only 18 months to act to reverse climate change and become carbon neutral or else there’s no return. Our generation will be hit the worst with climate change, with hotter summers and colder winters, bigger floods and melting ice signifying just the beginning. I want to be able to live to an old age without experiencing the worst impacts of climate change. By Ian Simmons WE ARRIVED in Melbourne from the UK in 1988. Within three days I was in a full-time management role and I continued in various management roles until 2016. In 2011, with the children having finished school, we were ready for a lifestyle change. My wife left her job to supervise the completion of our new house in South Gippsland. I was working as Gippsland territory manager and my salary could support our lifestyle. If we’re not to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the challenge, we must come together as a community, to listen to the environment and to one another. Dr Laura Brearley ACCORDING to the Climate Emergency website, 800 local councils around the globe have declared climate emergencies, 43 of them in Australia. Last week, Bass Coast Shire Council became one of them. By Ed Thexton A FEW weeks ago, at the Inverloch library I picked up Black Saturday – Not the End of the Story by Peg Fraser, a cultural history of a small place, Strathewen, with an extraordinary story. In this Museum Victoria publication about the afternoon of Saturday February 9, 2009, I could hear the voices of Barry, Barbara and Bronwyn as they spoke of a day, or more precisely a few hours of a day, that changed them. Like the expanding ripples from a pebble thrown into water, it also changed me. |