THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES – A QUESTION OF TRUST?
Dear Editor,
The man who would be PM has form in rote learning his media engagements to the point where people are not sure whether he is genuine or not. For example, his would be premier colleague (in the recent NSW election), Michael Daley always sounded plausible, up until he engaged in debate about policy detail, was found wanting and subsequently lost the election.
Bill Shorten has similarly sounded plausible with his 50% electric cars by 2030, till he was asked a simple question by a radio host about how long it took to charge the family car? After skirting round the issue he blurted out somewhere between 8-10 minutes. Clearly not across his brief it was pointed out the answer is between 8-10 hours.
The simple message to the voting public is, if the would be PM is not across the detail and is prepared to fudge his answers, what else is he being untruthful about?
Yours sincerely,
Simon Forbes
Sydney, NSW
ALTERNATIVE TRAIN STATION SITE — NORTH OF HIGH STREET
Dear Editor,
With so much talk concerning the proposed $20M railway overpass earmarked for construction by Greater Shepparton City Council and other stakeholders it seems consideration has not been given to an alternative future siting for the train station. There is little question that the current station is poorly located and lacking in amenity as well as limited in potential moving forward. Yet a plan to construct an elaborate overpass is forging ahead despite the uncertainty of where a future station may be located. The elephant in the room, however, is the idea of a complete scrapping of the current site in favour of a better alternative or alternatives. The current site is boxed in on all sides, too far from the CBD it is hoped to serve, and burdened with over a hundred years of pollutants. Large chunks of the current site have already been encroached by private industry as well as residential housing leaving little room for the council to maneuver, a legacy of the last fifty years where rail was thought of as obsolete.
Times are a-changin’ for rail however as the Federal Government invests billions of dollars in rail infrastructure over the next 10 years while the Victorian government works towards improving current lines and expanding or re-opening old lines. High speed (200km/h) Velocity trains will hit Shepparton in the next couple of years, reducing the three hour rail journey to Melbourne to around one hour and this will be a boon to the local economy and stimulate substantial growth in population and housing. It is therefore very important to get it right from the start and to avoid polishing the proverbial.
Directly adjacent to the current site on the northern side of High Street is an area of comparable size which is currently used as a make-shift car park, a gravel wonderland if you will. Open on all sides to pedestrian access, right next to the show grounds and a stone’s throw from the University campus it is a location that is too good to be true. The added bonus of this location is that rail passengers do not have to cross the great dividing traffic range of High Street aka Benalla Road aka the gauntlet and dissuader of potential rail commuters. Ultimately this alternative site may still require a pedestrian overpass or more likely an underpass like most suburban stations in Melbourne but it would not need to perform an Olympic gymnastics routine to weave through the private lands and numerous streets surrounding the current site.
Council could consider the acquisition of surrounding parcels at the current site such as the block on the corner of Hoskin Street and High Street which directly interferes with egress to the CBD from the current site. Instead the planned overpass will land people on Hoskin Street which has significant road traffic being a minor bypass (major thoroughfare) for vehicles travelling to Tocumwal and other north eastern locations. The current site could still be used for stabling purposes and as an industrial site it would be very suited for this important role. It will never make for a great station site and the proposed pedestrian overpass may need to be removed in the near future as the needs of the community change once again. When an ideal site to the north of High Street is at the disposal of council and it chooses to pump money into a dead horse of a rail precinct it begs the question as to who is steering this titanic of a rural city and where the life boats are located.
Yours sincerely,
James Hickey
Shepparton
