Flood risk
I read with interest in NDL (27/7/16) a plan to reduce flood risk in Bendmeeer by evicting honest ratepayers from their homes. After years of Flood-Risk Management Plans and a considerable amount of rate-payer’s money, the council has overlooked the real problem: a badly silted and overgrown Macdonald River. This has been placed in the ‘too-hard basket’.
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The mentality seems to be that it is better to flood part of the town and evict the residents than solve the problem. The way the article is worded it appears that evicting the residents will reduce the flood. Three days later (NDL 30/7/16) headlines state ‘Peel River trees pose potential threat’. As stated by Councillor Webb in the article, “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work out that a huge amount of growth in a river bed will cause a drama in a major flood event.”
Apparently this is not applicable to the Macdonald River! Councillors are concerned that trees in the Peel River could contribute to flooding of the sporting fields. Let’s not have inequality and bias between the city and a small village. Even though sporting fields are a great asset to the city should they be a priority over the lives of the people of Bendemeer?
It is a concern that we have become informed about the decision by reading the NDL. No doubt, TRC will personally inform the Bendemeer property owners concerned and not deliver their verdict by mail. But there again, if you have made up your mind to throw people out of their homes that they have spent 30 or more years setting themselves up in for their twilight years, with their established gardens and all the comforts for their old age, you don’t have to show sensitivity and respect. Some of the residents to be affected are well advanced in years and they cannot be expected to relocate. This is not just about Bendemeer. It is a warning for every resident in every community who has chosen to reside near a water course. Tamworth Regional Council cannot discriminate unjustly against one village. They are setting a precedent. Your turn is next! With council elections coming up in September perhaps a complete change of councillors might see some respect for the people who have put them there in the first place.
Winston Doak (Bendemeer)
Homeless Persons Week
Homeless Person’s Week runs from 1 to 7 August. Currently there are over 105,000 homeless people in Australia, 44,000 of which are under the age of 25, Homeless Person’s Week aims to raise awareness for those doing it tough on the streets. One in five homeless people seeking assistance are being turned away from vital, emergency accommodation services. In modern Australia, these statistics are alarming and there is a lot of work to be done to fix this.
Homeless Person’s week raises awareness of these figures in the hopes of gaining support for this significant issue. After 25 years of working with homeless youth, I have witnessed first-hand, the troubles that these people go through at such a young age. For the third year in a row, at Youth Off The Streets we will be running our Lace It Up Campaign to raise awareness and funds for these disadvantaged youth. As part of the campaign we are asking people to swap out their current shoelaces for our blue, #LaceItUp shoelaces.
The idea behind the campaign is that the dangers of living on the street are so prevalent that kids living on the street often do not have the luxury of taking their shoes off before going to sleep; they must be ready to move at any moment. Basic luxuries we take for granted are simply not available to those on the streets, these funds help provide a warm place to sleep, a hot meal and basic hygienic products. Only by working together can we tackle this concerning issue of homelessness. Visit laceitup.com.au for more information on how to get involved and help Australia’s young and homeless.
Father Chris Riley, CEO and Founder of Youth Off The Streets