LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
AS a former Gippslander, I am full of empathy for those workers at the Hazelwood Power Station and the Heyfield timber mill who look likely to lose their jobs as these successful enterprises close down.
I have tried to voice my concerns to the Melbourne daily newspapers through letters to the editor, but they do not seem too keen to publish my concerns, so I thought that I would go local.
The Andrews’ government is a city-centric government which, at the end of the day, does not care a great deal about rural Victoria unless there is a seat there which is in danger of falling to the opposition.
The real reason behind the closure of the power station and the mill is to stop the bleeding of Labor votes to the Greens in the inner Melbourne suburbs.
I talk to a great deal of inner city Melbourne people. Most are not aware of the plight of country folk threatened by the above closures and most have not even heard of Heyfield, let alone where it is.
Even home-grown comedian Wil Anderson has not been able to put Heyfield on the map in Melbourne.
As for the Leadbeater’s Possum being threatened by the continuation of logging in and around Heyfield, I can report that most people I meet in Melbourne complain about the proliferation of possums and why the government will do anything about culling their numbers.
Peter the Possum Man is the busiest man in Melbourne.
I wish you all the very best in the fight for your lifestyle and livelihoods, and advise you to leave no stone unturned in your fight against the state government.
