SUNSHINE-AIRPORT RAIL LINK (Weekly, September 10)
■ The RACV also supports the huge waste of money that is the east-west toll road. Spend $8 billion on that and there’s not a lot left to spend on anything – let alone something useful like a train line to the airport.
PAUL \ VIA WEB
■ So what, Paul? It is a motoring club and well done to it for actually supporting moves to get a rail link. Do you want it to oppose a new rail link?
JULIA \ VIA WEB
■ Julia, no. With its strong support and constant calls for the east-west link project, the RACV is effectively ensuring that no other infrastructure projects, including the Melbourne Airport rail link, can go ahead.
The RACV is being disingenuous as it is fully aware the east-west link will drain public infrastructure funding for a decade or more. This so-called support of the airport link is so watered down as to be meaningless. East-west link will do nothing to help the 90 per cent of Eastern Freeway users who commute to or through the inner city. It is a truck route to connect to CityLink and the Tullamarine Freeway.
PT NOT TOLLWAYS \ VIA WEB
RIDE FOR SICK KIDS (Weekly, August 20)
■ On behalf of Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), I would like to thank the Brimbank community for its generous support of the recent Ride for Sick Kids Victoria.
The week-long event, in which 35 riders, including Brooklyn’s Michael Lee, travelled 760 kilometres across the state, has raised in excess of $400,000 for RMHC programs in Victoria.
This impressive fund-raising total wouldn’t have been possible without the overwhelming support of the Brimbank community.
BRETT TOOLEY \ RMHC COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN
GOOD MOVE ON METH
■ The Victorian government’s announcement of a parliamentary inquiry into methamphetamine is a welcome move.
‘Ice’ is a highly addictive drug capable of triggering aggressive and violent behaviour.
Preventing drug problems comes down to tackling the issues that lead people to develop them – unemployment, disengagement, mental health, isolation and boredom. This requires community education about drug-use issues, assisting parents to nurture their children through adolescence, ensuring young people have access to jobs, helping people access health and mental health services, and providing ways for young people to be engaged with their community.
Information on ice is at druginfo.adf.org.au
JOHN ROGERSON \ AUSTRALIAN DRUG FOUNDATION CEO
