Your Say: Tony Pasin MP, Federal Member for Barker, Shadow Assistant Minister Infrastructure and Transport. September is Rural Road Safety Month, an Australian Road Safety Foundation (ARSF) awareness campaign designed to highlight the additional risks that exist when driving on rural and remote roads. Despite fewer than a third of Australia’s population residing in major cities, deaths on rural roads accounted for almost two thirds of the 2022 road toll. In the first eight months of 2023, we have lost 38 lives on South Australian rural roads, ten more than at the same time last year.   The overrepresentation of rural and regional road users in the national fatality and serious injury statistics and the continuing rising road toll is quite obviously cause for real concern. It’s also a key reason why the Federal Government must urgently unlock infrastructure investment and get on with upgrading our regional road network, including the […]

Your Say: Heather Gibbons, Robe. As a response to receiving the referendum booklet I thought I would look up The National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA). It is run by a CEO and two deputy CEOs. So if NIAA gets $4.3 billion of taxpayers’ money every year, what are they doing with the money? This Executive Agency’s website tells me and I quote: “The National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) vision is to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are heard, recognised and empowered. We recognise each First Nations community is unique. We work in partnership with community to make sure policies, programs and services meet their unique needs. We work to support the Minister for Indigenous Australians.” With the Vision, Purpose, and Responsibilities outlines in the Executive Order, why is the federal government pushing The Voice when “The NIAA works to influence policy across the entire Australian Government. As an […]

Your Say: Ken Grundy. The News headline last issue predicted a “Shake-up for Councils”. Minister for Local Government, Mr Geoff Brock, announced a plan to transform Local Government due to public feeling that Councils could move more to regional authorities or State Government could take over Council duties. Whichever way you look at this it is a move away from governing ourselves locally to a centralist policy. The trend to centralisation is evident everywhere but the results are not encouraging.  For example the horrid WA legislation which prevented a farmer digging a post hole without prior approval from First Nation people was thankfully rescinded but there is already talk of the Federal Government considering implementing similar impositions, making it nation-wide.  From the national perspective Australia and other nations are now complying with policy directions from the United Nations  –  surely the ultimate in centralisation or One World Government.  These policies […]