I AM responding to the article regarding the closure of Hallam Gardens three-year-old kinder (News, 8 December).
The three-year-old kindergarten which my son currently attends, Singleton Pre-School in Endeavour Hills, is also under enormous financial strain. It is a pity Casey Council does not support this level of education to a greater extent. My son has gained a huge amount of confidence, patience and skill by attending kinder. It would be a loss to the community as a whole if three-year-old kinders were to slowly disappear.
The parents and volunteer committees who run these non-profit three-year-old kinders do their upmost to raise funds to run these groups, but there is only so much fundraising we can do. We are not asking for the government/council to pay for three-year-old-kinder. All we are asking for is help in providing this service.
For example, currently money to buy sand for the sand pits, tan bark and shade cloth for the play areas all come out of the kindergarten fees. It would not cost the council a lot to provide these items to the kindergartens but it would help a lot financially to keep the kinders afloat.
It would help us to buy and update equipment or keep fees down so that it would encourage more parents to send their children to three-year-old kinder.
Three-year-old kindergarten is education. It might not teach children how to read or write, but it helps develop their social skills and routine in readiness for school. Please don’t let this institution die. It will be the next generation who suffers.
Emily Aw,
Endeavour Hills.
SO LABOR MP Luke Donnellan asserts that Casey councillors are “whingers”.
Some of his claims are valid, as in the lack of street lighting and footpaths and I would add the lack of maintenance of existing pedestrian walks, particularly the path from Cameron Street to the library in Cranbourne, which is an absolute disgrace.
They actually mow around the fallen tree branches and rubbish!
But spare us the rhetoric. The Bracks Government is reactionary, it allows development before putting in place facilities and appropriate transport.
We wouldn’t whinge if our main roads were improved before we allowed the thousands of new houses to be built. We wouldn’t whinge if the new railway station at Cranbourne East was built before Casey Fields was completed (the line is already there, the commitment isn’t).
The Bracks Government spends millions of dollars on their grand plan for the year 2030 then scraps it to allow development in their “green wedge” areas (i.e. Devon Meadows).
We are whingeing because I’ll bet you all this development goes ahead before the roads are improved, before Cranbourne gets its bypass, which has been on the books for the last 25 years.
I went to Casey Council’s information evening at Cranbourne Secondary College, saw lots of pretty pictures of future planning, none of which is possible without the infrastructure, and wonder why our ratepayers’ money is wasted in this way without commitment from the State Government.
My question to Mr Donnellan is, with all the money you’ve saved on broken promises, i.e Mitcham-Frankston “freeway” (about $7 billion) along with the disgraceful “development” tax,which will add between $6000 and $8000 to the unfortunate first-home buyers, and the absolute bonanza of stamp duty on property transfers, why aren’t we seeing some logical, forward thinking, proper planning of road funding and infrastructure that is sorely needed before all this development takes place? These are valid issues that Casey councillors, along with voters/ratepayers have every right to question.
We’re not whingers, Mr Donnellan, just totally cheesed off with the inaction and broken promises of your government.
Simon Klaver,
Cranbourne.
Stick to principles
I WOULD like to say thank you to all Four Oaks residents who voted for me at the last council elections. I feel deeply grateful for the trust they put in me in doing so. Unfortunately I have not been given the opportunity to serve their best interests on Casey council.
As a co-founder of the Endeavour Hills Community Watchdog with Paul Richardson, I congratulate him on his election as a councillor.
I’m sure he will deliver the goods and will stick to the principles we both enunciated during the campaign – no junkets. No extravagant expenditure at the expense of ratepayers. I believe he will see to it that Casey Council always put people first, ratepayers’ interests first.
Finally, I would like to wish Casey council, the local press and all Four Oaks residents a Merry Christmas and a prosperous Happy New Year 2006.
Eliezer Francois,
Endeavour Hills.
Ditto on death penalty
HOW true was the letter We Need a Death Penalty by D. Andrews from Cranbourne (News, 8 December).
I couldn’t agree more.
K. Schofield,
Cranbourne.
Close the door
LETTER writer D. Andrews (News, 8 December) is close to the mark with his comments on the death penalty for drug importers.
If Van Nguyen’s brother wanted to help him out, how about a second job? Cabbie, barman, cleaner etc. But I guess that means physical exertion, so it’s best to look for something easy and huge rewards. A trip overseas, nothing hard about that, easy money, no physical effort required.
It would be more appropriate to attend the funeral of an addicted heroin user than a moron bringing into this country death and misery for his gain.
Did he have compassion for the numerous fellow beings he was assisting to a life of junkie hell? Or the stress anxiety and trauma of having one of your children prick themselves with a discarded user’s needle.
Get it straight, he was not importing icing for a birthday cake, it was death, death and more death.
Bob and Hazel Hawke will tell you what they think of heroin peddlers.
Travel to Singapore and try to score, not on your neddy cobber, they have closed the door.
Geoff Cousins,
Cranbourne.
