I had a wonderful experience joining the exercise class with the lovely Jane, at Purbrick Hall, Wangaratta on Monday, 22 September, at 10.30am.
We enjoyed great music with excellent all round fitness exercises designed for all genders, aged 50 plus.
I was delighted with the kindness extended to me as a visitor to the region, while enjoying a holiday with friends from Henley Ridge.
The same class in Adelaide would cost $35 per hour but Jane currently charges $10.
Definitely treat yourself to a fun time and share a coffee afterwards with some incredibly nice, joyous new friends.
Thank you.
Sheryn Reid, Adelaide
Immigration policies need changes to attract more tradies
I maybe in my twilight years, but I was very interested in the letter from Mike Hermon (Wangaratta Chronicle, 22 September) and the shortfall of tradies in the order of 83,300 in the building trades.
When I commenced my apprenticeship with the State Electricity Commission in January 1951, there were 425 young Australians taking up apprenticeships that day with the SEC and there was no unemployment.
And I can distinctly remember the many thousands of migrants who made their way, mainly from Europe to the "lucky country" after WW2 and I wonder how we would have ever built the Snowy scheme without them.
At the end of WW2 our population was around 7.4 million and these migrant men worked day and night to get Australia a very good hydro electric scheme which is still in service today, some 70 years after its completion.
The Snowy 2 project, which is presently under construction employs around 4000 workers and when finished will give us enough generation to power three million homes for a week coming from a generator some 800 metres underground.
Many of those early migrants went on to work on the Kiewa Hydro Scheme with power stations at Mackay Creek, Clover and West Kiewa and a further one added at Bogong some 30 years ago.
I befriended many of those migrants and can still call them friends.
I suppose my concern is that we seem to be attracting persons with a different attitude to life from overseas these days, and many have no desire to take up an apprenticeship where wages are lower and it is easier to accept government benefits and live at home even though their parents are hardworking responsible citizens.
I don't agree we should go back to the old days and have a "White Australia policy", but somehow we need to encourage our youth to look to the future and take on an apprenticeship to help us solve our housing shortages.
Kenneth J Clarke, Wangaratta
Albanese government betrays Defence Force veterans
When he was in opposition, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was quick to politicise the campaign for Able Seaman Teddy Sheean to receive the Victoria Cross.
But under new laws rammed through the House of Representatives, the independent tribunal established to review decisions by Defence would be banned from even considering Sheean’s heroic actions, and any gallant deeds which occurred more than 20 years ago.
Under Prime Minister Albanese, the words ‘we will remember them’ are set to carry a use-by date.
It seems we will only remember them if their actions occurred within a convenient timeframe for the Labor Party.
Without consultation, the Albanese government has undermined the independence of the Defence Honours Awards and Appeals Tribunal by placing a time limit on reviewable actions for Australia’s most significant military medals and abolished the rights of appeal for veterans and their families.
As a statutory agency, the tribunal was established in 2011 and was always intended to act independently of government to review decisions made by Defence dating back to 1939.
It was this process that led to the decisions to posthumously award a Victoria Cross to both Teddy Sheean and Richard Norden, along with individual recognition for the bravery of Delta Company at Long Tan, during the Vietnam War.
It’s hard to believe in the aftermath of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide that the Labor Party would further disenfranchise the veterans community.
This is a bill to reduce transparency from a Labor Government that hates being held to account, and it should be defeated in the Senate.
Darren Chester, Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs