The town, Wonthaggi and surrounding towns are all growing. The demographics include diverse age groups, not just the elderly. We have young families and people between ages 21 and 55 living in Wonthaggi who still commute between Wonthaggi and Melbourne. Currently, there is a bus service to and from Melbourne city, but the bus service is not viable in the long term, due to road congestion, longer travel times due to traffic, and limited bus services. A train will resolve these issues and cut down travel time by at least half hour. This is important as more people are moving to the country for a better life and due to housing price rises. International leaders are saying we need to reduce emissions, and a train can and will be part of resolving this issue, taking more cars off the road. Many people are now setting up home in Wonthaggi and still have to drive to the city as the buses are not always reliable, nor safe in covid times being buses are confined spaces - trains are not so confined. It does not make sense that the trains were cut in 1993 by Kennett who had shortsighted ideas. Had the train lines been kept in use, this would have benefitted the economy, bringing in money from everyday use. Governments peddal the excuse that it is too expensive to return railways to Wonthaggi. This is not true and no one should buy that excuse at all. The government has more than enough money and the railways being in use will pay for itself and keep paying into the economy. This NEEDS to be done now. We are not going to wait any longer. We would like to see Wonthaggi as a successful burgeoning town just like Traralgon is. For the last decade, locals in Wonthaggi and surrounds including Leongatha have fought and fought for this railway line to be brought back into use and it has been ignored for too long. No more. Just fund it and bring it back!

The federal government is letting us down on this issue. We need all local governments to take a leadership role if we are to avoid the worst outcomes of climate change and have a liveable future for our children. Nearby Indigo Shire has declared a Climate Emergency. So has Albury City Council. Alpine Shire has committed to net-zero by 2023. Tell our councillors we want them to take this issue seriously and keep our city liveable, by taking urgent action to reach net-zero emissions as soon as possible.

Cyril Jackson Oval is important to many locals for dog walking, picnics and playing away from the high-use soccer fields on Ashfield Reserve. It provides habitat for numerous birds, including at-risk species like white-tailed and red-tailed black cockatoos. Unless we act before next summer, the grass will die, and the trees and local birdlife will suffer.

Campbell Park attracts a lot of young sports enthusiasts and caters predominately to football, rugby and cricket but not basketball. There are no public courts within walking distance and it is a very popular sport in this area.

This small pocket of bush rings every morning with a dense chorus of birds taking refuge in our open farming landscape. This 2ha wild place is a left over remnant from the early 20th century practice of school children having 'bush classrooms', planting and growing timber plantations. School plantations had the dual purpose of connecting children to nature and creating trees for sale to State Forestry as an additional, locally controlled income for schools. Left unattended after the school closed, it is now essential habitat. Please take it off the sales list and allow it to remain a rare place that gives priority to wildlife. It is vital to the local and travelling birds, reptiles, mammals and insects of the region. Keeping it is a small gesture with a large impact for a long time. And continues to secure the investment of the children who planted and nurtured this place.

The upgrade is important for our local netball courts as they have significant warps in the surface. This increases the likelihood of falls or injuries. The netball posts are rusted and flaking, while the hoops are bent or sway. This upgrade is important because our kids deserve better, safer courts. Our community deserve high standard sporting fields so they can be fit and healthy while also being safe. They need more shade from our countries harmful sun and more seating for our spectators to enjoy, quite a few grandparents come to cheer on their grandchildren. These courts welcome hundreds of people each Saturday between April and September. Our girls deserve the same upgrades male sports receive. Not to mention the carpark is too small to accommodate these people so local streets become congested with parked cars or cars become bogged in the grassed areas during wet weather. Our local netball community deserve better.

Many residents, including small children in prams with their mothers, elderly and other residents use point street to walk to the beach, residential or other business destinations in the area but cannot do so in safety. People have been nearly hit by cars, fallen off the hilly grass areas and generally have felt unsafe as the new configuration does not slow down traffic. Despite being spoken to about this the wishes of the residents were ignored. Instead of providing the footpaths in consultation with the community, the council placed roundabouts that clearly do not stop traffic or make Point St Safer.

We, the community of Byron, Ballina, Tweed, and Lismore Shires are not the perfect backdrop for this series. We are a community experiencing significant challenges driven by influencer culture and rapidly shifting demographics of residents. We do not want to be cast as the perfect backdrop and magnet for social media influencers. We do not want to appear in 'Byron Baes'. Rather than using our region as a reality show punch line we want our Local, State and Federal government representatives and relevant regulatory authorities to focus on supporting our community to address systemic issues of housing affordability, coastal erosion, increasing unemployment, traffic management challenges, low high school completion rates and high levels of gendered and domestic violence. We want our voice to be heard and we do not want to deal with the fallout of being showcased on a global stage in a way that can only harm our local environment and community. No permit = no location filming. No location filming featuring our exploited paradise = no series.

Up to 3 million cubic metres of highly toxic spoil will be generated from the West Gate Tunnel Project, with the West Gate Tunnel Authority admitting that it is contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and asbestos at varying levels. Transportation is through the town of Bulla and over the historic bluestone bridge built in 1869. The Hi-Quality Eco-Hub landfill is located across the road from the Villawood Properties residential land and is 1.5 kilometres from developed areas of Sunbury, home to 40,000 residents and another 19,000 dwellings which have been approved. The facility borders Emu Creek, which feeds the Maribyrnong River system. It is also home to the growling grass frog endangered species. The state-wide risks of potential cross contamination with the nearby Veolia organic waste facility that services horticulture and viticulture industries across Victoria and a large network of farmers producing our everyday food, is too great of a risk and there could be unknown and unacceptable community health impacts for generations to come.

Young transgender people face enough hardship without the attacks of transphobic politicians. More than half of non-binary and transgender youth have considered suicide, according to studies [1] - and that's why it's vital that we ensure this harmful bill is voted down. The Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020 would "prohibit schools, teachers, and training courses from teaching gender fluidity", which the bill defines as “a belief there is a difference between biological sex and human gender and that human gender is socially constructed.” This means that a teacher or counsellor would be sacked and disaccredited if they: a) used a students' preferred pronouns b) mentioned transgender issues in the classroom c) opposed transphobic bullying in the playground d) did not hide that they themselves were transgender Although Mark Latham may seem like a fringe crackpot, he is a powerful figure in state politics. Latham's anti-trans bill now has the open and uncritical support of the NSW Liberal parliamentary secretary for education. [2] In December 2020, he got his way with a "clean out" of 42,000 professional development courses for teachers based on whether they taught gender and sexuality content. [3] A second bill by Latham, which acts as a state version of the federal government's proposed "Religious Freedoms" bill, would give bigots in public positions immunity from consequences of spouting their anti-LGBTI, anti-abortion and anti-women bigotry. This bill has been supported by 11 of 14 members of a parliamentary committee, including 3 out of 4 ALP members on the body. [4] All of this shows that this is not a matter of letting the politicians stop him. If we do not challenge Latham publicly, his bills will only appear more and more safe for other MPs - especially the huge Liberal majority - to entertain them, and eventually pass them either in part or in whole. The community must come out publicly and in large numbers to defeat this bill, and put pressure on all politicians to back down from his discriminatory legislation. References: [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/dawnstaceyennis/2020/07/15/largest-survey-of-transgender-and-nonbinary-youth-says-more-than-half-seriously-considered-suicide/?sh=2444b33f3404 [2] https://alastairlawrie.net/2021/03/11/nsw-liberal-parliamentary-secretary-for-education-supports-bill-to-erase-trans-kids/ [3] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/20/is-mark-latham-running-education-policy-in-nsw-no-but-the-direction-is-concerning [4] https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/shield-not-a-sword-committee-backs-new-religious-freedom-laws-20210331-p57fni.html

Bass Point is already a Marine Reserve, but the sustainable future of the marine ecosystem that surrounds Bass Point is under dire threat. Recreational fishing has severely damaged the local fish population, and several species have disappeared from the waters surrounding Bass Point. Only one small section of Bass Point has a restriction on the practice of recreational fishing - Bushrangers Bay. The fish and grey nurse shark populations thrive in that tiny bay area. Food is abundant, and threats are only from their natural predators. In the other larger sea areas surrounding Bass Point grey nurse sharks and giant cuttle-fish have disappeared. Fish stocks have noticeably depleted. These waters are crucial feeding and breeding grounds for these rare species, and they are being destroyed. A full marine sanctuary around Bass Point with a cessation of fishing is the only way to preserve this valuable national park resource.

Elections are our right, and the date of them should not be a discretionary strategy tool of the sitting government. Picking and choosing an election date diminishes our elections, and diminishes our democracy.