YOUR VOICE: May 29-June 4

Bare faced cheek

(Re: Nude beach review, Star Weekly, May 28) Wyndham is mostly made up of families. Why would parents want to use a beach full of naked bodies? Find somewhere else, naked people; like your own backyard!

Stacey, via web

Tough talk

Clearly, being “nice” to the state government is a waste of time for Wyndham council and the Committee For Wyndham (re: Insults fly over advocacy goals, Star Weekly, May 28). Good on the committee for getting tough with them and speaking the truth! The time for sucking up is long gone! If Andrew Elsbury [Liberal MP for Western Metropolitan Region] thinks the few crumbs we have been thrown are good enough, then he is not listening to the residents he represents and not doing his job. Instead, he is toeing the party line and agreeing with their vote-buying actions in marginal areas! Shame.

Michael Young, via web

Pride in our suburb

Manor Lakes exists; it has a heartbeat. Our children attend Manor Lakes College. Every Saturday they proudly pull on the Manor Lakes Storm footy jumper and play cricket in summer for the Manor Lakes Cricket Club. Manor Lakes Basketball Club, Manor Lakes netball – the list grows, as does the community spirit.

This is not a trademark, this is our home.

Governments worldwide spend billions of dollars every year to create community spirit. To create living environments where the people are engaged and proud of their neighbourhood. Here is an example of a group of residents with a common goal to create a place that their kids will proudly call home. Why would any forward-thinking person not see the huge benefits society gains from encouraging and growing this spirit? I for one applaud Wyndham council for its vision and wish more elected representatives listened and shared with the people. To let bureaucratic red tape stamp out community when the world is lacking pride seems narrow-minded.

Evan Crouther, via web

Bespoke escape tactics 

(Re: Cycle shop thief takes a dive, May 28): I’m surprised he didn’t use a bike to escape with.

Joe Garra, vie web

Werribee line woes

Can’t understand – the train drops everybody in Newport to return back to the city at 6pm, leaving all passengers stranded in Newport.

Eddy, via web

East West Link

Opposition leader Daniel Andrews has made his contempt for the people of Melbourne’s west very clear by pledging to block construction of the western stage of the East West Link. If he gets his way, the west will never get a second river crossing.

Apparently those travelling between the western suburbs and the city will just have to endure more congestion and delays under a Labor government.

It has been well documented that the West Gate Bridge carries more than 165,000 vehicles a day, a figure expected to rise to 235,000 a day by 2031. Mr Andrews asserts that his so-called West Gate distributor will solve the problem by taking 5000 trucks a day off the bridge. This is nonsense. Removing less than
3 per cent of traffic off the bridge will solve nothing.

His recent scorn for motorists in Melbourne’s west is all the more extraordinary given that he has long spruiked a second crossing starting from the western side of Melbourne.

Labor cannot be trusted. It does not care about the west and has no plan to deal with the problem of traffic congestion.

Bernie Finn, Western Metropolitan Liberal MP

Westlink a money burner

Labor has a short memory – back in 2010 it was Labor that originally proposed the Westlink tollway, a proposal that today they attack the Liberal government on. Western suburbs people remember and can see through the hypocrisy.

In 2010, the Greens, together with the community, opposed Labor’s proposed tollway. I held 11 community meetings and thousands of community members joined my campaign. The Westlink tollway is not value for money; it won’t address traffic congestion and will burn money needed for investment in public transport and other essential services such as health.

Colleen Hartland, Western Metropolitan Greens MP