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BARMAH BRACES FOR COLD
h use
‘Vista MK III’
March 24 – 30, 2015. 56 pages www.countrynews.com.au
Reaching Australia’s richest agricultural region
ountryC News
Taking to
the hills
Page 5
Cropping,
tillage &
pastures
with today’s
Country
News
Berry
good
solution
Page 6
s
Left out in cold
By Alexandra Bathman
Cold comfort . . . Nathalia resident and pensioner Peter Smith is worried about keeping warm in the future. Read his story on page 4.
Nathalia community
members
have been angered by a move to
protect Barmah National Park that
will leave them without firewood
for heating.
After June 30, collecting fire-
wood left over from earlier com-
mercial logging will be banned.
Local communities
have col-
lected firewood from the park
since settlement and many resi-
dents still rely on firewood as their
primary heating source because
they are not connected to natural
gas.
In the town of Barmah, it is
reported up to 70 per cent of the
town’s 200 residents, as well as the
local pub, rely on firewood collec-
tion.
Nathalia resident Murray Willa-
ton said the community
was not
consulted by Parks Victoria before
it released a statement this month.
‘‘They are openly saying they
have consulted the public but they
are lying. The public hasn’t been
consulted at all,’’ Mr Willaton said.
‘‘They make the decision and
they tell the public afterwards.’’
The Department
of Environ-
ment, Land, Water and Planning
said legislation in 2009 to create
Barmah National Park provided
the collection of domestic fire-
wood from wood left over from
harvesting until June 30, 2011 as a
transitional
measure.
Floods and wet conditions in
northern Victoria made it difficult
to access the available residue by
that date, so in 2012 the legislation
was amended to enable collection
to June 30, 2015.
DELWP said it released a notice
that it would seek public comment
during several firewood collection
seasons until June 30, 2015, and
advertised the notice in the Herald
Sun, Shepparton
News and River-
ine Herald (as well as on the
departmenta
l website) in early
2013.
Parks Victoria said there was
not a significant amount of fire-
wood left to collect in the park.
‘‘Domestic
firewood
from
designated
firewood collection
areas on public land is a limited
resource that needs to be managed
without impacting forest health,’’
Parks Victoria district manager
Daniel McLaughlin
said.
‘‘People in the Barmah area
should start planning now for
where they will obtain firewood or
alternative fuel sources for heating
and cooking for domestic use in
future.’’
Nathalia resident Paul Fulton
said it was unfair people across the
wider region and who had access
to natural gas had been allowed to
take wood from the forest.
‘‘If they stopped all those people
who have got natural gas, then we
could have wood out here for
another five to 10 years — the
people who don’t have natural
gas,’’ Mr Fulton said.
‘‘It should never have been
opened up to people with natural
gas.’’
He said people, a lot of them
elderly, were worried about how
they would warm their homes.
‘‘You’ve got them stressed to the
max. They don’t know what they
are going to do in the future,’’ he
said.
■ More stories and pictures on
page 4.
+IN
COUNTRY
NEWS
Picture: JULIE MERCER
www.sheppnews.com.au
GAS THREAT
Firefighters from the Hazardous Materials
Response Unit were called into action at GV
Storage in Shepparton yesterday following
an ammonia leak. Story, page 4
NO ICE PLAYGV FOOTBALL REPRESENTATIVES SAY PLAYERS HERE AREN’T USING DRUG TO ENHANCE PERFORMANCE
By ELAINE COONEY
Goulburn Valley football repre-
sentatives say they have not
witnessed ice use in their organi-
sations.
However, Shepparton police
Inspector Ian Bull yesterday said
he knew of people involved in
district sporting clubs who had
convictions for ice use.
A senior police officer at
Geelong was reported yesterday as
saying suburban Melbourne and
regional football coaches had
given players the drug to enhance
their performances.
The News spoke to several Goul-
burn Valley coaches and sports
administrators about the issue
yesterday.
They acknowledged use of the
drug in the community was an
issue and it was naive to think it
did not affect sporting clubs.
But they believed the Goulburn
Valley was on the front foot when
it came to educating young
players and coaches on the
dangers and responses to drug
and alcohol use.
Nathalia playing coach Jason
Limbrick said sporting clubs
generally came under fire because
they were tightly intertwined with
small communities.
He said the regional football
rooms were the heart of regional
communities and a place where
most meetings and events took
place.
Echuca Football Club senior
player Scott Beattie, who has
played a pivotal role in organising
ice forums in the district, said
members of sporting organisa-
tions were less likely to turn to
crime and he had never physically
seen ice in the club.
He has, however, seen behav-
iour that could be in line with ice
use, but it was often difficult to
detect because it may be a differ-
ent problem.
‘‘If a kid is 20 years old and he
can’t hold a conversation with
you, he could have a problem, but
there are a lot more problems than
just ice,’’ he said.
Mooroopna Football Club coach
Blake Campbell was astounded to
learn from national media outlets
yesterday that players were using
ice as a performance-enhancing
drug.
‘‘It’s bizarre: If this is true it’s
absolutely crazy to think they
would do that,’’ he said.
● Continued on page 5