A lot less

In his letter in The Weekly Advertiser, June 3, 2026, Danny O’Brien, Leader of the Nationals, stated that 25 per cent of the Victorian population – regional – should get 25 per cent of the infrastructure funding in the state.

At first this seems a laudable statement. 

Then he writes: “Right now, regional Victorians are getting less than 50 cents in infrastructure investment for every dollar spent in Melbourne.” 

That is a ratio regional funding: Melbourne funding = 50cents:100cents = 1:2. i.e. regional areas are currently getting one third of the Victorian infrastructure pie = 33.3 per cent.

Unless ‘less than 50 cents’ actually means ‘a lot less than 50 cents’, then the Nationals’ guarantee is a lot less than Labour is currently providing.

That does not seem to be a great way to fight for a change of government.

Margaret Arthur, Horsham

Read between the lines

The leader of The Nationals, Matt Canavan, might be held in good stead as a would-be Samaritan to folk on the land; he has a politicians head on his shoulders and is quick with rhetoric and the knack, as most politicians learn, of appealing to audiences’ emotions.

However, as a listener to his weekly interviews on Sky News, it doesn’t take much to read between the lines. Many times I have heard him try to belittle or discredit One Nation – to my mind, a stupid thing to do.

He says the Coalition will ‘do whatever it takes’ to get rid of Labor but I can’t see him ever corroborating with One Nation when his party views them with such contempt and does not care about your preferences as long as you put The Nationals first.

I, too, will vote whatever way it takes to get Labor out of Victoria, but without a preference – understanding with One Nation, I feel my vote may be wasted anyway. 

Catherine Selwood, Kiata

A third world country?

I read the article on homelessness in The Weekly Advertiser, May 27, and the fact is it is increasing. 

A lady I met told me about a third world country and a solution to homelessness was a large piece of cardboard as a home. You have to take your shoes off to enter the home. Labor can provide the cardboard and every one has a home.

As for eating out of bins and out of date food. When you live on the street, or in your car, or in the park, it is convenient to get a bite to eat. What about donating warm clothes or blankets? You can buy them from the op shop.

What are we in Australia, a third world country? It is absolutely disgusting that in this country people are homeless. 

The government said they would build houses. Where are they? Nobody should be homeless. Let the Labor ministers be homeless for a mandated 10 days and see how they cope.

Eating out of bins. As someone who has taught food hygiene in hospitality courses, I am appalled that people are eating out of bins and out of date food. It is a wonder they have not been sick, but they can become sick as some bacteria may stay in their systems for up to three months. 

How dare the Labor government turn a blind eye to these people’s plight.

Some people are eating once a day and parents are going without food and saying to their children they would eat later. Later never comes. What a disgrace that people should be in this situation.

A solution for warm clothes? Go through your cupboards, as I did, and donate warm clothing and blankets. If you haven’t worn some warm clothes for a while, donate them to Uniting, or if you can donate some money, please donate to Uniting.

Everyone should be appalled at the way people are living and we should all help as much as we can.

When I was in Melbourne last year, a woman came up to me and asked for a couple of dollars. She told me that her son was going to high school in 2026 and she wanted money for her son’s uniform. I bought her lunch and gave her some money. She was so grateful.

Please help another Australian in need. Australians are known to be generous, so please donate what you can. If you grow vegetables or fruit, please donate to the organisations who support people in need.

Judith Nimmo, Rupanyup

The entire June 10, 2026 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!