King Valley COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER Published 1st February 2003

Will we ever see Broadband in The King Valley? ... (contributed by Geoff Deering) At the last two Mountain Cattleman's Association Get Togethers I talked with Telstra Northern Victoria Business Development Manager, Lindley Flack about any plans to offer ADSL broadband internet to rural subscribers. In 2002 he said there was not much chance of that happening given that they had put a unit in the main exchange in Wangaratta which would service 4 ADSL users and it was not being fully utilised. In 2003 the story was different, he said that Telstra now had units that accommodate 12 subscribers that easily plug into most exchanges, and that there is now just a need for requests from enough users per exchange for a unit to be installed. One has to be within 3.5 kilometres of a Telstra exchange to be serviced by broadband ADSL, and not be subject to a "pair gain" implementation, which is most of us. There has also been a lot more pressure put on Telstra to provide better and broader broadband services (see http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/23/1042911473998.html . For broadband discussion and reference, read the following Pipe Dreams of Stewart Fist - Australia's best known IT journalist: http://www.abc.net.au/http/sfist/shwy4.htm http://www.abc.net.au/http/sfist/uso.htm http://www.electric-words.com/ Editorial Comment:  From the above, we can conclude that the Moyhu Township (80 houses) and the Cheshunt Township (15 houses) might get ADSL broadband if people want it - and - they have copper pair cables to their homes. The Whitfield township is out of range (3.5 km) as are the people of Edi Upper, Myrrhee and most of us on the land. For those who have two phone lines into their home, ISDN is an economical alternative at $42 per month. The down side is the timed connection cost of 30 cents per hour. ISDN can give you the equivalent of 128 Kbs or twice the speed of a modem - but that is not broadband (1500 kbs). A more expensive alternative is satelite broadband at 500 kbs - good enough for E-commerce but still not good enough for multimedia. Until ADSL Broadband technology can get beyond 3.5 km and our pair-gain phone lines are replaced with twisted pair cables, we remain outside the global village. As E-commerce develops, the King Valley will be left stranded once again ... as we have been with public transport, access to Government organisations and adequate health services. In the King Valley, WWW stands for ... Waiting ... Waiting ... Waiting.

30 Jan: Local group formed to fight Genetic Modified Organism release Following the December forum on the introduction of Genetically Modified Canola, 18 people met at the Wangaratta CWA Hall and to become the nucleus of a group to be known as GM Free Australia, N.E.Vic. With Monsanto's blanket application to release a genetically modified organism into the environment (Roundup Resistant Canola) and Bayer's specific application to release a similar organism into the Rural City of Wangaratta, time is not on the movement's side. The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator is due to release a risk assessment and risk management plan which will be open for public comment for eight weeks. Monsanto and Bayer have applied to release these organisms during the Autumn of 2003. To stop the commercial release of GMO seeds in Australia may well be as futile as trying to talk George Bush out of going to war with Iraq. A moratorium over this autumn period would buy time for the community to understand what is about to happen. The Rural City of Wangaratta has declared itself against the imminent release of these products and is officially working towards a moratorium to give the people the opportunity to explore the ramifications. To this end, another forum sponsored by the Dept. Human Services and the RCoW will be held on March 3. If you do not understand the implications of Genetically Modified foodstuffs, do some resarch on the internet now. A great place to start is GMO Issues at the Seedsavers Network. This is a NOW movement and needs all the support it can get. If you think it should try to stop GMOs in the North East, get everyone you know to come along to the forum on March 3 at Wangaratta or send an email to join the GM Free Australia movement today.

30 Jan: King Valley CDMA Tower Officially Opened Around 50 visitors and locals gathererd at the Whitfield RSL Hall for the official opening of the new CDMA tower located at King Valley. Most of the RCoW Councilors were there along with Telstra representatives, the State Member for Benalla, Bill Sykes, and the Federal Member for Indi, Sophie Panopoulos who declared the tower open. The King Valley United Red Cross catered the event with a traditional country Bar-B-Q lunch. Telstra advised that there was a little more work to be done to accommodate the Edi area. The mayor of the Rural City of Wangaratta, Cr. Irene Grant, gave a chronological list of events that led to the tower stressing that the motivation came from the community rather than the authorities. The RCoW presented a memorial plaque to Alan Hildebrand, representing the community, to be mounted in the RSL Hall. Sophie Panopoulos, declared the tower open and referred to the woman who really made it happen - Marg Deering of King Valley who, back in 2001, lobbied Lou Lieberman, the RCoW and the community to get the ball rolling. Marg's work was recognised by the RCoW with the presentation of a certificate of appreciation. The irony of the day was that Marg Deering herself cannot use the tower as her mobile phone is digital. That has been recognised and she will be presented with a replacement CDMA unit.

New Hardware Shop for Whitfield Steve and Vicki Jeffries are opening a hardware store alongside Juland Electronics next to the old Railway Shed on the Mansfield Road. It will be a comprehenshive store where the local community can purchase all their hardware needs without having to travel to Wangaratta. This is a major economic boost to the Upper King Valley. Not only does this recycle money within the valley, considerable fuel savings will be realised by avoiding the 100 km round trip to buy an urgently needed poly pipe fitting or other consumable item. Vicki advises that, no matter what you need from a major hardware store, S & V Hardware will get it for you. Watch for a "Grand Opening" in the middle of February. Whitfield is steadily growing. First came the Gourmet Garage, now S & V Hardware. With the proposed Rural Transaction Centre at the Community Health Centre, the township is being revitalised. Let's hope this encourages someone to develop the store at the end of the Mansfield Road to complete the picture.

Deposits and withdrawals for the new school year The King Valley Linux Users Group "Computerbank" has been busy this week. We have had requests from St. Vincent De Paul for a couple of computers for families with kids starting high school. We also received a load of obsolete machinery from the Edi Upper Primary School which allowed us to meet this request. With the cleanout of the premises where the new hardware shop will be, the Computerbank also received a ute full of furniture, computer components and a variety of software. The group thanks Andrew and Julie Tyler for this as we are fitting out our network room at the Moyhu Youth Club and the furniture will be put to good use. The King Valley Linux Users Group meets every Friday night at the Moyhu Youth Club Hall alongside the Moyhu Football ground. With the hot weather over recent weeks, we have not yet been working at Greg Naylor's shed workshop but that will soon be back online. Come along and explore the Linux alternative to Windows.

Promote your Business / Community Group on the King Valley Tourist Route Portal The Community Newsletter comes from the "The King Valley Portal" at http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/users/portal/ Please bookmark this address now and visit it often. If you have a web page, it can be linked free of charge in the cascading menu of the portal. If you would like a web page, but don't know where to start, call Greg Naylor.

King Valley COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER Published 4th February 2003

Grazing on Rural Roadsides ... reproduced in whole from the RCoW Web site "Stock grazing along local rural roadsides should be considered by farmers many of who are drought affected" said Cr Kerrin Chambers, Deputy Mayor of the Rural City of Wangaratta. Cr Chambers explained that the Rural City of Wangaratta understood the current plight and challenges confronting our local farmers who have experienced reduced stock feed and the loss of hay production and was encouraging farmers to utilise roadsides to graze their stock during these tough conditions. Cr Chambers said "In fact grazing is encouraged as a practical means of managing certain road reserves particularly where the ground layer is dominated by exotic weeds such as phalaris, rye grass and paspalum. Grazing along roadsides, when correctly managed, can also be a highly effective means of reducing fuel loads as well as controlling some weed species." "A free permit needs to be obtained prior to roadside grazing as there are some areas where grazing cannot be permitted because of conservation requirements." Permits can be obtained from Council's enforcement agency, KJS Services, who are located at Shop 1, 9 Faithfull Street, Wangaratta between 8.30am and 4.30pm. There is no fee for a Roadside Grazing permit but a copy of the applicant's public liability insurance, noting Council's interest must be provided when applying. For further information relating to roadside grazing or other vegetation related issues on local roads please contact Council's Environment Officer, Andrew Briggs, on 5722 0888.

Whitfield & District Neighbourhood Watch ... Monday 3 February Fifteen residents attended the first meeting of the year held at the Whitfield Community Health Centre. The highlight of a neighbourhood Watch meeting is getting the crime report from the local policeman. In the Whitfield area, the biggest problem reported is unauthorised deer hunting - particularly up the Mansfield road. Late last year, there was a serious incident where a farmer was working around a creek on his own property when he heard a shot and saw a bullet lodge in the creek bank a few feet away from him. Upon yelling that he was there, two adults and two youths dressed in hunting gear made their escape along the creek. This was not an isolated event. Throughout the year, poaching and trespass by deer hunters are being reported and investigated. If the valley is to capitalise on tourism, this practice has to be controlled before the inevitable tragedy occurs. It was comforting to hear that crime, in general, in the upper King Valley has been lower over each of the last three years. It was also reported that investigations continue into the disappearance of Cath Bergamin.

Genetically Modified Grapes in The King Valley? On the website of The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, you can read the summary of the APPLICATION FOR LICENCE FOR INTENTIONAL RELEASE OF A GMO INTO THE ENVIRONMENT: Application No. DIR 031/2002 for genetically modified grapevines. The application was made by the C.S.I.R.O just last month (December 2002). They plan a Field trial of GM grapevines for the evaluation of berry colour, sugar composition, flower and fruit development and gene flow study. The trial will be in the Shire of Mildura on a .45 hectare site over the period of June 2003 - 2008. Approval of this licence application would enable the continued evaluation of GM grapevines planted in an area of 0.35 hectare since 1999 that was authorised under the previous voluntary system and under 'deemed' licence PR-104, PR-142 and PR 145 which expires in June 2003. The deemed licences were issued when the new regulatory system came into effect. Approval would also enable a new release of GM grapevines, proposed for winter and spring 2003 and 2004. The applicant proposes to bag the flowers of grapevines to contain pollen (except the pollen flow experiments). During fruiting stages, GM grapevine will be netted to avoid unintentional seed dispersal. After the completion of the trials, CSIRO proposes to collect some vegetative cuttings from GM grapevine as nursery stocks for future releases (subjected to separate assessment and approval). None of the grapevine plants from the release, or their by-products, would be used for animal or human food. Editorial Comment: This application brings the (G)enetically (M)odified (O)rganism debate to our doorstep as the very economy of the King Valley depends upon growing grapes and producing wines. Let us try to visualise the commercial release of this GMO sometime in the future. These new age vines will offer substantial benefits to the production and profitability of wine makers (not the growers). Whilst, improved flowering and fruit setting will occur, and the berries will not be subject to browning, the new genes are designed to down-regulate the expression of the enzyme, DFR, to reduce the production of anthocyanins and tannins, which are important for the stabilisation of colour during wine making and for wine mouthfeel. It is also expected that sucrose levels would be maintained in grape berries rather than glucose and fructose. All of those benefits help the winery. What does the grower get out of it? First, he will be pressured by the wineries to grow the Genetically Modified Vines if he wants a supply contract. He will have to buy grafting stock from the C.S.I.R.O. paying a royalty premium to cover the cost of development. As Monsanto and Bayer (ex Aventis) have already set the industry standard that prohibits the grower from propagating his own stock, he will never own his own grapevines. To graft the GMO vines to his existing root stock, the grower will be destroying perfectly good productive vines and suffer financial loss until the new GMO vines reach maturity. Will the wineries, who are the real beneficiaries, put their hands in their pockets to help defray the costs - or will the grower once again have to take the loss? Now, what about cross pollination? Even if a grower choses not to participate in the GMO program, with a non-GMO vineyard within sight of the GMO vineyard - and that is the norm in the King Valley - the pollen from one vineyard will not be retained by a wire fence. Will the fruit in the non GMO vineyard carry the GMO traits?. If it does, the grower will be subject to paying the C.S.I.R.O. the royalty premium anyway as we found out with Monsanto successfully suing a canola grower for having windblown seeded Genetically Modified plants that had not been paid for. Now let the wind blow from the opposite direction to take the pollen of the non-GMO vines to fertilise the GMO flowers. The wineries will not be happy with the fruit that doesn't confer all those production and profit making benefits to their winemaking. Who will pay the piper? The grower, of course, will probably have his selling price discounted if his grapes do not come up to the mark. La Cantina Wines, the major organic winery in The King Valley, will be at a special disadvantage. Should neighbouring vineyards switch to GMO vines, La Cantina will lose its organic status, and marketing niche, as they will not be able to prove their product is GMO free. Let's finally look at the post winery disposal of the marc. From the King Valley Winery, the grape crushing residues are delivered to local dairy farms as stock food. The cows pig out on the marc and it is a practical use of the by-product. If GMO grape crushings are fed to our dairy cows, will there be any GMO carry over into the milk supply. Whlist it is true that GMO wines enter the food chain, they do so at the adult level where concious choice comes into play. With GMO contaminated milk, we have the future of our children to consider. Are you prepared to put your kids future on the line? Let's hear from the grapegrowers who receive this newsletter. Do you think GMO vines are a good or a bad thing? On today's knowledge, would you convert to GMO either deliberately or under industry pressure? Email your response and we can discuss it further. By the way, the C.S.I.R.O. licence must be issued or denied within 90 days of application. At this time, the Gene Technology Regulator sees no substantial risk to humans or the environment. Thus it is probably a foregone conclusion that the license will be granted.

Free "Tai-Chi for Arthritis" in the Park Last winter, Ovens and King Community health ran a "Tai Chi for Arthritis" program taught by Melanie Jackson. After the eight week program, the ladies had enjoyed their get-togethers so much that they kept coming back every Monday morning all the way through to Christmas. With the kids back at school, they have returned to Lions Park Moyhu on Monday mornings at 9.00 am. One of the ladies says, "It's a great way to start the week - meet the girls at the park - do some exercises - and have a laugh with friends. It sets me up for the whole week". The ladies invite anyone who knows Tai Chi to come along (and teach them a few more movements) as well as anyone wanting to learn the movements that they already know. The session goes for about an hour and it is free.

Broadband Internet and the King Valley - Update In the last issue, it was shown that ADSL Broadband is a long way off. If you go to the Telstra Availability Search page you will receive the message, "Whilst we have no current plans to provide ADSL to your area, we are keen to know of the level of any customer interest in your area." The nearest alternative is ISDN which can be purchased at around $200 installation and $42/month rental. If you convert to ISDN which is faster than dial-up but still a fraction of the speed of ADSL Broadband, there is another trap for the unwary. When ADSL does become available, it is incompatible with ISDN telephone lines. You can't have both on the one physical line. When Broadband ultimately comes to the King Valley, don't hold your breath. The ISDN trap is only one of many reasons why your application may be rejected. For a comprehensive list of rejection reasons, click here. Is there an honest person in Telstra? ... feedback from Andrew Tyler I believe that if you could find an honest person within Telstra, they'll tell you that the "RIM" at Whitfield is connected to Cheshunt/Wangaratta by optical fibre. (That's a fact!) Thoretically, then, anyone within 3.5km of the RIM could also utilise broadband if it were offered. I know I'd be the first to sign up if it became available. Although getting twelve customers to sign up within 3.5km of Whitfield might be stretching it! On the matter of the 'underutilisation' of ADSL in Wangaratta, I know three people who have it! I find it VERY hard to believe Telstra's claims of underutilisation - to me it sounds like more of the usual Telstra lies. (If you think I sound cynical about Telstra, then don't get me started on Optus- they're worse!) Andrew P.S. I was told by the countrywide office in Benalla that Telstra had the capability to install ADSL onto 7 exchanges out of the 270+ in NE Victoria and, therefore, Whitfield would NEVER get it. To say the least, I was not happy!

Promote your Business / Community Group on the King Valley Tourist Route Portal The Community Newsletter comes from the "The King Valley Portal" at http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/users/portal/ Please bookmark this address now and visit it often. If you have a web page, it can be linked free of charge in the cascading menu of the portal. If you would like a web page, but don't know where to start, call Greg Naylor.

King Valley COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER Published 11th February 2003

Voice your opinion today on the invasion of Iraq Take the time to make your voice heard - speak out, talk to friends and neighbours. Let us speak in One Voice in protest and opposition to stop the war.     ... Join the nationwide protest.

What Will Become of The Upper King Valley? Part 1 ... Retirement Village or Childrens Nursery ... by Greg Naylor For the purpose of this discussion, the Upper King Valley is defined as the area upstream of the Edi Cutting. Statistics show about 1000 people south of Moyhu with two townships, Whitfield (42 houses) and Cheshunt (15 houses). The rest of the upper valley is farm land with grapes, tobacco, beef cattle and dairy herds being the major industries. This area is not within 50 kilometres of a major service centre. The Rural City of Wangaratta (RCoW) have released their plans for the next 20 years and they expect new housing to slow down with about 1300 new dwellings to be built between 2001 and 2021. With the ageing of the population, it is predicted that by 2001, Australia's population growth will be negative. So, what does the RCoW see for the Upper King Valley? In their document "Rural Residential and High Quality Agricultural Land Review" (2001), the RCoW analysed the growth in their rural towns. This document shows that the Whitfield township is building a new residence every 2.5 years whilst Cheshunt adds another dwelling every five years. The district population peaked in the 1920's and has receded ever since with the loss of the Whitfield Railway and the Greta and Meadow Creek townships. We are already suffering the consequences of an ageing population which is evidenced by the low number of babies being born in the valley. As properties are sold, they are generally being purchased by middle aged people, beyond child-bearing age, from other places. This is evidenced by the receding numbers attending our schools (Whitfield, Myrrhee and Edi Upper). We do not have enough children to warrant a high school of any sort, and the future may not be able to support all three primary schools that we currently have. There was only one prep enrolment at Edi Upper Primary School in 2003. At the Whitfield Primary School, there were none!  If we are to rely on population growth, we are going nowhere. Unless we find a way to attract young families to settle in the Upper King Valley, the area will become a retirement village for the RCoW. When we lose a school, we lose a community. Meadow Creek is a great example. When the school closed, the Moyhu Primary School inherited a photo of World War I soldiers who had attended the Meadow Creek Primary School. When that photo was taken, there were some 30 young men pictured. Community spirit demanded that the photographic record be taken. But what of Meadow Creek today? No school ... derelict Community Hall ... no community gathering place. It is as if Meadow Creek never existed. The key to survival is to attract young couples to settle in the valley and raise their families here. What a task that would be with our lack of infrastructure! We would need some sort of incentive to attract young families to the valley. We would need to find them work, and that might be possible as the wine and tourism industries eventually develop. Public transport would be necessary to allow them to access the major towns and services. They would need housing too. We could approach Wangaratta Unlimited, the Economic Development arm of the RCoW, to investigate all those odd parcels of land that they have inherited with a view to virtually giving them away to young families to build homes on. Something like this could revitalise the valley, aid the local economy and make a major contribution to our future. In the next part we will look at the local economy and look for some options.       Have your say here

Power Dropout Watchdogs needed ... Tuesday 4 February At my home, 4 km from Whitfield, we suffer power drop-outs on an ongoing basis - probably about three per week. These drop-outs last no more than 5 seconds. The latest occurred this morning at about 8.45 am. Last Friday week, at 12.23 am we had a power surge/drop out that destroyed a telephone system and a computer. In buying new equipment, the store keeper told me that electronic telephones are particularly susceptable to destruction by drop-outs. It becomes frustrating resetting digital clocks all the time. At least they reset to zero to record when it happened. The only way this can improve is to present TXU with a dossier of dates, times, damage and homes affected. When you have a power black-out, please email me with the details and we will keep an online history of these incidents. This newsletter is read by people who work at federal, state and local government levels - one of whom might be able to help us get a better electricity supply service in the upper King Valley. Tuesday 4th Feb 2003 - Power dropped out at 8.45 am in Whitfield / Edi Upper area Wednesday 5th Feb 2003 - Power dropped out at 1.53 am in Whitfield / Edi Upper area Thursday 6th Feb 2003 - Power dropped out at 7.37 am in Whitfield / Edi Upper area

Edi Upper School helps Youth Club without even knowing. The Moyhu and District Youth Club administration is the latest beneficiary of the computer recycling program run as a community service by a group of local volunteers. Over the Christmas break, the obsolete equipment from the Edi Upper Primary School was sent off to the Computerbank. This eqipment had hardly hit the shelf when an urgent call came from the Moyhu Youth Club to help get their printer working. Boy, did they call at the right time! The Computerbank was able to provide them with a laser printer from the Edi-Upper stable. If other community organisations need equipment, they are encouraged to contact the group before spending their hard earned cash. This is a fine example of our community working together ... that is community cohesion.

Promote your Business / Community Group on the King Valley Tourist Route Portal The Community Newsletter comes from the "The King Valley Portal" at http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/users/portal/ Please bookmark this address now and visit it often. If you have a web page, it can be linked free of charge in the cascading menu of the portal. If you would like a web page, but don't know where to start, call Greg Naylor.

King Valley COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER Published 20 February 2003

Ovens River Stops Flowing The Ovens River has stopped flowing this side of Wangaratta and the King River is reported to have dry bed spots north of Docker. It is reported that all irrigation from the King River has been banned. Emergency Water Restrictions - level 4 - have been placed on the Rural City of Wangaratta according to EDGE-FM ... More news when it comes to hand. The Chronicle (17/2/03) reported that Goulburn Murray Water underestimated the required release from Lake Buffalo which is at 40% capacity at the moment - the lowest it has been in many years. They have released enough to keep the river flowing a little and the Wangaratta restrictions have been downgraded to level 2.

The bushfires are still burning The Rural City of Wangaratta will thank all CFA volunteers who attended the North East Bushfires as part of the Free Community Celebration in the Park & Clean-Up Australia Day at the King George Gardens on Sunday, 2nd March. Come along and show your appreciation to our own CFA volunteers. Although the state of the bushfires has been overtaken by world events, they continue to burn unabated on the Gippsland front. Volunteers from the King Valley are still on site. The second Region 23 contingent was flown in this week for a three day nightshift stint in the Dargo High Plains. Led by Bernie Macdonald of Moyhu, the 13 man strike team was commended on its effectiveness and praised for being the most efficient CFA strike team to attend the Dargo High Plains defence. There were three members from the King Valley on this strike team.

What Will Become of The Upper King Valley? Part 2 ... How we can boost the local economy ... by Greg Naylor In Part 1, we speculated on the declining population of the Upper King Valley. An argument was raised to show that we need to attract young people of child bearing age to the valley to avoid becoming a retirement village for the RCoW. However, these people will only come if it is economically advantageous to them. At the moment, the local economy and the spread of wealth leaves a lot to be desired. In 2001, council figures showed the average family income of the King Valley to be around $23,000 per annum. Yes, that is Family Income, not individual income. That sort of money will attract nobody. We need more wealth in the valley. The secret of wealth is simple ... Earn more than you spend! At a community level, our biggest problem is that the money we earn has to be spent outside the valley increasing the wealth of Wangaratta and other places. As we will always have to buy our supplies outside, the only way the community wealth can improve is by (a) recycling more money in the valley and (b) attracting more outside money into the local economy. We have to find ways of recycling more of our earnings within the valley. No one can deny that more money is being recycled in Whitfield as a result of the establishment of the Gourmet Garage. As an outlet for local produce, more people in the King Valley are benefiting from this recycling process. Support for the new hardware outlet, also in Whitfield, will benefit us all simply with the fuel savings in avoiding the 100 km round trip to buy a consumable hardware item. If it can be obtained in the valley, your purchase will boost the local economy. A further contribution can be made by using local tradesmen and services in preference to those from other places. Employers can help by employing local people if they are available. All these measures recycle the money that we earn. The longer we can keep it in the valley the better off we all are. True wealth only comes when the products and services of the valley are sold to people on the other side of the hill. Our farmers do that when they send cattle to market. Our vineyards and wineries do it when they market their products to the wider world. And you do it if you work outside the valley and bring your wages back home. What we need are new ways to market our products and skills to the greater world. Whilst ad-hoc individual development will benefit the area, there needs to be a whole-of-community approach to exploit the earning opportunities that already exist in the Upper King Valley. As you already know, many of these opportunities are tourism based and in the next part, we will explore how the community, as a whole, can make its contribution to the future of the Upper King Valley. Over the next few editions, we will reproduce the Executive Summary of the Tourist Route Master Plan to see where we are heading.      Have your say here

Voice your opinion today on the invasion of Iraq Take the time to make your voice heard - speak out, talk to friends and neighbours. Let us speak in One Voice in protest and opposition to stop the war.     ... Join the nationwide protest.

Anti GMO group gets organised This new group met again on 13 February 2003 held at the CWA Hall in Wangaratta adopting the name ...NEVA GM! ... North East Victorians Against GM. Following is a summary of the meeting minutes: Present: John Alexander, Ross Anderson, Luke Bayley, Adrian Barrett, Maggie Fitzgibbon, Anthony Griffiths, Alan Keys, Barbara Murdoch, Margaret Rasa, Gerald Terrill, Harold Vearing, June Vearing Apologies: Malcolm Amery, Jenny Carruthers, Brian Dowling, Ken Jasper, Helen Lucas, Sophie Panopoulos, Jeanette Woods 1.Updates and Information Maggie Fitzgibbon spoke about her background in community advocacy and her experience with campaigning. The key, she said, is to target the right people and to use the media well and frequently. She outlined some of the discussions that she has had in the district. She spoke with the CEO of Indigo Shire who commented that the MAV has advised that GM issues are beyond the province of local Government interests. The CEO of a local business has commented that there may be implications for Australia's market with Japan unless GM canola can be properly segregated. The VFF at local levels does not appear to have had any discussion on the issue and there seems to be a need to provide information to them to help them along. Maggie recommended that we send a delegation to Canberra and speak to the Minister. Margaret Rasa outlined some of her discussions with people in Canberra and with local government in the region. Although the OGTR is the regulator, the real power lies in areas associated with agriculture, foreign affairs and trade and of course the associated companies and lobby groups. The real issue seems to be a market access one in the context of the US-Australia Free Trade discussions currently in progress. Sources within AFFA have suggested that GM canola is one of a number of "trades" that are being used on the access question. The regulatory framework of health and the environment is seen as a useful way to make it look like the Government is doing something without in fact upsetting these other economic interests. AFFA is well aware of the flaws in the model, as it is sensitive to the fact that the field trials have fallen in a heap. Segregation has simply not worked. AFFA is also aware that if it was to do a proper cost benefit analysis it would show that the industry would face increased actual costs to say nothing of the prospective costs of contamination, loss of markets etc. Various departments are aware of the potential for litigation, but the Government has not sought legal advice. One person suggested that the reason for this is that they don't want to have something that could be made available under FOI. Apparently there is not much point in working the environment angle because the Department of Environment has been sidelined. It was agreed that we should approach Commonwealth and State politicians but recommended that we refine our purpose to seek a state ban on the introduction pending further study which includes the economic issues with proper consultation a delay by the Commonwealth to allow consideration of the economics and industry questions Ross Anderson agreed that there is no point in nibbling at local ankles, but that we should take it out of the hands of the scientists who don't understand the issues and give it to the politicians. June Vearing noted the lack of substantive discussion in the media about GM canola and said that we should develop and use our media contacts. Alan Keys said that a Canadian, Bob Willick, (an expert on litigation) will be touring in the first week of March and is available to talk on the morning of Friday 7 March if we can then get him down to Bendigo. John Alexander cautioned that there has been a campaign to discredit litigation since Scmeizzer lost his appeal. Luke Bayley agreed that while it is useful to take the issue to the politicians we should not forget the value of grass roots efforts such as talking to people at markets and other gatherings and making opportunities for the community to be informed. Anthony Griffiths reported that the RCOW is to hold a second forum on GM on 3 March. Barbara Murdoch suggested that one of the most potent tools is a petition with a many signatures as possible. In response, others present commented that we should see what other groups have petitions running and use theirs rather than try to reinvent the wheel. Barbara will also approach Rob Mitchell about arranging a meeting with the Minister for Agriculture. 2. Agreed Actions Adopt the name North East Victorians Against GM (NEVA GM!) A Publicity Sub-group was formed comprising Maggie Fitzgibbon, Ross Anderson and Margaret Rasa to develop an approach to getting the message out through the media. Seminar with the Canadian Bob Willick to be held in Albury on morning of 7 March. Arrange meetings with Commonwealth and State politicians Find a petition that we can support Keep in Contact With Each Other! 3. Next Meeting The next meeting of NEVA GM will be held prior to the RCOW forum on 3 March. at 5.30 p.m. at Harman House Wangaratta. New people are welcome to attend.

Promote your Business / Community Group on the King Valley Tourist Route Portal The Community Newsletter comes from the "The King Valley Portal" at http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/users/portal/ Please bookmark this address now and visit it often. If you have a web page, it can be linked free of charge in the cascading menu of the portal. If you would like a web page, but don't know where to start, call Greg Naylor.