What's on the minds of Courier readers this week

If, as the ASU claims, the City of Ballarat employees are the worst paid in Victoria then I'm 100 per cent behind their action.

What a shameful situation when so much money is spent on projects that we don't really need (and often the majority don't really want).

We've seen the corporate world gradually pay high level management staff ever increasing salaries and bonuses at the cost of workers who continually lag behind the CPI.

I'd hate to see that happen to council workers.

Ballarat Council should at least be on a par with cities of similar size.

Matt Anton

Sounds like the council workers are forgetting where the funding for their position comes from.

This action and agreement will only shoot themselves, their families, their friends and their community in the foot in the medium-long term.

I'd love to know by what means these workers wish for council to generate the revenue to fund their pay increase.

Patrick Hockey

Golly, we need more humility when it comes to our understanding of how important trees are to our sense of well-being.

If 60 per cent had structural issues it begs the question why were 100 per cent removed?

Fiona Marshall

Council should be congratulated for removing such weeds, as long as it is followed up by more appropriate plantings, preferably indigenous to help support what wildlife may be surviving.

You may even be able to get involved with such replacement plantings, which can be very rewarding for the rest of your time.

Charlie Mckenzie

Something needs to be done about housing, it is absolutely a ridiculous what's been done with housing.

I know for a fact there's a lot of housing issues here in Ballarat and we've read been shut down it's making it even more harder and with the budget cuts.

Susan Pierotti

Housing. Not just plonking a house on a plot of grass but proper planning of suburbs with gardens, parks, public transport, plenty to of shops and schools... in short something more liveable than the urban wastelands that spring up all over the state.

Ballarat could be a pioneer in this sector

Barbara Hayes

Visiting Sovereign Hill recently with overseas family it seemed that the staff there were doing multiple tasks during the day - waitressing, then moving from one 'happening' to another wearing different outfits, all stretched rather thin, but doing their best.

The streets looked empty of 'locals' almost like an abandoned town.

Events during the day were confined to once only, so we missed a few having a late lunch.

Altogether, as a supposed 'newly established goldfield' it looked very tired.

To be more authentic it needs more staff and refurbishment and I would think the current operating costs at present are high.

So some real funding would be necessary to get it up and gain popularity again.

I remember Sovereign Hill 29 years ago being a fun and bustling, lively place.

clairecummings68

What a joke, violence against anyone is wrong and our government should be proactive in helping to reduce violence, after what our local community has gone through recently I would have thought they would have allocated more funds and not completely stopped funding .

They should be ashamed of themselves and be held accountable for this stupid decision.

ross hartley

This will become a major bottleneck intersection with no left turn lanes.

Long lines of traffic in all directions will result and it will be an intersection to avoid.

Planners need to find another job.

david.geo.read84

In May 2005 a black cat was shot near Sale, Victoria, that weighed about 30kg and was 175cm from nose to tail-tip.

Scientists at Melbourne University analysed its DNA and it was just a very large domestic cat.

I suspect that the video just shows a mate to the Sale cat.

Trevor Missen

Not stocky enough to be a puma, looks like a big feral cat to me