This is so far from the truth he undermines the rational part of his argument.

Cuts in national park funding have made disastrous inroads into all aspects of adequate park management, including fire management. Attacking greenies and national parks is very old school. It doesn't get us the answers we need to face increasing risk of extreme and catastrophic fires at the urban/rural interface.

At the same time, fire research and practice is changing dramatically. We can now say with some certainty that prescribed burning practices are very like antibiotics: used correctly they do a lot of good. Overused and used incorrectly, they cause even further damage.

The model Mr Thomas cites, that of Aboriginal stewardship, is very  much part of the answer, yet is being introduced in a piecemeal fashion that does it no justice.

Let's invite the experts such as Rod Mason, Bhiamie Eckford-Williamson and Dean Freeman into our community to educate us on this important strategy. Protecting our property and our environment is too important to muddle around insulting each other.

As a local resident, I do not want to swim in effluent. No matter how far the ocean outfall is from our shore, pumping the treated effluent is problematic.

However, if council harnesses methane gas for a power source then the plant can basically run itself.  For plants, who employ anaerobic digestion for bio solids treatment, the process of combusting digester gas to produce electricity and heat through cogeneration/CHP may provide a solution to rising operational costs. 

Regardless of the source and use, greenhouse gas emissions decrease when fossil fuels (like natural gas) are replaced by RNG, says the Environmental Protection Agency. As well, methane from rotting waste that otherwise would have been absorbed into the atmosphere is now used as a renewable energy source.   I encourage all ratepayers to contact council with their views.

Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald ran a small item indicating “Teachers ‘at the top of their game’ would be lured from the city to the bush with extra cash, nice houses...under a plan to improve student results in Australian regional schools”.  

“A lengthy review of regional education has urged the federal government to offer more incentives for established teachers to do a stint outside the city...mining and engineering hire staff to regional areas by offering ‘very nice housing’, and flying staff and their families free-of-charge to inspect their would-be homes...The report also recommended teachers be lured with ‘targeted salary and conditions packages’.”

I trust Bega Valley Shire Council will be rapidly endorsing these recommendations and will be seeking funding to attract the very best teachers, such as the amazing maths teacher Eddy Woo, to the South Coast.  Our students - now and into the future - deserve nothing less.

And I wonder why we are simply hoping that the government might fund this recommended initiative.

Locally, we should have a body that is continually ensuring the very best teachers - along with the very best doctors, the very best tradies, the very best innovators - are being actively recruited to live and work in our area.

After all, the South Coast is now a vastly better place to live and work than is either Sydney or Melbourne!