Some of the stories told have been very confronting. This is not the caring Australia that we would like to think we are.

One thing that has become quite clear is the problem faced by the elderly in care who have become lonely and isolated from family and community.

Comments from aged care professionals show that most of the time the elderly just want some company. Someone to talk to, to take an interest in their lives and to be involved in the community around them.

There is a tangible and simple way the community can make a difference by visiting with the CVS. The Community Visitors’ Scheme (CVS) has been operating in the Bega Valley for 16 years and is funded by the Australian Government.

CVS finds volunteers and places them with suitable aged care residents for the purpose of companionship and friendship. Time is set aside by volunteers to visit at least once a fortnight. There are no costs.

Volunteers come from all walks of life but share one goal – to enrich the lives of the aged, improving their quality of life.

The local program currently has volunteers in aged care facilities at Eden, Merimbula and Tura Beach and Bega and is hoping to expand into home visits soon.

If you would like to become a volunteer visitor or would like to get more information you can contact the local CVS Co-ordinator on 0422 974 911 or email:cvs.sapphire@hotmail.com

Greg Wollaston, CVS co-ordinator

It was not the loss of 65 homes in Tathra that was a disaster, but rather the March event was made-up of hundreds of individual disasters.

The loss of a single home to bushfire in Numbugga is no less a disaster for the family concerned than is the loss of a family home in Tathra. So, the BVSRRA would like council to explain how it is that it was able to announce the establishment of its $1.5million Mayoral Relief Fund to assist the victims of the Tathra bushfire the day after the event, but almost two months after homes were lost to the Yankees Gap bushfire, it has not managed to respond in kind.

The BVSRRA has reported the claim by BVSC’s general manager that "Council is not in a position to set up a disaster fund for the Yankees Gap incident".

This on top of previous public claims that the Mayoral Relief Fund could not be used to assist families who had suffered losses to the Yankees Gap bushfire. The BVSRRA does not dispute either of the above claims however, it contends that neither should prevent BVSC from setting-up a community disaster relief fund to assist any resident or ratepayer who may suffer as a result of bushfire or flood.

Why is BVSC trying to abrogate its responsibility to the Numbugga community, while also failing to develop a community-based response to the future impact of bushfires and floods across the shire? And why is it that not a single councillor, other than the mayor, has had a word to say on the subject?

The BVSRRA believes that BVSC may have received very poor advice as to its options to establish a shire wide disaster relief fund (similar to that operated by Shoalhaven City Council) or perhaps it has already decided that it just does not want to?

Either way, the victims of the Yankees Gap bushfire and future victims of bushfires and floods in the Bega Valley Shire are not to be afforded the same assistance that families in Tathra received.

The BVSRRA thinks that it is long past time for BVSC to consult with residents and ratepayers on the merits of establishing a shire-wide disaster relief fund.

The silence of elected councillors on this vital public issue is simply appalling.

John Richardson, BVSRRA