I was stunned last week to learn from a question on notice answered in our NSW Parliament that the royalty paid to our State Government by the Nippon Paper chipmill in Eden for logs harvested from our Eurobodalla forests is $4.60 per cubic metre.

With 1 green tonne = 0.9233 cubic metres that’s near enough to $4.60 per tonne.

How can this be true? Those log trucks that pass through Narooma on their way to the chipmill carry 30-40 tonnes meaning that each load is worth $138.00 - $184.00 to the citizens of NSW.

For your readers’ information, the loads with tags on the end of the logs are going to a sawmill but the rest, being by a long way the majority of what is felled, is considered to be “waste”.

Now that the burning of this so-called “waste” to produce electricity has been approved by our Federal Government as “renewable energy”, our local forests face further years of over-harvesting at exorbitant costs to all of us.

It costs NSW taxpayers around $15million in Forestry Corporation losses per year to send at least 90 per cent of the hardwood cut from our South Coast native forests to Japan.

I believe that these trees would be far more valuable left to grow in our forests as carbon storage manufacturers and I call it criminal negligence sacrificing them at $4.60 per tonne.

Seán Burke

Central Tilba

Growing weary of the spectacle of the decline

One grows ever wearier of the spectacle of the decline and fall of the Abbott regime.

Any joke grows very, very stale when it lingers and lingers and lingers.

Sure it is a magnificent spectacle for the paleontologist - perhaps the last manifestation on Earth, apart from somewhere in deepest Arkansas or Turkmenistan, of the blartings and fartings of the senescent dinosaurs who deny human induced climate change, the possibility of a new economy based on renewable energy, same sex marriage, Aboriginal people's capacity to determine their own people's needs, the value to society of accessible quality education for all, etc etc etc.

The regime's whole “platform” will be seen as utterly incomprehensible and risibly archaic in a year or two when Australia finally manages to limp into the 21st century.

Australia certainly has lots of growing up and catching up to do.

NZ, just over the way, is at least a generation more mature as a society.  It is utterly unimaginable that a great Kiwi sportsperson would be booed and denigrated because she or he is a Maori.

Over there a carbon tax, same sex marriage, and a reasonably good deal for the first people can co-exist with civilisation as we know it, and even under a conservative government!

It would be such a joy to see Australia wake from its stupor - but it will likely require breaking the mass addiction to the opiates peddled by the Murdoch media and finding some way to fund the major political parties that frees them from their abject subservience to the dying coal industry and such special interests as the gambling industry and property developers.

Stuart Cameron

Cuttagee

No excuse for cruelty

In mid July 2015, on a freezing cold, raining afternoon I drove along a road in Bowning NSW and saw newly shorn sheep...some with lambs, in a wet, muddy drought affected paddock with no shelter.

Turning, running in circles, desperately trying to push into each other for warmth; to live. From the dead animals seen strewn along the muddy fence line- many failed to do so- dying a slow, violent, death from cold and exposure, in freezing conditions.

This practice of shearing sheep in winter must cease!

When I contacted a livestock officer, he spoke to the property owner, who said the dead sheep would be removed….as if visibility was the problem… nothing about cruelty and the animals suffering!

I was informed that other factors…such as worm burden accounted for the deaths and not exposure to cold.

As I have worked on the land, I’m aware this may be partly so, added to poor condition and little feed.

However, to deprive an animal of its wool and turn it out in ‘minus’ temperatures, in frost, sleet or snow is the zenith of animal cruelty.

As expected, thus warned, the farmer will have removed the ‘evidence’ before any other inspections.

I was advised to report the cruelty to the RSPCA but after going into their website, found the questions on the report form….such as “how many, what time, what address, who was the owner and much more” beyond my capacity to answer.

Just imagine…warm and cozy in your bed in winter, how you would feel… naked, in an exposed paddock, in minus degrees with no shelter!

For 200 years, sheep have been seen as ‘dollar signs’. Instead, these gentle, harmless, creatures - capable of suffering and pain, are so abused by a majority of humans, who couldn’t care less.

Shearing in mid-winter is a cruel practice. It must be stopped. There is no excuse.

Diana Gillies

Moruya

A response on free trade

I would like to take the opportunity to respond to Maureen Searson’s letter to the editor of 29 July 2015.

It is tremendously important for individuals like Maureen to engage in this very important topic and I commend her for doing so.

What is equally important is for the discussion to be conducted in a sober fashion and for facts to be precisely conveyed and responsibly communicated.

The rabid campaign against the Free Trade Agreement with China (ChAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was initiated by the Trade Union movement.

It was funded by plundering the union fees of their hard-working members – the same members who have so much to gain. 

Sadly, and disappointingly, the campaign was recklessly promoted and endorsed by the ALP candidate in Eden-Monaro.

It is a case study in dishonest, xenophobic, scare-campaigning.  The agreements will not change Australia’s industrial relations laws at all.

Maureen asked three specific and intelligent questions and I am happy to provide her and all readers with the answers.

To do that precisely and responsibly will take more than a few words, so I have placed detailed responses to those questions on my website at www.peterhendy.com.au

I would like to remind Maureen and all readers that the Free Trade Agreement with China will be particularly beneficial for the South Coast and right across Eden-Monaro.

It will not only secure improved market access, but enhance Australia’s competitive position by giving our growers and producers an advantage over major competitors such as the United States, Canada and the European Union.

We can look forward to tariffs being immediately or progressively abolished for our region’s dairy industry; for our timber industry; our seafood exports; and our wool, beef, goat, and sheep meat sectors.

The Free Trade Agreement with China will benefit the entire community through the creation of jobs, economic growth, and greater prosperity for all.

The opportunities for future export growth in this market are there for the taking but we must move quickly.

It would be shameful if we missed those opportunities due to the misinformation peddled by vested interests and an opportunistic candidate.

Peter Hendy MP

Federal Member for Eden-Monaro

Dogs run wild

We are regular visitors to Narooma and on Friday last were quite distressed to watch the behaviour of a seemingly local, group of women walking their four (at least) large dogs on Kianga Beach.

Firstly they were on Kianga Lake Beach where they were running unleashed and uncontrolled.

At the same time we had just spotted four red-capped plovers wading by the creek entrance.

That was until two of the dogs plunged into the water.

Our next sighting was at Anton's where two of the dogs were narrowly missed by cars as they crossed the road from the beach, their owners quite oblivious of what was happening.

We have three dogs of our own, so are not 'anti-dogs'.

In fact being dog-lovers made it all the more distressing watching these lovely dogs racing across the road completely unaware of traffic.

Robin Irwin

Torquay, Victoria

Mayor's say… Awards showcasing tourism

Once again I am delighted to congratulate 17 of our most successful tourism businesses on becoming finalists in this year’s South Coast Tourism Awards.

A big well done and hooray shout out to: Broulee Surf School, The Original Gold Rush Colony, Eurobodalla Regional Botanical Garden, Mogo Zoo, Bodalla Cheese Factory and Bodalla Dairy Shed, South Coast Cheese, Lincoln Downs resort & spa, Maloneys Beach Café & Cellars, Eurobodalla River of Art, Edgewater Gardens, BIG4 Broulee Beach Holiday Park, Lakesea Park, Mogendoura Farm, The Escape, South Coast Seaplanes, Ngaran Ngaran Culture Awareness and the Batemans Bay Manor.

Being an outstanding tourism business reflects an investment of money and time and I doubt if any of these businesses or many others who are achieving equally high standards of product and service delivery got to where they are today as a major contributors to the success of the visitor economy without many hours of hard work and a bit of risk taking.

Tourism is everyone’s business in Eurobodalla as the industry provides provides jobs for more than 25 per cent of our workforce.

As well as saying well done to this year’s finalists, you can show your support for this important industry by sharing all the great information you know about Eurobodalla with your friends, relatives and visitors you meet in the street.

Stop, stay and spend is a popular saying in tourism and local residents are the best ambassadors when it comes to encouraging visitors how to spend more of their holiday dollars.

Council is a proud supporter of the industry and while most people know that council invests in tourism marketing, events and visitor services, we also support the industry by providing transport and community infrastructure and environmental programs that make Eurobodalla a safe, easy and attractive place to visit.

We work with neighbouring councils and other levels of government to promote tourism and advocate for the development of the industry.

You can find out more about the industry and council’s role in tourism on the council website by searching for tourism and if you would like some help being a tourism ambassador, pick up some brochures from our visitor information centres or visit our recently re-launched tourism website at eurobodalla.com.au

Please let me know if there are any issues that council can assist with. You can contact me at mayor@eurocoast.nsw.gov.au or phone 0418 279 215.

Clr Lindsay Brown

Mayor of Eurobodalla Shire