Interested parties in the first round had from December 10, 2015 until February 4, 2016 to submit. The ecision will be made on March 22.  Why call for EOIs over the holiday period? What’s the rush?

It was revealed at the previous council meeting that the HuntFest organisers had already applied for the use of this venue prior to expressions being called for. Join the dots! Who has an event at Nata oval and associated buildings? Who has already lodged an application to have their licence extended by five years? 

Which council will be taking a decision on this controversial event? The same council that introduced this event to the community without any notice on their election advertising at the last elections and has approved this timeline over the holiday period. We cannot let this happen again!

Huntfest already has two years to run on its current licence. Expressions for a further five years should be presented to the new council after theelection. Voters will then have a chance to quiz potential councillors on where they stand in relation this controversial event and vote accordingly. 

The community is not blind. I urge you to contact the general manager and councillors with your strongest messages against this timeline and lack of community consultation.

Heather Irwin

Narooma

I am the first one to admit that the refugee crisis is not an easy matter for anyone to solve, but we urgently need a better answer than the present inhuman one. 

The present one, a political one, will only bait us in the future. It will be Isis-propaganda food. It makes our society less trust worthy. Our religious beliefs are compromised. Do we want to go that way?

We try to teach our children compassion and as they get older they find in us hypocrisy, because we do not always stick to what we preach. We have a warped mind when we make them believe that refugees are disposable human beings – making Nauru, Manus and Christmas islands into something like our rubbish tip.

Why do we teach our children compassion in the first place? Who says this planet could not shelter all earthlings when in need? Refugees love their birthplace and most are drawn back there. Solve the crisis in their homeland. When they go back, they hopefully will have experienced our way of living and will copy it. The ones who stay will be fully committed to our way - no worries.

The issue of smugglers could be solved by working with the relevant countries. We must tell our politicians to change their minds. Take the politics out of the equation and let us have some compassion for someone's misery. 

I almost choked on my Wheaties when hearing the announcement that Greg Hunt had won an international award of “World's Best Minister”.

Given his lamentable performance in addressing the most serious environmental problem facing the globe, climate change, how could this be? I then heard that this award was made in Dubai at a meeting dominated by countries almost entirely dependent upon the sale of fossil fuels for their economic survival. Question answered.

Despite the departure of climate cynic Tony Abbot and lofty promises made at the Paris Climate Summit, it’s clear that the current government is still doing very little to address climate change. Hunt continues to support the ineffective direct action policy and approve massive fossil fuel mining proposals. Australia's carbon emissions continue to grow. In other words it’s business as usual for the big end of town, the mining and energy sectors.

Now the Minister for Science "Poodles" Pyne appears to have given his tacit approval for the new CSIRO Chief Larry Marshall to slash climate change research. Indeed, Dr Marshall’s appointment reeks of political expediency rather than scientific merit. His stated intention of diverting climate change research funding to areas such as “turning coal into a cleaner form of diesel fuel” and “making mining more profitable and sustainable” must be music to the ears of the above two sectors.

A "bold new age of innovation"? Pull the other one, Turnbull!

Richard Tilzey

Central Tilba

RE, the atrocious treatment of the cafe owner in Bermagui. His statement was probably a bit provocative,  but he seems to have been proved right. 

I thought our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents fought to protect the right of free speech. If people disagreed, it would have been easy to discuss with him. It seems that would have been too much for the people who broke the window. 

 And as for, "what does he expect! " as the summary in Mr Wark's letter says. Well sir, he expects Australians to act like civil human beings. That's what he expects!

What have we become in Australia? Has it become the norm now to assault or threaten people for what they say?

We reached a population of 24 million this week at the same time there seems to have been and equal or greater increase in "Dickheads" too.