At the time Mrs Skinner said: “This is a commitment from me that will start now.”

An enthusiastic Mr Ward followed up with: “Should the $5 million prove insufficient for buying a site and the build, Mrs Skinner’s door will be knocked on if more money is required.”

With a nod of the head, Mrs Skinner said the announcement was not an empty election promise.

To date the residents of Berry have something missing— it’s called a $5 million ambulance station complete with ambulance and crew.

I put the ambulance and crew “ bit in”  just in case your intentions were to only build the station.

The time has come for action. Twelve months is a long wait.

Premier Baird’s announcement just before Christmas about forcibly merging local councils was totally without any basis or merit.

The Government keeps talking about four years of consultation, but they have now overturned the recommendations from all these earlier reports.

Professor Graham Sansom, who was the government's expert adviser on council reform, has said these latest forced merger proposals “fail the test” of good reform.

The last four years was just a pseudo–consultation, just like the legalistic tick the box paperwork currently underway with their so-called ‘delegates’.

Premier Baird will obviously get the answers he expects from this pseudo-consultation. Local communities should make their views known, and put in submissions.

But the government is not really interested in what local communities have to say.

The Premier must release the secret KPMG report that is the basis for their current merger announcements, and was completed with no community input at all.

We are taken aback by the comments from some government MPs that they could no longer lobby the minister directly on behalf of councils as the Boundaries Commission was now involved.

This is nonsense.

Local MPs are elected by their community to represent them.  There is absolutely no reason that they should not be lobbying on behalf of their community as strongly as they can.

In the end, it will be the local government MPs who will decide whether they are prepared to stand up for their communities and demand Premier Baird lets their local councils stay local.

As the long, hot summer continues, PETA continues to receive reports of dogs dying or suffering from heat exhaustion after being left inside hot cars, even when the windows were slightly lowered. 

During warm weather, even dogs who are left in the shade can quickly succumb to heatstroke and sustain brain damage as a result. On a 30-degree day, the temperature inside a car parked in the sun can reach 54 degrees in just minutes. 

If you see a dog showing any symptoms of heatstroke – including restlessness, heavy panting, vomiting, lethargy and lack of coordination – get the animal into the shade immediately. You can lower a symptomatic dog's body temperature by providing the dog with water, applying a cold towel to the dog's head and chest or immersing the dog in tepid water. Then immediately call a vet.

If you see animals in distress, give them immediate relief by providing water – and contact humane authorities right away.