Fortunately my experience in local government has been mostly better than this. So it was encouraging to have friends give of their own time to hand out for me on election day, including Gareth Ward. I thank them all.

No doubt this is a hard time for the former Mayor Joanna Gash. However, her comments criticising those who gave me their support are at best uncalled for and otherwise represent double standards.

Consider that among those helping Team Gash there were high-profile Liberals such as the Member for Gilmore and the Member for South Coast. 

Team Gash also had some out of town Liberals such as Wollongong councillor Michelle Blicavs and Shellharbour councillor Kellie Marsh.

Some who called the office of Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis asking who to vote for were advised that Team Gash were independent Liberals. There was even a Liberal Party member who wanted to support me but was so pressured by Joanna Gash that he decided to go elsewhere to keep the peace.

Joanna Gash has also criticised us for accepting donations from supporters when just weeks ago as Mayor, Cr Gash was personally soliciting political donations from Nowra businesses to whom she had just awarded a rate reduction.

Team Gash had always claimed to just be a bunch of like-minded community people yet their bloc voting behaviour suggested otherwise.

All these conflicting positions of the former mayor are an indication of a serious credibility problem.

As far as I am concerned last Saturday’s Shoalhaven City Council election was the biggest non-event that I have had to attend to in a long while.

In my letterbox the only pamphlets I received were one from the Team Gash “independents” and one from the Greens who at least outlined their plans for the city.

Last Wednesday’s South Coast Register had a small article regarding the mayoral candidates talking to the business community and editorial asking residents to vote.

I must say that I was away for most of August, and may have missed out on receiving information; however I do not believe there was anything in either people’s letterboxes or the local press with details about each candidate and their reasons for seeking election.

As a result I had absolutely no idea who the candidates were, or, importantly, what they stood for, when I went to vote. How were we expected to decide where our votes went? It was tempting to vote Informal.

Australian parents are spending an estimated $67 million on cough and cold medicines that are known to be ineffective and in some cases potentially harmful. The Australian Child Health Poll found that a third of kids under six years of age are being given cough and cold medicine even though they are not recommended for this age group.

What’s particularly disturbing is that among parents who are giving these products to their young children, 74 per cent said they were told to do so on the advice of a pharmacist, and 64 per cent on the advice of a doctor.

Parents of young children who are advised to use an over-the- counter cough or cold medicine should challenge the advice; if your child is under six years of age, don’t buy it.

We also found that an estimated $74 million a year is being spent on vitamins and supplements even though there’s no proven health benefits for kids on a normal diet and with no nutritional deficiencies.