The budget figures for 2016-17 clearly show funding for aged care of $17.8 billion is up 7.7 per cent on the previous year, and a massive 25.5 per cent from the last Labor budget of 2013-14.

While the overall aged care budget has been increased, there have been changes to the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) in the 2016-17 budget and the Mid‑Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) which are required to address unsustainable growth in expenditure.

The government is engaging with the residential aged care sector and exploring ways to achieve the necessary savings in expenditure over the forward estimates.

But even taking the changes into account, funding to the residential aged care sector will continue to grow at an average of 5.1 per cent per annum over the forward estimates.

The overall aim for both the government and the sector is that we develop a system which provides stable funding arrangements. 

Work to investigate other approaches to determining residential care funding, such as an external assessment approach, is continuing. 

In all of this the federal government remains committed to having an aged care system that supports older Australians while making sure aged care expenditure is affordable and sustainable, particularly as we in Australia have an ageing population.

What a frustrating set of lights at the Archer Resort, one way into Uncle Dan’s and one way out – absolutely crazy during holiday season.

Tie this in with a set of lights that go green for less than 30 seconds (you can only turn left when you exit) and there you have a traffic jam and a lot of frustrated people. What idiot designed or approved that? Like many patrons I wait for a clearing and turn  right (sorry, Mr Policeman).

Oh, and here’s a hint for you if you drive a 4WD or are the happy little person who takes things in their stride. How about learning to accelerate to allow at least three cars to get through the lights before they change?

Alternatively, the RMS or whoever looks after the lights, how about a better deal? I love sitting there and watching the two cars heading north or south with a rear view mirror line of traffic backed up behind me.

Nowra is a beautiful old country town with one of the best rivers in Australia. There are many grey nomads and tourists passing through this area and we should be encouraging them to stay at the Nowra Showground with its magnificent views and easy access to the town centre.

Caravan travellers would prefer to travel straight to their destination to book a site. I would like Shoalhaven City Council to open an onsite office seven days a week.

The office staff could take bookings, telephone inquiries and hand out brochures advertising coming events, restaurants and places to visit in the surrounding area.

In Links Avenue, Sanctuary Point there has been a decimation of the landscape with the cutting down of every tree for a new development. I am not against the new development but where I used to walk out my back door and look over to a treescape backdrop there is nothing. This makes me so angry where our hypocritical stands on this matter of clearing land. There are fights going on with one tree being removed from Collingwood Beach but where there is no view council is not concerned with greening the landscape or keeping some trees.