I was unaware of this until arriving at Kiama. A railway employee identified me from a description of my licence photo and on going back to Bomaderry, the station guard returned the wallet with a  large amount of cash intact.

I would like to publicly thank the railway employees involved and particularly those at Bomaderry for their honesty and the trouble they took to contact my wife and thus track me to Kiama. A special thanks also to the unknown decent citizen who handed in the wallet.

The many complaint s about our railways reflect on the responsible politicians and the management of the service – not the staff.

I am writing to express my sincere appreciation to everyone in New South Wales who gave generously to The Smith Family’s 2017 Winter Appeal. This year we had exceptional support from the Australian public, raising over $4.6 million nationally to help thousands of disadvantaged children across the country with their education.

For the 1.1 million young Australians living below the poverty line, staying engaged at school and keeping up with their peers can be extremely challenging. Without educational support and extra resources, they may never reach their potential and are more likely to experience hardship as adults.

Funds raised from our Winter Appeal will help nearly 11,000 disadvantaged Australian children with the extra learning support they need, through our reading programs, after-school Learning Clubs and the iTrack online mentoring program.

It is heartening that this cause has resonated with so many people who gave to our Appeal, which not only helps the children who access our programs but their families and communities.

I would like to thank each and every individual who made a donation. Your help will have a direct, lasting impact on disadvantaged children here in Australia, giving them the best chance possible to break the cycle of poverty and create a better future for themselves.

In the recent state budget, the NSW Liberal-National government promised $100 million to create a regional arts fund, but on July 17, arts bureaucrats revealed that the fund is not what it is cracked up to be.

The fine print of the Regional Cultural Fund shows a mere $25 million will be now rationed across all of NSW’s rural and regional communities in 2017-18.

This is pitiful when the fund is compared to what is being spent in Sydney’s CBD. A massive $600 million is being poured into a three kilometre radius of the city.

Sadly, like all other areas of government expenditure, the funding is all going to Sydney – with country areas left to fight each other over the scraps.

In the June budget, the NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro and NSW Arts Minister Don Harwin boasted that they were providing $100 million in funding for regional and rural art galleries, museums and community halls. We now discover that this is just a cruel budget hoax.

But the most insulting aspect is that the fund cannot go to hire staff, urgent repairs, on-going maintenance or operational costs.

Furthermore, this fund is very unfair. How will small communities compete with the larger better resourced regional centres?

Unfortunately, too often the Nationals promise a lot and deliver so little.

While I do not oppose the funding for Sydney’s opera house, the art gallery or theatres, rural and regional areas just deserve to get their fair share – and the Nationals must explain why all of the funding goes to Sydney.