Prayer at council meetings
I just recently took the test to become an Australian citizen. I understand that being a citizen offers me the freedom to practise whatever religion I choose as well as to practise none. Citizenship offers me the right to freedom of speech in public and in private. I don't believe this freedom extends to elected officials reciting prayers of any faith while conducting council business.
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Lisa Gaudie, Berry
Top Ten store opening
Absolutely brilliant. Nowra needs stores like this to revitalise the main CBD. The people of Shoalhaven desperately need the variety.
Louise Byrne, North Nowra
Tips to make green waste collection simple
From personal experience one has to make collection very simple and light.
Example: tie into lengths of less than two metres with string (this was suggested by the person at the waste facility); total area of green waste not to exceed one cubic metre and the best part - if possible put in plastic garbage bags! This last one is SO environmentally friendly. What happens to any unused vouchers? Is there any form of credit to the rate payer? But they are 'free' aren't they?
Danae Tonkin, Sanctuary Point
Of mice and men
Grace Ryan's sad story about cleaning up after the mice ("Mouse plague infiltrates house and head", May 24) reminds me of the words of Robert Burns, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley". Burns meant that things can go wrong, even when well planned. It's unfortunately the case that the conditions causing these millions of tiny animals to search desperately for food at the expense of our hard-working grain growers are aggravated by a chronic lack of planning from governments.
As she says, "The NSW Government has recently realised what's happening." Severe mouse infestations happen about every 10 years, and date back to the early 1800s, a few years after European ships arrived carrying convicts and other smaller passengers. While science has leaped ahead in most areas, little has been done to avoid these very predictable events.
Is it really too much to expect for the government to invest in humane and effective methods of prevention ("putting the mice on the pill"), rather than handing out poisons that will endanger us all, including farmers' families? Instead of making divisive comments pitting city against country or misquoting PETA's recommendations that householders catch and release the occasional mouse in the suburban house, misrepresenting our humane approach to a different situation, the government should concentrate on minimising suffering to all animals, including mice and men.
Desmond Bellamy, Special Projects
Coordinator, PETA Australia
Please reach out for help
I'm from the not-for-profit Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia and urge people in your local area - who have mental health issues - to reach out and get help. We know there is a lot of help out there. We know not enough people are accessing that help. Our latest awareness initiative highlights mental illness is much more common than people think. Data reveals 45 per cent of all Australians will experience a mental disorder at some point. In the past 12 months alone, one in five Australians has experienced a mental health disorder. For instance, 50 per cent of people with schizophrenia now attempt suicide. It's completely unacceptable people with schizophrenia are likely to live 19 years less than people who do not have the condition. Around 700,000 Australians have a severe mental illness. The Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia free phoneline for advice to get support is 1800 985 944 or minetworks.org.au.