A young lady attended with the Light Horse men in a nurse uniform from the period. 

For the first time in a regional town in our great country I witnessed recognition of the many women who supported our military with compassion and dedication. 

My own mother began her nursing career at 14 in a hospital dealing with soldiers evacuated from PNG.

Sadly as a boy my focus only acknowledged my father serving in PNG as a 16-year-old, never realising the horrors mum dealt with both in mutilated bodies and soldiers’ nightmares.

Groups such as IS terrorists take note, the actions of our Anzacs did not end with armistice,  rather our nation is experiencing a surge in national pride and patriotism. 

Our Anzacs are once more uniting our nation and reaffirming our identity.

The timing could not have been better.

Lest we forget.

Peter Wilson

Bemboka

Thank you to Alan Shepard and the local Nashos Association for arranging the flyover of the Lockheed Hercules C130 for the Bega Anzac Day ceremony.

It added that something extra to a very well planned event.

Brenda Montgomery

Bega

I have listened with growing irritation to the reasons put forward for the attack on penalty rates in the service industries.

Penalty means exactly that. 

The employer cops a penalty when staff are required to work unsociable hours.

Unsociable hours are just that.

The extra cost should be passed on to the consumer who “demands” out of hours services.

For a business to claim that to remain viable it should cut the penalty wages of its staff would be laughable if it wasn’t so nasty.

Staff are not automatons.

People should not be seen as consumers only, but also as social  individuals who need to spend time with friends and families.

I realise that just paying the rent is a big problem in many businesses, particularly when renting from some of the big shopping centres.

Perhaps taking up the issue of rents with their avaricious landlords would be more productive.

Some businesses, such as restaurants, operate in the unsociable hours.

The solution is to price their products appropriately. 

People having a night out should expect to pay for the service.

Robbing staff to stay afloat should not be an option.

To the “user pays” enthusiasts - put a surcharge on the consumer who demands out of hours services. 

If a person wants a cup of coffee, some hardware, a loaf of bread and so on late at night or on a weekend, then expect a surcharge.

To the “free marketeers” - if your business can’t afford the wages, stay closed. 

After all, if you believe “the market” will sort itself out, you may go to the wall, but then you’ve just become a victim  of the economic Darwinism you espouse.

To the persons objecting to paying a surcharge - think ahead.

You may have noticed that public servants work only sociable hours.

John Fuary

Wallagoot

The Bega Valley Shire Residents and Ratepayers Association (BVSRRA) was delighted to learn the group manager for community, relations and leisure with Bega Valley Shire Council (BVSC), Anthony Basford, has a commitment to deliver “on the expectations of the community, councillors and the general manager” (BDN, 21/4).

Of course, given that BVSC yet again failed to consult with the community prior to adopting its latest “strategic plan” for library services, we are not sure how Mr Basford could pretend to know what the community’s expectations are, any more than councillors or the general manager could?

Sadly, apart from unnecessarily upsetting and destabilising its workforce, the only thing the council seems to have demonstrated through its proposed restructure is that it appears no more capable of effectively engaging with its employees than it is with residents/ratepayers.

In commenting on the situation, BVSC general manager Leanne Barnes reportedly claimed the changes were being pursued in response to an “external independent review”, which just might cause residents/ratepayers to wonder why they are paying for a very expensive “management” team?

John Richardson

BVSRRA secretary

Australians deserve a fairer superannuation system.

To make our super system truly fair, there are policy proposals that better target concessions to those who need them most, which could save the budget six times more than the reforms proposed by the ALP. 

When you add up all government support for retirement — super tax concessions and the age pension — you see that the top five per cent of male income earners get $430,000 in government support, compared to $250,000 received by the bottom 10 per cent.

How is it that we have a retirement system that offers more state assistance to the wealthy than low income earners?

Labor's proposed reforms will tinker at the edges of this system to decrease concessions, but if we truly want to make our retirement system fair and sustainable, we need to fundamentally rebalance concessions so that more go to low income earners. 

And by ensuring more people are capable of saving for their own retirement, we'll spend less on the age pension – a win for all Australians.

Dorte Planert

Tathra

Wake up and smell the taxes!

The alleged government is trying to impose tax on your bank deposits.

Apparently this tax, or duty as they like to call it, was around in the 1990s, but abolished in 2001.

Now the government would like to impose a 0.05 per cent duty on deposits.

That is you will be taxed for all deposits including your pay.

Did you not pay a tax on your pay already?

Those on welfare will be taxed as well as pensioners for the pleasure of having your payments made to a bank account.

I call it double dipping.

The tax office is trying to discourage the cash economy, this will not help them.

Apparently this tax…sorry, duty…will go into a fund to protect your deposits in case of a bank collapse.

Like the duty on petrol that is supposed to go on roads, will this duty…sorry, tax…still be around if the government needs it?

I don’t know about the rest of you, but my mattress is looking like a safer alternative to a bank.

Bring back the cash economy.

John Thomas

Bega

There was not a single NSW South Coast attraction among the recently-announced 2015 Qantas Australian Tourism Award winners.

Why?

Peter Lacey

Quaama

New Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows the Abbott government's attack on renewable energy has cost the country 2500 jobs since 2011-12. 

The findings put the government's track record on job creation in the spotlight. 

Some will now view Prime Minister Abbott's 2013 election promise to create two million new jobs as empty rhetoric.

If the Coalition was serious about jobs in Australia they would start supporting the renewable energy industry instead of attacking it. 

It's time for the Abbott government to come to an agreement on the Renewable Energy Target.

Failure to do so will result in more jobs losses and further damage to our economy.

Leigh Ewbank

Friends of the Earth renewable energy coordinator