Without your support our little school could not put on such important fundraising events that help provide equipment and support a range of activities for the children.

To all those who generously contributed to the raffle, Indigo Retreat, Tanja Lagoon Camp, Tathra Beach Family Park, Eamonn Jackson, Sharon Stevens, Janna Ferris, Four Winds and The Picture Show Man; to Crowd Carnivore and the Tathra  Butcher for barbecue donations; the Tathra Friendly Grocers, Coastlife, and Wild Rye Bakery; to all the wonderful curry makers and salad suppliers; to the local Tanja community and all those who came and enjoyed the day; to the stall holders; to the 'singlets' and Cayce's troop of hip hop dancers; to all the school's staff, kids and their families and friends who set up and ran the day so enthusiastically and seamlessly; and to the weather fairies for putting on such a glorious autumn day.

It is regrettable the South East Timber Association (BDN, 28/4) is yet to grasp an understanding of koalas.  

If, as SETA suggest, koalas prefer regrowth forest, most former and current production forests on the South Coast would still have koalas. If burning forest helps koalas, there are many forests that would be preferred before Mumbulla, where there has been no burning for over a decade.

For more than 40 years the management of state forests has been based on the notion that progressively felling previously selectively logged forest would produce a more productive forest. The fact koalas are now constrained to a small area of coastal forests confirms forest productivity is continuing to decline at a bio-regional scale.

Hence, if the NSW government been given the OK to translocate koalas to Tantawangalo, they, like the endemic population, would have died too.

By transferring these forests to flora reserve, the government has avoided another round of court cases. In particular, the greatest threat to timber industry, a challenge to the adequacy of Forestry's Environment Protection Licence.

So while SETA may be unable to grasp why koalas are headed for extinction, perhaps they may be happy knowing the flora reserves are more about keeping their unsustainable industry afloat. Koalas are an associated but secondary consideration.

Events this week should make decent Australians question the morality of governments past and present. 

I watched a Four Corners episode recently called ‘Bad Blood’ in which some of Australia’s top medical specialists spoke up about the preventable death of a young Iranian asylum seeker.

Australian governments have been far too willing to use poor countries to offload their responsibilities towards refugees who attempt to seek a safer life in Australia.

Somewhere along the way, compassion and decency appear to have disappeared.  The conditions on Manus Island are appalling and the treatment of the refugees is worse than that found in many prisons.

Now the High Court of Papua New Guinea has announced detention of refugees on Manus Island is unconstitutional and must end. With a federal election looming I challenge all our candidates for Eden-Monaro to answer the following questions:

1) Will your party retain the disgraceful Border Force Act, a crude attempt to cover up what occurs?

2) Now Manus Island will no longer be used as a ‘dumping ground’, how does your party propose to provide decent living conditions and healthcare until resettlement? 

Who has the courage to provide some honest answers?