The little independent at Tathra, $1.09.9.

Makes you wonder what the point of the big boys is doesn't it.

Remember the Woolies ads about working with the dairy farmers...how nice they were? 

Between Coles and Woolies they just about ruined dairy farms although that can't be the case according to the nice ads...they really love country people don't they?

That's why they gouge us every single day on petrol prices, just to show us they really care. I mean charging us 30c a litre more for petrol and diesel than the city folk is just a sign of affection isn't it?

I am not against the big boys, but I am against them continually ripping us country folk off. Make sure you let them know you are unhappy. 

It's time for another campaign to make sure everyone understands that we country folk are helping to subsidise cheaper petrol prices for our city cousins.

Complain today, tomorrow and every day. Complain at the petrol station,at the supermarket, online and via phone calls. Don't let them get away with it. 

While it’s great that a koala was sighted in what was Mumbulla State Forest (BDN, 29/8), suggestions the local koala population is increasing in number and this is due to a lack of logging, both sit poorly with the facts.

In the first instance, the second round of koala surveys employed different methods to the first surveys. Hence the results cannot be readily compared, unless scientific credibility is not an issue. 

With regard to logging and apart from the illegal logging in Biamanga Aboriginal Place earlier this decade, there has been no logging in Mumbulla State Forest since 1994. At this time the conservation movement supported logging.

Indeed, when logging didn’t proceed in several compartments, due to community action, some conservationists were concerned about a negative impact on their reserve proposal for the Regional Forest Agreements.

Unfortunately, logging is not the only threat to koalas. So perceptions of increasing numbers may reflect an increased availability of browse since the last major disturbance, the drought and associated extensive canopy die-back event from 2002 until 2004. If this is the case, any increase in the koala population may only bring numbers back to pre-2002 levels. 

However, these forests have only ever sustained a low density koala population. From this perspective, the only way koala numbers can really increase is through growing primary koala browse species, on adjacent private land. Until that time the last koalas will remain endangered and likely to become extinct in the short term. 

As a greyhound lover, advocate, fosterer and adoption group volunteer, I was ecstatic when I saw PETA Australia’s media statement that a NSW state ban on greyhound racing had been announced. 

It’s long overdue this ban went national. How many more greyhound deaths at the track each year does it have to take? 

With up to 17,000 healthy greyhounds dying annually at the hands of the industry, 200 dogs reported injured during official races each week and the “lucky” survivors living in appalling conditions, the biggest tragedy is that this industry hasn’t been shut down sooner. 

I see that National Greyhound Racing United is bleating that for every bad person in the sport, there are 2000 good ones. 

In my experience, the couch is the only place a greyhound wants to race to. And I would say to anyone considering adoption, you’ll never go back once you realise the power of sharing your lounge with a hound.