No-one would want to minimise the sadness and tragedy of that black Tuesday (31/12/19) and the days and weeks before and since will be remembered by us all for years to come. As do those of us who lived in the Bega Valley in 1852, when we lost the two Otton girls who died trying to save their horses from the dreadful fires.

We did not have television or social media 24/7 to advise us of the seriousness of our situation - we had local radio and could see with our own eyes the blood-red skies and embers falling all around. I don't remember even having an RFS to assist the local fire brigades and landowners to fight the fires.

We certainly did not have a Greens Party who went from originally being conservationists to militant climate activists, who do everything from trying to shut down agriculture, mining and industry, to accusing our Prime Minister of murder.

Their new leader, Adam Bandt's malicious and maniacal rants, both in and out of Parliament, are nothing short of slander and the Prime Minister would be within his rights to take legal action against him.

Michael Britten (Letters, BDN 14/2) laments that a lack of "financial common sense" in "land management" has increased fire hazard.

If we had "financial common sense" in "land management" we would not have native forest logging.

It is economically marginal, usually makes losses for NSW taxpayers, bludges off local government rate payers with rate exemptions. It damages local roads, waterways (just ask the oyster industry) and destroys top soils. That's before we even start counting the environmental damage to wildlife and the climate.

It would not exist today without generous taxpayer subsidies. And of course, 50 years of intensive woodchip logging have made this region's forests drier, of even height and denser and consequently more fire prone.

It is anything but common sense.

I note that "Allocation of Phase 1 Bushfire Community Resilience and Economic Recovery Fund" is on the agenda for the council meeting on February 19.

I note council officers suggest "Council officers have been engaging with a range of community groups, businesses, business chambers and local tourism organisations over the past month with a consistent theme of supporting local business, events and marketing emerging as key needs in the immediate term".

I would appreciate details of exactly which community groups and businesses have been consulted.

I also note with grave concern that not a single dollar is being directed to specifically assist local businesses. Instead $95,000 is proposed to be being directed to Event Development and Coordination, $95,000 is proposed to employ a Business Recovery Officer, and $60,000 is proposed to be directed to Tourism Destination Marketing Support.

I ask you to seriously reconsider this allocation, to ensure that the money is directed, as it is intended, to directly and immediately support individual local businesses that have been affected by the recent bushfires.

Local businesses know their own markets and know how to best promote them. The money should and must be directed to support their immediate recovery - not directed, for example, to council to employ a Business Recovery Officer (who may or may not achieve anything) or for Tourism Destination Marketing Support (which may or may not achieve anything).

What makes us are not the good times, the easy times; but the challenges. The fires of January 2020 are one of these times.

These fires will forever change us as individuals, a community and as a nation. Along with Federation, WWI, Gallipoli - remembered in Anzac Day, Cyclone Tracy for Darwin, and locally the 1952 fires, these fires will become an event that makes Australia. Each of these events were life and death struggles that forced us to focus on what really matters, to work together as one; to overcome.

For all of us, the time since New Year's Eve changed everything. Whether you are in the RFS, another organisation volunteering, or a member of our community, this month changed each of our priorities, our path, and our relationships.

This last month has shown us, that regardless of our differences; what unites us is greater than what divides us. We learnt that when we work together as one, we achieve more than the sum of the parts.

My hope, is that we will take this from the fires; from neighbours and strangers appearing on your doorstep with a pump and willing arms to help fight your fire; from strangers offering what they have to those who have lost much; from people asking "are you OK" and listening to the answer; and from working together as a team in the RFS, in relief centres and as we start to think about recovery.

My hope is that as the rain falls, the fires fade, as we recover; that we will always remember "What unites us is greater than what divides us", and work together to heal the broken, restore our community and, together, with mutual respect, resolve our challenges.