The Brown Mountain road was a 19th Century solution to the requirements of horses and buggies. The fact that it still used at all, after almost 150 years, is remarkable.

What is immediately needed is political resolve (and funding) to build two one-way tunnels with gradual inclines linking the top to the bottom of the escarpment - a 21st Century solution to 21st Century needs! And an investment that will be paying dividends way into the next century.

Spend that suggested $15million on the first drilling work in the tunnel...please don't give the design brief to those responsible for Sydney's spaghetti nightmare...and, please, just get on with the work.

We were shocked to read Shirley Heath's (Pambula) letter today, calling the restoration work on the historic Pambula Courthouse as cultural vandalism.

Firstly the courthouse is not being rendered as stated, the southern wall has just been repainted cream.

Originally it had been painted white many, many years ago and was that way when the residence was occupied by the police and the court house was still operating as such, in the 1980s. This was done to protect deteriorating hand made bricks on this wall from the weather.

Only the old paintwork had been tended to and renewed - all the other existing unpainted bricks were left in their original state.

Yes, the roof was replaced which was a necessary repair as it was old and developing some leaks.

We would like to let everyone know, all this work done, was made possible, by a grant from the Crowns Land Department NSW of $230,000.

The Old Pambula Courthouse & Police Station is built on Crown Land and the Bega Valley Shire Council are the Trustees.

The BVGS have worked closely, with the council project management team and greatly appreciate the help and advice from the council staff.

On returning from my regular walk along the Merimbula Boardwalk after several weeks away, I am disgusted at the state of the bush surrounding the boardwalk.

While the boardwalk surrounds have long been in desperate need of maintenance, it is now littered with hundreds of dead trees, fallen boughs and branches. While there is evidence of recent clearing, it appears the offending undergrowth was just thrown aside.

The boardwalk is utilised by hundreds of locals every day and thousands of tourists every year. It has been touted as one of the region's major tourist attractions. Not only is the boardwalk an eyesore, but it is now dangerous and a public liability. There was even a sign today labelling one overhanging tree as 'Fragile'. It is also presents a major fire risk with so much fuel to burn.

Failure to remove the debris has blocked the natural runoff of rain and groundwater creating large swamps where exotic weeds such as lilies to thrive. These swamps have started to degrade the boardwalk and residential areas.

The council received a grant to rebuild the boardwalk, but given the unattractive and unsafe surrounds, local residents and tourists will be disinclined to utilise it. This money should be used to repair the boardwalk environment before somebody gets hurt or it becomes unusable.

Major environmental restoration, fire mitigation and cyclic maintenance must be undertaken immediately and become part of council's regular works program or we lose this beautiful natural asset due to negligence, mismanagement and inaction.

Friends of the Old Bega Hospital's Raise the Roof Spring Fair, held on Sunday, October 29 will be a day which marks an important date in the history of the Bega Valley - a day when hundreds of people in the community came together to marvel at the early stages of restoration of the heritage OBH ravaged by fire in May 2004, and further degraded by the elements until May 2023.

Since May, 23, Leser Build have been hard at work, salvaging the reusable and meticulously reproducing the unuseable to reach a stage where a part roof of shiny new tin sparkles in the sunshine.

Friends sincerely thank all the people, groups and organisations which made the Raise the Roof Spring Fair such a fun event: Marcus for his Acknowledgement to Country and our Mayor for opening the Fair; the tenants for demonstrating their skills; Chris and Sue (from the Textile group) for running the Cake and Devonshire Teas Stall; Helen and her Hillgrove House Gang for making and Marj, Marg and Susan for selling, the sandwiches; Rosalie and Denis for ensuring the sausages were sizzling; M.C Jamie and his merry musicians Candy and Erik and our Bega Band; Bret and his crowd favourite Jumping Dogs; Margaret and her much loved Dancing Dogs; the Bridge Players; the Great Zamboni; the Tiny Zoo; the CWA ladies for setting up and judging the Vegemite Cooking and Vegemite-themed Handmade Item Competitions; the many Business Houses of Bega and Tathra for donations of vouchers or product for our raffles and Arthur for selling tickets (for list of business donors see webpage obh.org.au and Facebook page); Cliff Shipton for photography; Nathan Jones and Bega Lions for supervising parking; our local media, BDN, ABC and 2EC for publicity; the market stalls and NFPs; our main sponsor for the day Bendigo Bank; other donations from Coles Bega, Bega Group, Tarra Ford, Southern Farm Supplies, Phoenix Bulk Foods, Kingswood Sand and Livestock, Tiny Zoo, Coast Hire and Kristy McBain.

Friends were very excited to be able to launch the Paver Project at Raise the Roof. The community will be able to leave a lasting mark on the history of OBH by purchasing a paver as part of the restoration. The landscaping plan calls for new paths. Your name, or that of your family or friends can be etched on the path. Prices range from $50 to $185. Contact treasurer@obh.org.au for details.

The Friends Committee thank the community for its tremendous support not just for the Raise the Roof Spring Fair, but for the vision that is the OBH Regional Community Cultural Centre- a community cultural centre managed by the community for the good of all in the community.

The Albanese government is well aware of the risks posed by climate change.

In his annual climate change statement, Chris Bowen acknowledges that "extreme weather events caused by climate change place increased strain on Australia's energy networks... stretching Australia's emergency capabilities."

The only way we can even attempt to solve this problem, is to tackle it at its roots and drastically reduce global pollution. Yet the government continues to leave the door open to approving new fossil fuel projects.

An example is the pending Mount Pleasant coal mine expansion. This project alone is enough to blow our carbon budget. We are on the edge of a cliff, and we have fallen asleep at the wheel.