To the guy who first arrived on his SUP, the fact that you were close behind me was potentially lifesaving, I'm not sure how much longer we would have been able to keep our heads above water, thank you.

To the two guys who paddled out to assist on boogie boards from the nearby rocks, and who soon realised were also going to need rescuing, your persistence and support made a huge difference, thank you.

To the two guys with tinnies who came to rescue us from the depths, there was no way any of us could make it back to shore under our own steam and seeing you approach brought overwhelming relief. It was at this moment that I knew we were going to be okay. Thank you.

I have no idea if you are locals or from out of town, but thank you for being there on that day. You all took a great risk, you are all heroes, and we are forever grateful.

To beach-goers generally, this was a terrifying reminder to never be complacent around water; especially with children. As we experienced, a lot can happen in a minute or two.

I would like to echo Judith Pinder's letter (BDN, Jan 12) fully supporting the need for traffic calming devices in Cobargo.

Avernus Street is a 'cut through' to and from Narooma and Bermagui. Additionally, this street has no footpaths with pedestrians, dog walkers and mobility scooter riders having no choice but to use the road, keep their wits about them, ears and eyes wide open.

These other drivers use the short cut from wherever to wherever at speed and could not possibly stop in an emergency if someone were in their path.

For several years now council has continually used Internally Restricted Funds (funds meant for specific purposes) to, each year, balance their books. The Act allows this as a last resort - Bega treats it as a normal accounting practice, as well as, each year, prematurely spending their Federal Operational Grant meant for the following year.

Included in restricted funds, according to council's annual report are surplus unspent funds from prior special rate increases for specific purposes.

Each quarter the financial report on council income and expenditure recommends abandoning millions of dollars of budgeted expenditure which would include mandatory asset maintenance.

A report is needed to clearly show the current state of existing asset maintenance given the continual quarterly alterations to budgeted maintenance.

Council continually votes to spend its Income on covering the shortfall in grant funding for new assets, which must be to the detriment of maintaining other assets.

The combination of this current approach to income and expenditure (despite a substantial rate increase) has council covering an ever-increasing general fund deficit of over $11million, by each year using funds meant for other purposes and probably with an ever-increasing backlog of asset maintenance.

This approach can lead to bankruptcy which makes it inevitable that the CEO's statement of a possible general rate increase every five years highly likely to avoid bankruptcy.

A complete review of council's operations and objectives is needed.

Australia's population has increased over 40 per cent since the year 2000, from around 19million to 27million. No wonder our natural world is suffering, through habitat loss and species extinctions, resource depletion and urban expansion.

Every extra person increases our greenhouse gas emissions. Sadly, no political party, other than Sustainable Australia Party, recognises the environmental impact caused by human population growth.

Without drastically reducing our immigration to equal emigration, the natural world will continue to decline, putting our future in more in doubt.