Helping the vulnerable
On behalf of myself, Red Cross Trauma Teddy and hundreds of children and vulnerable people who will find comfort and a smile with a Red Cross Trauma Teddy, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude and thanks to the many amazing crafty individuals who volunteered to stuff, sew, finish and become trauma teddy knitters.
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Your passion and enthusiasm to do good for others is valued and so needed by our communities. Thanks also to the Bendigo Advertiser for sharing the story.
Danielle Kelly, Bendigo
Cool heads must prevail
Early in the week US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson prudently talked of the possibility for dialogue if North Korea stopped its test missile launches. Then Donald Trump waded in, ramping up the threat level, talking of "fire and fury" if North Korea continued to threaten the United States.
Pyongyang has only said it will respond if attacked by the US; it is not threatening a first strike. But it continues with its tests.
Meanwhile the US's ICBM testing, military exercises and arms build-up in South Korea persist.
Any conflict would threaten the lives of 30,000 South Koreans close to the border in the first few days, with many more to follow.
We urgently need wiser diplomatic heads to intervene.
Dr Margaret Beavis, Medical Association for Prevention of War
Two sides to the debate
Same-sex marriage activists are worried about “hate” and harm.
Me too. I'm worried that if I say anything against using the word “marriage” when it comes to the union of gays, I will be called homophobic, a bigot, gay hater, draconian, outdated etc.
Let's wait and see who starts the bullying first.
Peter Lesuey, Kennington
‘Dispute’ diverts attention
Once again we are seeing the Coalition’s trademark in action; divide the country, and to hell with the consequences.
It has started already courtesy of Tony Abbott, Australia's record holder of broken promises, who has come out and declared that he is going to do everything possible to scuttle this "Mickey Mouse" non-binding, non-compulsory, postal vote.
Everybody is entitled to an opinion, but this proposal is the worst possible way of solving this "dispute" because now until November we are going to witness the mother of all arguments on a daily basis in the public domain.
Everything else is going to be put on the back burner worse than it is now, and it simply should not be happening, if this government had any intestinal fortitude at all.
It is not a matter of supporting one side or another, the government should be doing what they are paid to do, making decisions, not handballing into the too hard basket to the public.
This is not decision-making, this is the taxpayer funding an entrenched LNP policy idea, nothing more and nothing less, and causing one hell of a blue along the way.
At the moment we have politicians not going to the High Court, then they are, and anybody who can understand Malcolm Roberts should be awarded a PhD because he makes about as much sense as his leader, and frankly this decision does as well.
Malcolm Turnbull seems to be always saying when it hits the fan, that it is always robust debate. Well, this robust debate has the risk factor of getting totally out of hand, dividing people totally unnecessarily, with the long-term effects lasting far longer than the declaration of this poll, or an eventual vote in the parliament, where it should have been held in the first place.
Surely everyone is entitled to live their life as they please.
Life is difficult enough, without another conflict between ourselves.