Congratulations to our Letter of the Week winner, Greg Clark from Woodend, who sent us his thoughts on a significant discussion to emerge during eastern Australia's bushfire emergency.
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From here in central Victoria, the deaths and losses of hundreds of properties across our state and New South Wales are devastating to witness.
We can only guess what it has been like to live through.
Greg's letter touched on the issue of compensation for volunteer firefighters who have been absent from their day jobs and families for weeks on end.
Ask most volunteers and they will tell you they are not interested in money.
They volunteer because they want to serve their community, to help those in need.
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But also ask most volunteers about the time they give, the need for their services and the personal toll it takes, and they will tell you that it is hard yakka.
As Greg noted in his letter, the infrastructure saved by these volunteers is worth so much to the community.
The question of compensation, or even pay, for these volunteers also sheds light on the issue of the sustainability of volunteer firefighting forces.
The changing climate is clearly putting them under enormous strain.
The season is longer, the fires are more dangerous, the work is more intense than ever.
The comments made this week by central Victorian crews returning from East Gippsland are further evidence of just how testing the work is for a firefighter under these conditions.
For those not in the line of fire, one of the questions to ponder this week was how best to respond.
For plenty of letter writers this week, using fireworks to ring in the new year was distasteful while so much of the country burns.
The instinct at a time like this is to help, and the agencies leading that response say that cash, rather than food or goods, is the most effective type of donation.