Thanks for support
ON BEHALF of the members and staff of Sunflower House Clubhouse and Sunflower Family Services (programs of the Schizophrenia Fellowship of NSW), I would like to thank the Wagga community for their support in attending the Wagga Wagga Walk to Wellness, which took place on May 17 to promote Schizophrenia Awareness Week and to show community support for people living with mental illness.
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In particular, thanks to Tolland Foodworks, Kooringal Butchers, Wagga Fruit Market, Mater Dei High School student Rosie and teacher David Saxon, Riverina Water, FOSH committee members, Daryl Maguire, Dallas Tout, Custom Music, Stephen Trevaskis and guest speaker Joe Williams for their contributions. Thanks also to CSU football and netball clubs, the relatives, friends and carers and the volunteers who participated in the walk and helped make this such a successful event. We hope to see you all there again next year.
Mary McKenzie
Team leader – Sunflower House Clubhouse
Where’s the heart?
I am writing in response to the voxpop piece in a recent edition of your paper. Your question: “What do you think about Australian customs not retrieving the bodies of the asylum seekers who were in the boat capsized of Christmas Island?” is a truly shocking expression of some of the opinion current in Australian society at present. While it is unlikely that all Australians share these views, it is enough that even a few can be so ignorant and cruel. Especially considering that Australia is the most affluent nation in the world at the most affluent time in history!
Tim Read
Wagga
Pensioners not greedy
IN REPLY to Max Dyason ("Needy not greedy", Daily Advertiser) may I suggest he do a bit of research and think before he replied to my letter in which I suggested retiree couples with assets of $900,000 would have to live on $27,000pa, assuming a return of about 3 per cent on their money if investing cautiously. With regard to his comment that "a competent super fund should be returning more than the 3 per cent per annum", perhaps he should look at the government's Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (www.apr.gov.au) figures showing that over a five-year period, the 200 largest Australian super funds returned an average of 3.1 per cent.
Many retirees who invested with so-called expert financial advisors, backed by large banks, would have been very happy to receive such a return rather than losing everything. As to Mr Dyason's suggestion that couples having assets of $900,000 are "greedy", if expecting any government concessions, might I suggest to him that they are in that position because they have been prudent with their money while working and paying tax all their lives.
Dean Francis
Wagga
Moving with the times
The proposal to shift the HQ of the Grains R&D Corporation to Wagga Wagga deserves serious consideration. The long-term positives (decentralisation, increasing the professional “pull” for professional people to relocate to rural areas, developing careers in agriculture, boosting regional airline services, cheaper costs of living for GRDC employees) strongly outweigh the negatives (the temporary distraction of employees from their core business, the potential loss of experienced personnel). Congratulations to Barnaby Joyce and local member Michael McCormack for the their support of the proposal.