Jason, himself a veteran, is already well known and active with this community having founded the Defence Shed in Edward Street which, for a modest membership fee, offers a friendly drop-in environment as well as access to equipment and classes in welding, carpentry, 3D printing and laser scanning/cutting.

They will soon add bee keeping to their repertoire!

The shed's activities and location will be transferred to the Pro Patria Centre at some point when the lease on the Edward Street site expires.

However, plans for the new centre well exceed this kind of social support with a wide range of treatment, training and experiences to be offered.

The Pro Patria Centre is housed in the former Carmelite Monastery which itself has a historic link to Wagga's servicemen and women as evinced by the bronze sculpture depicting a soldier, sailor, nurse and aviator which features on its external walls.

The building still includes a beautiful, consecrated chapel that will offer services once a month. A non-denominational space for quite reflection and meditation is also planned for an adjacent area.

In addition, treatments designed to provide relief to veterans and first responders suffering from PTSD, anxiety and depression will be offered.

These will range from psychology and psychiatry appointments to hyperbaric chamber, transcranial magnetic stimulation and oxygen therapies.

Pro Patria will also host music and nutrition/cooking classes and, in partnership with Erin Erath, raise organic produce and cultivate a sensory garden.

To say I was impressed is an understatement. The monastery was proactive in supporting Wagga's service personnel, particularly our Vietnam veterans, and Pro Patria (which mean 'for one's country') will continue this valuable tradition by providing proven treatments and holistic services to the community.

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Where has Norman Alexander been living for the last three years? Under a toadstool with all the other disappointed fairies?

Scott Morrison left the country while the coast burnt for a jolly jaunt in Hawaii. Who can forget the picture of him with a cheeky grin while he was having a few bevies with the boys and making some idiotic sign with his fingers. Tragically, he did not look clever, just stupid. And all those citizens with an ounce of the sense of national decorum squirmed in their outdoor chairs.

Anyway, on to Albanese. The trips he has taken, Norman, is to restore the lost art of Australian international diplomacy. Straight after he had the election in the bag, flying up to Tokyo to shore up the alliance of democratic nations against the provocations of a militant China. And at the time of writing, winging his way in his nice batik shirt bringing home the bacon of better trade with Indonesia. No boozy photos with the lads - just a developing statesman out to make a difference in our neighbourhood of the Indo-Pacific region concerned with the impositions of a hungry, fascist China.

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