WORKER SUPPORT ESSENTIAL
All essential workers who worked through the pandemic in a face-fronting (not a working from home) role deserve a pay bonus.
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They/we held up society during the pandemic and many are still holding things up now.
Life has changed. It is harder. In community services our workforce is tired and we are drained.
Some of us stayed open and we adapted to an anything but business as usual kind of way.
We lost our peers in the vaccine war of so-called freedom fight and we did their work as well when they lost their jobs.
It's easy to feel anger at pay rises and pay bonuses that do not include us. It is undervaluing. We are too tired to fight as individuals and it seems like no one cares or is willing to represent us.
What if we walked off the job. Would anyone care, given that our work only targets the vulnerable?
This world of individualism and society that excludes disadvantage must change.
We all need to matter and we all need to be represented and supported - in this case financially.
Name and address withheld
PAYING THE PRICE FOR SELL-OFF
How smart were the present and previous state premiers when they all decided at about the same time to sell off the power stations and accompanying infrastructure.
They reaped the benefit of all those millions of dollars and in doing so passed the responsibility now of providing cheap and reliable power over to the federal government, after the successful bidders for privatisation failed to deliver.
The situation that we are in now, I believe, would not be as dire if the states had continued to be the sole providers of electricity, with the governments and general public adopting the attitude of "she'll be right mate".
History shows us that all is not right and we are all suffering financial hardship, (not only at the bowser, that's another story) but at the power box as well.
Stan Spink, East Maitland
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HONOUR OUR HEALTH HEROES
The majority of Australians are touched by the impact of mental health in some way and there is no doubt that the past few years have been some of the most challenging in recent history.
Many live with the daily burden of anxiety or depression, or care for a loved one. Too many in our communities have been lost.
There are thousands of people working tirelessly to make a difference to the mental health of Australians and they should be recognised for their leadership.
This is the goal of the Australian Mental Health Prize, established by UNSW Sydney to acknowledge those who are doing innovative work in areas such as advocacy, research or community service.
Nominations are now open and we strongly encourage people across the country to help us to honour the mental health heroes in your community.
This year, the prize has expanded the nomination categories for the first time.
More information and nomination forms can be obtained from www.australianmentalhealthprize.org.au Entries close on August 1.
For those who are living with the burden of mental illness every day, thank you for your support.
Lucy Brogden AM and Professsor Allan Fels OA, Co-chairs of the Australian Mental Health Prize Advisory Group
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