Despite this, our Premier and Prime Minister (I cannot call them leaders), refuse to even encourage people to wear masks or even isolate.

If the Premier and Prime Minister don't know what to do about fixing the problem and saving lives, they should hand the problem over to people who care.

I write to alert Centrelink clients, especially pensioners, of a new scam which purports to come from Centrelink. The phone message sounds urgent and tells people that they have not replied to a letter telling them of a pension rise and that all of their information has been sent to the Canberra head office and gives a phone number to call.

The phone number is not in any way like a usual Centrelink number, however the urgency of the tone of the caller could alarm people into calling the number given.

Centrelink does not "cold call" as far as I know. I have reported this apparent scam to Scamwatch but I would appreciate you publicising this attempt to confuse and, indeed, alarm people which could lead to distress and financial loss should they call the number and give any personal details.

I suggest that Parliament can implement the Indigenous Voice now by simply setting up a permanent Joint Parliamentary Committee consisting of all 10 Indigenous federal members representing First Nations people to advise the government on Indigenous policy. It should be headed by the Minister for Indigenous Australians.

The committee should have an appropriate secretariat and the National Indigenous Australians Agency should provide it with the same level of advice on whole-of-government priorities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that it provides to the Prime Minister and the Minister for Indigenous Australians. It could be replicated at state and territory level.

These committees could provide an effective demonstration of how the Indigenous Voice works and, I believe, would strongly encourage a positive response from the overall Australian community to the forthcoming referendum.

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The long-awaited State of the Environment report has been released, and it issues the Code Red warning for our environment. Australia has been reported to have lost more mammal species than any other continent, with at least 19 ecosystems showing signs of collapse or near collapse. Climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, pollution and mining were identified as major causes for the significant decline of our native species.

This report is grim, and it is our wake up call. The human world is not separate from the natural world; we rely on the environment for food, water, air and natural resources. The Labor government needs act swiftly to strengthen and enforce environmental laws, provide significant funding to aid protection and recovery of the environment and to decarbonise our economy and society as rapidly as possible.

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