A proposal to ensure permanent protection of the Kalang Headwaters is underway in the form of 'The Headwaters Conservation Reserve Proposal'. Please get behind this proposal when it's released and, in the meantime, we need your help to protect the forests from logging within the Kalang Headwaters. Please support the campaign in any way you feel comfortable. Write letters to MPs, attend the weekly meetings at the Youth Hub on Mondays 5 pm, join the media team or the fundraising committee, attend the vigil or raise awareness of the sacredness of nature in your own way.

Kathryn Edmunds, Bellingen

I live at the end of Sunny Corner Road Bellingen and request Forestry Corporation to immediately stop logging in Gladstone State Forest. Forestry Corporation's email to Kalang residents indicated "While Scotchman and Roses Creek State Forests have not been impacted by recent fires, they are not far from fires in the landscape and a change in conditions could create an extreme risk for people in these forests."

I can assure you that living next to Gladstone State Forest is also dangerous and we are not far from fires. In fact I evacuated from my home on 12-13 November due to the Kian Rd bushfire 25 km away. Gladstone State Forest is no more safe than Scotchman and Roses Creek Forests, so the no logging and no works rule should apply to Gladstone State Forest as well. Therefore Forestry must not be working in this forest or anywhere else until fires are completely out.

Francisa Miller, Bellingen

The smoke is thick today in Bellingen as I write to demand that the The Hon. Paul Toole, MP Minister for Lands and Forestry Minister calls an "Immediate Moratorium on Logging in Fire Threatened Areas ".

Earlier this month, Forestry Corporation closed all state forests because of "the demands on its staff to fight fires". It was clearly stated that this meant closures of all forests from Wingham to the Qld border, and it was clearly stated these closures included Sunny Corner.

Bellingen community with fires encroaching from the north and the south bunkered down, with many leaving businesses and work to volunteer to help neighbours or to fight fires and many residents relocating families and pets to the beach. The anxiety and fear were palpable!

Imagine community shock when a fully laden log truck was spotted at Hospital Hill with trucks working out of Sunny Corner Gladstone Forest on November 10. Yet again, an example of the corporation's contempt for the safety of the Bellingen community. Easy to understand that in these mad, dry conditions one spark from a chainsaw or any heavy machinery could ignite Sunny Corner with horrible implications.

The Bellingen community has every reason to believe that logging anywhere there is a fire threat is absolutely unacceptable under these brutal and tragic conditions. The NSW Government must step up and put safety before greed for everyone in our besieged communities including Forestry workers.

Caroline Joseph, Bellingen

Due to Level 4 Water Restriction being now in force, Bellingen Shire Council and water operators are capping the taps at fish cleaning tables in the lower river areas. Lack of running water could lead to lack of hygiene on these tables and users are requested to bucket water from the river to thoroughly clean the tables. This practice would be advisable at all times throughout the year in all areas of the mid north coast as river water is more abundant than tap water. Your cooperation is much appreciated.

Wal Tyson, Urunga Anglers Club

Urunga CWA Branch will be celebrating its 90th birthday on February 14th 2020 at the Ocean View Hotel Morgo Street Urunga from 10.30am. This is the same venue that hosted the 1930 inaugural meeting which saw the creation of our Branch led by Mrs Stanley Wilson, founding President. Our current members are looking for former members and the descendants of founding members and their families to help celebrate this momentous event. Contact Mrs Annette Rieper - email urungacwa1@gmail.com or C/- The CWA Rooms 35 Morgo Street Urunga NSW 2455.

Margaret Grice Little, Urunga CWA

I can't believe there are complaints about camping along the foreshore at Urunga. This town needs tourism badly to survive. The free campers spend money in this little town at clubs, pub and supermarkets. The campers are well out of the way and view of the locals so why the complaints. I am sure the local business community appreciate their custom.

Dirk De Bakker, Urunga

Quietly, in line with a creeping trend in the Morrison government, Australia has been taken to a new low regarding its treatment of the remaining refugees in Port Moresby. All these men arrived on our shores having escaped traumatic circumstances in the countries from which they'd fled. On arrival, instead of being welcomed, they were placed in detention on Manus Island, where they have been trapped for years, for many, almost seven years

As if this were not enough, 47 of these tormented men are now confined in Bomana Prison, a facility built by the Morrison government at a taxpayer cost of some $22 million and run by Australians. These poor men are being effectively tortured: barely fed, denied medical and legal help, and refused visitors and any contact with the outside world, including their own families. No wonder they have suffered rapid weight loss in their short time here. Their only way out is apparently by accepting refoulement - evidently the unstated strategy (Dutton?). This, of course, is in clear breach of the UN Universal Declaration for Human Rights.

At a recent Senate Estimates hearing, Craig Furini, head of the Operation Sovereign Borders, claimed no knowledge of this. Challenged by Senator Nick McKim, however, he admitted he 'hasn't bothered to check' conditions at Bomani.

This is happening in our names. We have a right to know, at the very least.

Suzanne Ferris, Bellingen