The money wasted on batts and $900 cash cheques etc could have been used to complete and upgrade a standard gauge, dual track rail line between Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Such a rail line would be capable of moving containers at 110km per hour.

The rail lines needed I believe a product produced by Whyalla’s troubled steelworks and could have been ordered and stockpiled immediately. There would be a need for Bluescope steel too.

We would remove thousands of trucks from our highways, reduce carbon emissions and enable hundreds of interstate truck drivers to change to local deliverers with great benefit to the truckies health and family well-being.

This is a much more important nation building project than an unaffordable very fast passenger train.

_Andrew Humphreys, Narrawallee

Talk about making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

Less than 50 per cent of the community could be bothered turning out to vote in Kiama’s amalgamation referendum, and Council has somehow twisted it into a resounding victory.

The reality is the No campaign has backfired, and no amount of spinning the numbers will change that.

If anything, Saturday’s poor turn-out will give the State Government greater encouragement to push on with its reforms.

The only people active in this campaign have been seniors and retirees with too much time on their hands – and, of course, those with a vested interest inside Council Chambers.

The majority of us with jobs, mortgages, kids and a myriad of other day-to-day concerns don’t care who collects the bins or fills the potholes, so long as it’s done efficiently and effectively.

Council had no mandate to spend ratepayer dollars on this one-sided, self-interested campaign, and Saturday's result was the proof of the pudding.

Those behind it now need to be held to account.

_Mark Bowmer, Kiama

On Tuesday night Treasurer Scott Morrison made history.

As $224 million was cut from the foreign aid budget, Australia officially became the least generous we have ever been, with less than a quarter of a percent of our total income going to overseas development.

While it is true charity begins at home, that's not where it should end.

I strongly believe that even when we are in a deficit we have the means to support vulnerable people in our own community and abroad.

_Joseph Thompson, Gerroa

How sad, to be hopeful that a break in is only about the cash not something more sinister. Omar Nemer and his crew are actively supporting the disadvantaged in our community.

We need more people like him and his family. They should be applauded not punished. And they make great food too.

_Rebecca Cusack, Woonona