I have tried every remedy that has been handed from generations back to me.

Some of the fly deterrents that my golf partner and I have tried out are almost bordering on bizarre but when you are desperate you will try anything.

The list even includes WD40 and all the sprays on the current market.

And our latest solution is: One part citronella, one part metho and one part Dettol.

But still the land on us, is there anyone who has found the right stuff?

We have put men on the moon, surely someone must have a secret fly deterrent by now.

John Pronk, Wollongong

The government’s approval for a  rail line for the Adani project is another nail in the coffin of the beautiful Barrier Reef and the wealth it generates.

The  Barrier Reef is already under stress from a combination of climate change, storms (which are exacerbated by climate change), pollution and runoff.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science says half the reef has gone since 1985. This project would add to the climate change and pollution.  

Exactly 197 governments, including our very own, have signed up to a commitment to keep global warming to less than two degrees.

To do that we all have to cut CO2 emissions. But the coal from this Adani mine would generate triple the emissions of Australia’s entire passenger car fleet.

It would push India towards fossil fuel when it is in India’s own best interest to go renewable.

And if India develops coal power on a large scale we can forget about meeting the two degree target.

And that means the Barrier Reef would go and the climatic conditions facing Australian farmers would worsen significantly.  

We have  a poor record of making foreign owned mining companies pay for the resources they extract from Australia.

In 2014-2015, Chevron paid $248 tax on $1.7billion profit they extracted from the Gorgon project and no, I haven’t missed any zeroes.

Adani would do the same sort of profit shifting. Australia will get nothing from this mine but  the same short-term construction phase we got last mining boom – followed by decades of cost cutting, job shedding and low tax revenue, and at the end a huge remediation bill which Adani will evade paying.

Compared to other investment options, it is a very poor way of generating jobs and wealth.

This Adani coal project is a lose lose combination of the moral low ground and the economic low value add.

Rowan Huxtable, Mangerton

Motorist of the Illawarra and South Coast that use the Princes Highway at Albion Park Rail every day, who are sick of being  stuck in the traffic seven days a week, let's start  putting pressure on Gareth Ward.

By writing letters to the Illawarra Mercury and ringing his office and reminding him this is a swinging seat.

Last election he promised the bypass once the poles and wires were leased.

That's been done but still no money or starting date.

Rumour has it the RMS is waiting for the Baird government to sign off on the bypass, but unfortunately he can't find his pen.

However Premier Baird does not have any trouble signing off for projects around Sydney.

George Mercieca, Albion Park Rail