This amount, however, is small compared with a near neighbour whose increase was more than 17 per cent.

Did the council mean that they were seeking an increase of five per cent in rate revenue rather than individual increases of five per cent?

I appeal to the council to tell us the whole story in simple terms rather than try to hide the unpleasant truth behind general statements.

Did anyone have increases of less than five per cent to compensate for those that were well over this amount?

The singer in this group is a very talented lady whom we have all met in her various roles in town.

Add her bubbly enthusiasm to a group of talented guitarists and drummer and we get real live music to enjoy.

Watch out for the next concert at the club and come along and enjoy something special with local talent.

He was watching TV with my late son Robert Ferguson when an advertisement about the cleaning product Toilet Duck came on.

He said to Robert: “That’s what I’m going to call my business The Duck Corporation.

“There is no job too tough for The Duck and I can duck in here and there.”

Dave has helped so many people and we were pleased to give him a place to stay when he needed it.

The facts haven’t changed. On 20 May 1989 martial law was declared and 250,000 armed troops entered Beijing.

At 1am on 4 June 1989 Chinese soldiers and police stormed protestors in Tiananmen Square firing live rounds into the crowd leaving hundreds dead. Many more died on the surrounding streets.

No doubt some protestors did attack their tormentors but why wouldn’t they? Leaders worldwide condemned the action, and Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev who was in Beijing at the time was scathing in his criticism.

Rewriting history is a common ploy by those seeking to undermine society and Stirling Hamilton’s motives for massaging 30-year old history are questionable.

The Toodyay Herald, by affording Stirling Hamilton a vehicle to promote his jaundiced and questionable political views, is doing the community a disservice and it could be accused of endorsing Mr Hamilton’s extremely unpatriotic views.

China is no longer a friend. Before President Xi Jinping’s rule, China was a communist dictatorship; but it was a functioning institution, had limited terms for its leader and it allowed policies to be contested internally and we all knew where we stood.

It is now staring down the rest of the world and is isolated with a despotic leader whose every thought, wish and suggestion must be followed without question. Its leadership is isolated and surrounded by an oligarchy with a singular imperative – to please President Xi by confirming the infallibility of his every decision and statement and demonstrating total aggression in the service of the leader’s ideology.

President Xi has decided that Australia is irredeemably part of the US-led alliance system and at the same time an important regional nation in its own right. He wants therefore not just to punish Australia but to permanently damage us and reduce our power. It is not something we should be defending in our local paper.

The current member for Durack, Melissa Price, was a resources industry lawyer.

When Ms Price had the role of Environment Minister there was widespread criticism of her attitude to climate change and her lack of comment on the environment during the most recent Federal Election.

As Helen Shanks says, we need better representation if we are to have some chance of bringing a more balanced view to development across the whole Avon region.

At the moment there seems to be an inexorable trend to approve any application for extraction industries, no matter the consequences.

Resistance by individuals or local councils is to no avail as the final approval is given by the State Government.

Community groups such as Safe and Scenic Toodyay Road can only do so much with limited time and resources. Other forces are needed to counteract the lobbying of mining and rubbish disposal industries.

Representation by someone at a Federal level who understands the importance of the environment would be a good start to achieving a more balanced development plan for the Avon region.

We have to thank two rangers who responded quickly to my call and removed the large animal.

I intend to report the incident to the police and although I appreciate that kangaroos can be shot on one’s own property there seems little need to shoot defenceless animals on bush blocks.

Kangaroos are generally docile and friendly. We have around 20 regular visitors and only once in 15 years have we had to humanely shoot a completely feral one.

We are almost certain that the kangaroo which was shot was one that visited us regularly.
I would like to meet the person who destroyed this animal in an unimaginable way.

Why did the person decide it was necessary to kill the kangaroo or, worse still, was it done for ‘fun’?

We would like to thank the staff from Collier Café Caterers; the food was delicious and nothing was too much trouble.

Also, thanks to Toodyay Bakery for the two beautifully decorated cakes; one for Mike and the other for our lovely granddaughter Charlie who chose to cut her 21st cake two weeks early with her ‘dida’ on his special day. Many thanks also to our rellies who supplied the very yummy Croatian treats.

We had a wonderful day with family and friends in the most beautiful setting overlooking the surrounding hills, and I would like to mention that we have received many messages praising the venue and food.

Joe’s claim of $28 billion benefit to industry is one regularly aired, though the oil and gas component (as relevant to fracking) of some $10 billion, is of most relevance.

The vast majority of funding in this supposed bounty for the oil and gas industry is composed of fuel tax credit schemes, in other words a reduction of the taxes owed to the government by fuel suppliers.

The intent of these programs is not to shovel money into the coffers of oil companies; the concessional rates for aviation fuel excise, for instance, makes air travel cheaper for everyday Australians.

So the subsidy actually goes to airlines, tourism and a host of related enterprises.

Our farmers and many other businesses similarly benefit from diesel fuel rebates.

To cut such supports would immediately raise energy prices to these operations – flowing through to increases in many other commodities – without necessarily having any financial impact on oil and gas suppliers.

I readily acknowledge that targeted fuel excise discounts may be seen as encouraging continued reliance on fossil fuels but to claim that they represent windfall benefit to oil companies at huge cost to the taxpayer is surely a stretch.

And ‘Gas bandits get trillions’?

Seriously?

As something of an aside, the hostility towards fracking by community groups such as the CWA and local primary industry organisations can hardly be considered convincing for Joe’s case given their exposure to relentless and alarmist polemic opposing fossil fuels.

Perhaps also, they have not considered that alternative renewable energy sources must themselves be heavily subsidised to compete, as well as having environmental impacts which are yet to be fully appreciated.

No thinking person opposes the development of renewable energy technology and its progressive introduction as the foundation of our future developmental needs.

The country’s level of reliance on fossil fuels in its energy planning is a complex yet serious matter and our national decisions should be based on a balanced and responsible review of the situation.

I can’t see that Joe’s analysis has helped in this regard.