Qantas will not be much cheaper than Rex. The Rex times were fantastic, people had choices of three flights a day and could go up and down in one day.

I do not believe Qantas will service this region any better and in fact I can see the flights being reduced to just one a day as well... time will be the judge.

I'm looking forward to major operation like Qantas. Will they introduce flights to Canberra?

I wanted to write this in the hope that the fantastic person/persons who found my wallet near Merimbula Newsagency on Wednesday, September 30 will read this.

Thank you so much for your trouble and honesty in taking it to the Merimbula Police Station. I wish I could thank you in person which would be more appropriate. Your actions have saved me much time and effort in replacing cards, licence etc. Many, many, many thanks.

On Tuesday, September 29, Labor MP Kristy McBain said on ABC radio she was meeting Minister Littleproud seeking spending on bushfire mitigation for upgrading evacuation centres in Bega, Bermagui and Eden.

Three days later she was online complaining Bega Valley Shire has missed out.

Let me remind Ms McBain: as a Bega Valley Shire councillor of eight years, four years as mayor, her council blocked most requests for bushfire mitigation, mostly for 'environmental' reasons.

Under mayor McBain, council failed completely in the first stage of bushfire management, namely to reduce risk. This failure includes not learning from and responding to the Tathra fire of March 2018, ignoring the council's own Bush Fire Risk Management Plan where a commitment is given to protect life and property, failing to train council staff in assessing fuel loads and implement management plans on vulnerable areas.

It should be noted that an earlier inquiry into major bushfires in Victoria showed that for every $100 spent on recovery, only $5 was spent on preparation and prevention.

Fuel loads on council managed land adjacent to residential areas are still as high as 20 tonnes per hectare - four times what's recommended by the RFS.

Far from directing scarce ratepayer resources to reduce risk, mayor McBain instead gave priority to a communication unit promoting her own personal profile.

To everyone who uses the exit driveways of the Catholic Church, the Museum/Scout Hall and the exit to Main St Medical Centre.

I am writing this as it is impossible to see if there is any traffic coming. The driveways to all these places need to have two No Parking signs either side of them

If something isn't done a terrible accident is waiting to happen. Do we wait?

I am disappointed to see Kristy McBain already starting to 'play politics' by distorting the truth and making claims she knows are false. We in Eden-Monaro are included in the Regional Recovery Partnerships despite her suggestions that we have missed out because we have a Labor MP.

The $100 million the Liberal/National government announced to support recovery and growth in 10 regions across Australia (three in NSW) included one region in Eden-Monaro. The regions were selected from the five Special Activation Precincts in the State. Two of the three regions in NSW that will receive this funding are Labor seats, including our own. This shows that the Liberal/National government is not being partisan in the allocation of these funds.

Eden-Monaro will receive $10 million, a third of the $30 million funding that will come to the whole of NSW from this package. This again shows that the Liberal/National government is not politicising the allocation of these funds, unlike Kristy McBain.

It is a pity she didn't mention that in addition to the new funding under the Regional Recovery Partnerships program, Eden-Monaro is receiving $1.6 billion of other funding from the federal government from a range of other existing programs. There is already almost $160m of bushfire relief paid or committed, plus funding for COVID relief and more coming.

The announcement of Eden-Monaro's inclusion in the Regional Recovery Partnerships program also said that there will be more funding coming this year to support recovery in regions. This includes funding for those highly dependent on tourism and additional funding under the Building Better Regions program. I spoke with mayors across Eden-Monaro and all recognised that they were ineligible for the SAP funding and anticipate additional funding coming to Eden-Monaro under these programs.

Kristy also knows that every commitment I made in the 2019 general election has been honoured by the Liberal/National government despite Labor's Mike Kelly being elected as the local member.

I say to Kristy, if councils and I know from reading publicly available material that a third of the funds from the Regional Recovery Partnerships are coming to this electorate, you do too. Play with a straight bat. Don't play cheap politics.

Dr Fiona Kotvojs, Dignams Creek