I hope the Aboriginal land owners do not give in to pressure for access to their land.

Please keep what you own before it is too late, do not let people nibble away at it as has happened in the past.

During construction of any sort, soil is moved, vehicles come and go and bring weeds and plant diseases on their wheels or foot traffic, bad diseases such as Phytophthora the Cinnamon fungus which is rampant in parts of the south-east and toxic to many local species that grow in this area.

Buildings and roads come next, then the excuse of fire protection will be used to impact in various ways on vegetation - and so it goes on.

People saved the Franklin River in Tasmania. Let us save the South Coast of NSW, as there is less and less natural bushland in good condition left.

RELATED COVERAGE

Maybe there needs to be an investigation into why 44 per cent of the house fires - according to Fire and Rescue NSW firefighters (BDN, 22/7) - didn't have a working smoke alarm.

My concern is that anecdotally a lot of people have turned their alarms off as they constantly go off.

I have changed the smoke alarms three times in five years since I've lived in my current house and finally in total exasperation I have had to disconnect them. Apparently this is quite common, which concerns me.

I have rung the local fire brigade for advice and also the fire and rescue community engagement hotline. Neither replied to my concerns.

The manufacturers claims its because bugs get into them but they are not designed to pull apart to clean, so this seems like a design flaw.

I am also worried that my insurance company "may not" cover me if the smoke alarms don't work and my house burns down.

This is a serious problem for which I don't have an answer.

Homelessness Week is taking place from August 1-7 this year, and across the country, in towns and cities, individuals and families will sleep in garages, cars, or on a mattress on the floor with their friends or family.

Some for the first time due to the destructive floods in NSW.

Everyone has the right to a safe place to call home. But skyrocketing rents put safe and stable accommodation out of reach for more and more people.

Regional rents are now 18 per cent higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, while rents in capital cities have increased 14.7 per cent over the past 12 months.

At Mission Australia we welcome the Federal Government's focus on housing and homelessness.

Their commitment to invest in 30,000 new social and affordable homes will bring relief to many in need - but with 150,000 households on the social housing waiting list, much more is needed.

The government has also committed to developing a national plan to end homelessness.

This plan must touch on all policy areas that impact housing and homelessness and be resourced to deliver meaningful action.

People with lived experience of homelessness need to be part of it.

This is a real opportunity to shape a future where all of us have a safe home and can thrive. We can't waste it.

Earlier this year I chose to put a 'Climate Action Now' corflute on my mailbox. Despite the corflute being secured with cable ties someone chose to remove it.

What has really annoyed and saddened me is that choices of an individual are well and truly dead in Australia, you can no longer have a belief or opinion without fear of vandalism, threat to property or at worst threat to personal safety.

I made a conscious choice to reside in this beautiful country influenced strongly by the 'fair go' attitude.

Respect my belief that we need Climate Action Now!

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