The last thing local families need right now is a crackpot billionaire spreading anti-vaccine lies and misinformation.

Clive Palmer should pulp his pamphlets, pack up his printer and ping off back to his canal-front mansion on the Gold Coast.

We have a serious situation to deal with.

We need to focus on the clear and credible health advice from our medical authorities.

This isn't all about you, Clive.

Shut the hell up. Let the medical experts do their job. Local families and businesses know you are not on their side.

Linda Harsen, the CEO of Palliative Care NSW announced that NSW Health had given an $82.08 million dollar budget boost to palliative care in the Western Sydney Local Health District.

One of the major funding targets is the provision of multi-disciplinary care to maintain patient well being and independence in the home.

Another major target is for the provision of volunteers, who have always been an integral part of palliative care.

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Miss Harsen said that volunteers are highly valued and absolutely necessary in the ongoing delivery of palliative care in NSW; a volunteer workforce of over 1700 members currently supports that care.

This is not a new initiative, volunteers in palliative care have been involved for over 20 years.

Apparently, it is a different story in the Southern Highlands where palliative care is delivered under the South Western Local Health District, where there are no volunteers in the palliative care service.

The State Government allocated one only palliative care bed in the hospital rebuild, despite one of the gaps identified in palliative care clearly demonstrated that not everyone can be cared for at home.

There are volunteers in the emergency services and various community services, so why are there none in palliative care in the Southern Highlands?

Clearly those advocating for improved services for people who are dying here, have not got the message across to the State Government.

Re: Residents in a stink over Bowral Waste Centre odour (SHN June 21)

We have been greatly affected by this as well as many mornings we can't go outside as the stench is so bad.

With all doors and windows locked it still gets in the house.

We live very close to the BWC and were never consulted on the development plans during our six years of being here.

Justice please.

The experience people are having world-wide of social distancing and isolation due to COVID-19 has highlighted the lived experience of all the people around the world with disabilities and chronic conditions who live that way every day, and have done for years or decades.

There are millions and millions of people around the world living with varying degrees of the debilitating Chronic Immunological and Neurological Diseases (CIND) called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Fibromyalgia (FM), Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) and chronic Lyme Disease.

In the past year, the terms long-COVID and COVID-19 long-haulers have described people who have had COVID-19 and haven't recovered to their pre-virus level of health.

Some of these people will go on to be diagnosed with ME/CFS, FM or MCS.

May was the month when people around the world come together to raise awareness of these conditions. International ME/CFS, FM and MCS Awareness Day was May 12.

During that month the 350-plus members of the Wollongong ME/CFS/FM Support Group were represented through activities and awareness efforts.

Our website at www.mecfsfmwollongong.org highlights information about the conditions as well as our monthly Support Group Meetings and Café Clubs.

When sourcing firewood this winter, please ask yourself - are you burning their homes to warm yours?

I'm referring to all those Aussie animals that need tree hollows and mature trees to live, breed and forage in. These trees are usually 120 yrs or older.

Government websites tell us that almost all of Australia's parrots, including cockatoos and lorikeets, use tree hollows for nesting. The loss of woodland birds in SE Australia has been linked to firewood harvesting. In NSW alone, about 290 vertebrate species use tree hollows or utilise dead trees as nest sites.Even tiny cup shaped hollows can be homes for micro-bats and small birds.

If you source your own wood it's easy to select some fallen timber and leave hollows. People should note that it's illegal to source from Travelling Stock Reserves, council lands or bush blocks without owners permission.

If you purchase wood can you be certain where it came from? Question the supplier. Was it sustainably harvested from plantation timber? Was it purpose grown ? Or did it come from felling native woodland trees or threatened species habitat ?

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