I read in the Sydney press, that our Glad (The Premier) has received and I quote "overwhelming support from the regions" for council mergers.

I have spoken to people from all over, Tumbarumba, Orange, Wellington, Cowra, Gundagai, Young, Harden and Cootamundra to name a few and have not had one person express favour for these mergers.

I would like to know if the premier did in fact receive this support? And if so who from?

The recent ground-breaking conviction of a Sydney Fish Market trader for cruelty is being celebrated by compassionate people around the world. 

All animals deserve protection from cruel treatment and painful death.

Crustaceans were added to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act in 1997 after it was medically proven that they feel pain.

The incident recorded on film last week showed the trader holding a struggling lobster down on a chopping board before chopping off his tail with a butcher's knife, which doesn't kill the animal but causes agonising pain, according to the RSPCA. The remainder of the animal was then fed into a band saw. A fine was imposed on the spot, but the company chose to take the matter to court. The company was then convicted of an act of animal cruelty and handed a $1500 fine at the Downing Centre Court.

While this case may cause the industry to think twice before abusing crustaceans, other sea creatures are still routinely subject to appalling suffering and agonising deaths. No Australian laws regulate the treatment of fish caught or raised for their flesh, and both commercial fishers and fish factory farms treat these animals in ways that would warrant cruelty-to-animals charges if the victims were dogs or cats.

Fish who are ripped from the ocean suffer from rapid decompression, which can cause their swim bladders to rupture, their eyes to pop out of their heads, or their stomachs to be forced through their mouths. Then they're tossed onto a ship, where many are crushed to death or slowly suffocate. Others are still alive when they are cut open.

On fish factory farms, tens or even hundreds of thousands of fish are confined to cramped, filthy enclosures, and parasitic infections, diseases and debilitating injuries are rampant. It is time that all animals were given the basic rights to live and die without humans adding pain for the sake of profit.

The proposed law to legalise “Same-Sex Marriage” is dishonestly worded.

Even its title, “Marriage Amendment (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill”, is a deception.

The term “Same-Sex”, in this context, is meaningless – intentionally so.

“Sex” is something defined in terms of anatomical structures – chromosomes within body cells, genital organs, breasts, whiskers etc. – definable things.

“Gender” is more about how you feel and identify (at least for the moment) — which is un-definable.

Gender-talk is complicated by endless arbitrary variations and name-confusions.

A while back, Facebook was listing up to 58 “gender” identities for customers to choose between. If this bill ever passes, pressure will immediately be applied to expand it to include transgender-identifiers.

Realistically it won’t be “Same-Sex Marriage” it will be “Same-Sex-And/Or-Today’s-Choice-Of-Gender-Label Marriage”.

Isn’t the whole project a plot against personal responsibility and an insult to everybody’s intelligence?