Let's invite Sam to the Muster!

WITH the unsolicited ongoing fun and mention of Gympie by Sam Pang, who is now "paying attention,” has the Muster executive sent an official invitation to Sam? It would be worth the investment and a great PR exercise.

G. Penrose,

Gympie

KEEP READING FOR MORE LETTERS

Hospital care was first class

ON JULY 24, I had need to attend the outpatients at Gympie Hospital. I would like to thank Dr Armin Tadj and all the staff, firstly for being so through and the care I was given on the day, this was first class.

Keith Smith,

Gympie

KEEP READING FOR MORE LETTERS

Help our homeless

HOMELESS Person's Week runs from August 7-13.

Currently there are over 105,000 homeless people in Australia, 44,000 of which are under the age of 25, Homeless Person's Week aims to raise awareness for those doing it tough.

One in five homeless people seeking assistance are being turned away from vital, emergency accommodation services.

In modern Australia, these statistics are alarming and there is a lot of work to be done to fix this.

Homeless Person's week raises awareness of these figures in the hopes of gaining support for this significant issue.

People often only see homelessness as those sleeping and begging on the streets, but we need to ensure that our invisible homeless people are taken care of.

Homelessness is all around us. People who are forced to couch surf, sleep in cars or those who just don't have a home to return to every night are the invisible homeless. It is often convenient for us to forget or ignore them but these people need our help.

Now in its fourth year, our campaign #laceitup aims to bring awareness and funds to fight homelessness. Purchasing these laces and wearing them during homeless person's week reminds us that taking off our shoes is a luxury. Many homeless young people need to leave their shoes on in case they have to flee for safety and to stop thieves from taking their shoes.

I implore everyone to stop and consider not only homeless Australians sleeping rough on the streets, but to think about how we can also help our invisible homeless.

Homelessness is a nationwide issue that affects everyone and only by working together can we tackle this concerning issue.

Father Chris Riley,

CEO Youth Off The Streets

KEEP READING FOR MORE LETTERS

Record support

THE Palaszczuk Government understands the valuable and selfless contribution that emergency service volunteers make to Queensland.

Tthe 2017-18 Queensland State Budget has record funding to support our emergency services volunteers by providing the resources and equipment they need to keep Queenslanders safe.

Our support for our emergency volunteers includes, among other things $30.1 million for our dedicated Rural Fire Service volunteers to replace and renew their fleet of fire fighting vehicles; $17 million over three years for Surf Life Saving Queensland; $1.95 million for subsidies to local governments to support the operation of the State Emergency Service; further funding to assist the SES, including $712,000 in grants to help with the cost of acquisition and maintenance of facilities, vehicles and flood boats.

Mark Ryan,

Police Minister (Abridged)