I'm happy for him to have more leisure and family time, but I feel sadness that such a respected member of the medical profession has gone. Professor Denham oversaw my prostate cancer treatment some years ago with very positive results He is softly spoken, but with a voice that commands attention and instils confidence at the same time. He will be sorely missed but leaves a great legacy at the Mater's oncology unit.

On behalf of your many thousands of oncology patients, happy retirement, Professor.

I FELT a little the same way as Suzanne Martin (Letters, 11/12) when she wrote that she was saddened that the true meaning of Christmas had been lost. Really, even though many may not know it, the very word Christmas comes from two words - Christ and mass.

Also, Santa Claus is derived from a Russian saint - Saint Nicholas - who gave out gifts to children on Christmas Day. So, Ms Martin, even though many people may not know it I believe Christmas is being celebrated in the true meaning.

JUST what is it that John Pritchard (Letters, 20/12) puts into his red bin? Our red bin is lucky to be half full when it gets collected, and if it's a bit smelly you learn to hold your breath when opening the lid.

I've never seen a maggot anywhere near it, but then again I don't make in-depth studies of the internals. I'd rather smell the roses than stand there with the lid open.

The green bin was a way for people to put their compostable material in and get it picked up weekly. Once again, using a garden compost heap we're lucky to put the green bin out fortnightly. We got a smaller bucket with lid for the green bags and keep it in the fridge until it's full. We then put that in the freezer. When we have a few of these, I put the green bin out or put them in the neighbour's green bin. Less truck stops also limits environmental impact.

It's not rocket science, if you ask me. It just requires rethinking and retraining both of which won't shorten the lifespan.

THIS summer we are urging men to make the right call. From 2009 to 2019, 2855 people lost their lives to drowning. An overwhelming 2262 were male.

837 drownings happened in inland waterways and 287 involved alcohol.

We want to highlight to readers that everybody needs to be aware alcohol reduces coordination and can impair a person's judgement and reaction time when they are in, on or around water. It also reduces inhibitions and distorts the perception of risk.

Wearing a life jacket can actually increase a person's chance of survival by 50 per cent. Royal Life Saving maintains the national drowning database, and our research suggests men recreating in our inland waterways in the summer whilst consuming alcohol is a deadly cocktail.

Much more needs to be done to educate men on the risks they may face.

We are asking people to make the right call: to avoid alcohol around water, wear a lifejacket when boating or using water crafts and avoid swimming or recreating alone.

Too many people think it will not happen to them. We ask people to look after themselves and their mates. In the past decade, inland waterways have accounted for nearly 40 per cent of all drowning deaths. Over 80 per cent of those drownings were males.

That's why it is vital to make the right call.

WHILE Australia burns and our Prime Minister refuses to draft policy on the best scientific advice available ('PM apologises for holidaying during crisis', Herald 23/12), he admonishes us with the patronising line that it's time for us to be kind to each other.

At the same time, his government is furiously working away on drafting religious freedom laws that are in my opinion designed to legally protect unkindness. Religious groups recently complained that the original draft didn't go far enough in allowing them to discriminate against others.

The head of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry has called for hospitals to have the right to choose patients on the basis of faith.

The Prime Minister won't accept the needs of the population as dictated by science and the immutable laws of physics, yet is determined to push ahead with laws that serve the needs of a minority of adherents to ancient superstitions.

At the recent climate conference in Madrid, a new international ranking of 57 countries saw Australia viewed as the worst-performing country for climate change policy, and sixth worst across the four categories assessed.

We were also heavily criticised for planning to include carry-over credits to achieve our Paris commitments, something no other country was prepared to do.

Australia is not proposing any emission reduction targets post-2020, but is still promoting the expansion of fossil fuel production.

Its plans, along with other major fossil fuel producing countries, condemn us to exceed the 1.5 degree Celsius rise climate scientists assert is the maximum we can tolerate to avoid the worst effects of global warming.

Instead, we are facing a rise of between three and four degrees, bringing far greater extremes of temperatures, wind strength, rainfall rates, flooding, wildfires and drought. Most disturbing is the long-term likelihood of sea level rises between seven and nine metres, likely to be reached next century. Yet, as a nation, we probably have the most to gain from an accelerated transformation to renewables.

IT'S a sad indication of the increasing isolation caused by our many digital devices demonstrated by our biggest telco in their latest TV ad. There's a pathetic lonely little boy with no-one or nothing to play with, and obviously no communication skills and no hobbies nor any clue about how to entertain himself, until Dad gets the family connected to the biggest telco.

He's giving "the gift that brings them all closer", so there'll be less need to communicate at all. That's the idea: just sit closer on the lounge. Keep them all isolated, just sitting on the lounge staring at the screen. Way to go, Australia.