By all accounts this coming summer is going to be as severe as last year. Have the state and federal governments accomplished what they said they would do after a disastrous season last year? If not, why not? People are still living in tents, their houses still in disarray, and they have just started burning off fuel.

Are councils now going to assist property owners with hazard reduction burns? Have water towers been installed in strategic locations, have the dams and pipelines which were promised been built and brought into service for both the drought and fire season?

I'm not trying to sensationalise. Yes, we have a COVID pandemic, which in my opinion hasn't been handled too well. I'm just concerned that we ensure our fellow Aussies who have suffered don't have to endure anymore pain due to broken or forgotten promises by the bureaucrats. These people are at the end of their tether; our wildlife has all but been decimated, and koalas maybe gone by 2050.

Give our unemployed the opportunity to help and earn their JobSeeker, JobKeeper allowances by building these dams, pipelines, water towers and to provide accommodation for those who may end up without theirs. Replanting our forests and fruit picking are crucial too. It's a fair day's work for a fair day's pay to help both themselves and those who need help.

HAVING supported Wests Sydney, and now Wests Tigers, since 1960, I have come to the conclusion (actually about 1990) that the NRL should make all players participate on a game by game payment system; no upfront millions.

Having watched the Wests Tigers play this year and watch them clock off early - sometimes in my opinion after running onto the field - I cannot understand how the club management continues to pay them.

If in normal employment you do something wrong, your pay is likely to be docked. They simply don't earn their wages. This shouldn't just apply to the Tigers but a lot of the lower sides, who must realise long term they have no hope of winning the competition. Every season you can virtually pick the top six teams and the last six before the competition starts, with a couple of swingers. In my opinion there is no point in following the Tigers anymore; nine seasons without a finals appearance, yet the salary sombrero clubs are there year after year.

With match payments rather than salaries, it would be interesting to see whether some of the players' performances would improve.

JOHN Ure (Letters, 3/9): despite his shortcomings, COVID-19 in the US and its economic fallout is hardly all Donald Trump's fault.

Australians also are on income support because of disappearing jobs. It's a worldwide pattern. Hurricane Laura is not Trump's fault, nor even American street violence, when much of the worst violence is in Democrat jurisdictions.

Labelling Trump's supporters as trigger-happy white supremacists is reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's deplorables comment, and we know how that played out. The charge that Trump is fomenting violence or civil war even rings hollow in view of the violence and destruction wrought by anti-Trump anarchists, which is frightening middle America and boosting Trump's re-election prospects.

The federal government's latest increase in cigarette prices will do little to deter smokers in regional Australia from quitting the deadly habit.

For a pack a day smoker the latest 12.5 per cent increase in tobacco excise tax is a $12,500 yearly burden, an incredibly costly tax for regional and remote communities who have faced devastating bushfires and the debilitating economic impacts of COVID-19 in the last year. Smoking rates in regional and remote areas are twice as high as in major cities. Despite cigarette prices tripling over the last decade, smoking rates remain alarmingly high in the bush and quitting support alarmingly low.

Recent data from The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare suggests as many as 70 per cent of current Aussie smokers want to quit, but many cannot quit no matter how high the price. Safer and effective alternatives like nicotine vaping remain highly inaccessible for regional and remote Australians. Currently, the only way to access e-cigarettes is via a doctor's prescription which most rural doctors are not willing to provide. This leaves many smokers with no other option but to continue smoking.

Vaping is 95 per cent less harmful than smoking and around 90 per cent cheaper, a no-brainer for cash-strapped smokers who have tried and failed every other method to quit.

Instead of bolstering the national piggy bank with tobacco excise duty - less than 0.15 per cent of which is spent in helping smokers quit - the government should look to countries like the UK and US, where smoking rates are declining faster than ever with the help of vaping.

Current tobacco legislation is squeezing smokers who have no other option. This needs to change. The Australian government needs to stop punishing regional Australia and support smokers in their transition away from the lethal habit.

WE are still waiting to hear of a decision about the future of the Valentine Hydrotherapy Pools complex. Before COVID-19 it was used by all members of the wider community on the eastern side of Lake Macquarie.

The hydrotherapy, always in demand, helped me personally after my knee operation, but other disabled patients have a greater need. Without Valentine Pools we would not be able to have this service. The public part of the pool is important for the young - swimming lessons, school sports, and water confidence.

The older generation depend on aqua fitness classes, sometimes the only way we can keep fit. Other private pools in the area have inadequate depth and risky access to the water. While Belmont Lake baths have been upgraded, they can never give the privacy sometimes needed by the aged and can never be a replacement for the services provided at Valentine.

I hope the councillors will consider the whole community when making their decision. Each of the pools in the Valentine complex have a specific role and play an important part in the life of the disabled, the aged, seniors, school groups, and young children who live on the eastern side of Lake Macquarie.

WHAT a breakthrough (Carbon capture that could help the world', Newcastle Herald 3/9). It looks like they might have stumbled on a process that can convert carbon dioxide into something worthwhile. The Greenies will be jumping from the trees with joy, and it might save our coal fired power station. I hope it works as the Greenies will not lay off the carbon dioxide push. Maybe, just maybe, if this happens we can get back to being a bit industrial and be producers again rather than relying on overseas buying.

STEVE Barnett (Short Takes, 27/8) may I suggest when you visit Fort Denison before it disappears? You might take Mr Gormly and his over-stressed friends on a much needed holiday. You could visit the alps to see the record snowfalls, courtesy of course of the "rapidly heating" planet. On the way back you could just marvel at the beautiful green landscape and show them Warragamba Dam spilling over due to the rain, which we were told 13 years ago would never fall again with "disastrous" effects. Obviously I need to say again, because these people fail to understand: the unnecessary catastrophising is doing harm, especially to children.

READING that this little Mayfield bowling club gave this young man his first opportunity to run a restaurant with no thanks to them is very disappointing ('Mayfield chef on move', Herald 2/9). Where would he be now if not given that opportunity? Not being able to do takeaways during COVID does not justify no thank you in my opinion. I only hope the locals continue to support this family friendly club in the times ahead.

WELL, we all have now received our artist's impression of the Bathers Way Newcastle South renewal project and it certainly looks impressive. Although the skate bowls now appear to be more elevated after several letters/questions asked on the matter, having listened to learned 'old timers' (not architects) and having walked this area myself for some 65 years, I again ask the serious question of how or who gets the settled swirling sand following a southerly out of these skate bowls, especially if it's wet? Skateboards apparently do not go well in sand. Often after a southerly the Newcastle South walkways have 30mm or more sand deposited on them. Please explain.

I HAVE just read our coach is not interested in Benji Marshall playing for the Knights. Is there a better experienced kicker and ball player in the game today, and can you imagine how intriguing Kalyn's attack could be on the back of Benji's magic? My apologies to Mitchell Pearce, but no matter how hard he tries unfortunately I believe he fails to deliver to the team when the chips are down. What a great mentor would someone like Benji be for Tex Hoy. Go the Knights.