Unfortunately it is a high maintenance part of the highway with two sections of the road down to one lane. Of the two sections one has existed for two years.

The road these days gets a lot of use, particularly by heavy vehicles delivering goods to the South Coast. While a study to determine a long term solution sounds logical, what about the short to medium term?

I travel on the road quite frequently and have noticed that maintenance of the Brown Mountain section appears to have been scaled down, and this has coincidentally occurred since the change of NSW government to the Labor party.

As far as any tunnel solution is concerned, that is only going to happen in Sydney. The NSW government last year squashed the tunnel construction down Victoria Pass on the Great Western Highway.

Perhaps someone can enlighten us what is going to happen in the short to medium term for the Brown. I know that our local MPs both state and federal have been approached but to no avail. If they want to stay as our local members they need to work a bit harder on this issue.

What a terrible chestnut that front page of the Magnet was (29/2). What a cliché! What a load of old cobblers. One would have to suspect it was April Fools.

It does newspapers and journalism of the region no good to run rubbish like this. It can only bring them into disrespect. Yowies, indeed. What else is new?

My experience is over 50 years of walking through the wild forests of the region. I've talked to the farmers and foresters and forest workers and pest controllers and park rangers and the dingo trappers and so forth. I've recorded countless oral histories, written three books on the subject of what's there in the wild country which are available in the local newsagent and visitor centres.

What research has your 'enthusiastic researcher' done? Has he read any of these books? Afraid not. Maybe five minutes in the bush. A few more minutes on Google. There are still plenty of bushies out there who could set him straight.

After so many years of me walking that country, the reports of wild hairy men were probably of me.

How does he account for the effects of the Black Summer fires, when so much wildlife was obliterated? Where even the numbers of greater gliders were decimated.

My long walk through the Deua and Wadbilliga featured a vast amount of Yowie lore, and what did I find? Aboriginal culture will help you. There's plenty in Back Country to go on with. The astonishing thing is that such a story made the front page of the Magnet. It's treating your readers as if we're idiots.

If you're looking for another expert, try Tim the Yowie Man from every weekend in the Canberra Times. Even for him it's been a very, very long time between sightings.

The real news, if we want it, is that the Eden Access Centre is helping learner drivers, including workers from overseas, get the on-road skills they need to qualify for a licence.

Congratulations to Monaro Colts winning the grand final at Cessnock. It was great to watch four local gents from Group 16 involved - one being captain. Congratulations also to their parents, grandparents and family friends that supported and gave their time to make it happen. Regards to all involved.

At least Walbunja traditional owner Wally Stewart is honest admitting Indigenous peoples want money from National Parks and visitors to Montague Island, because he then provides no reason why they should receive this, and his rationale for wanting payment and more say in the Island's management is full of misinformation and half truths.

To start, National Parks do not 'employ a woman to go out there and do tours'. Tours are conducted by volunteers and field staff. Conducting tours are a minuscule part of the field staffs' jobs maintaining the Island. And neither 'go out there' to conduct tours - they live on the island, working on many other tasks.

They certainly do not 'sell our (Indigenous) culture'. My experience is their tours are exceptionally good - explaining Indigenous links to the Island, the Island's history, its flora, its maritime history, its geology, its wildlife, etc. These are informative, well-balanced tours, 100% ideal for most visitors' wants.

Yes, it would be ideal to have an Indigenous person explaining Indigenous matters. And a geologist to explain the geology, a botanist it's flora, an ornithologist its bird life, etc.. But, then, how many guides does a party of 10 or 15 visitors need?

If Wally 'wants his people to conduct cultural tours' they should approach NPWS and volunteer. Like all other volunteers, they will have to demonstrate they have appropriate skills, undergo training, be willing to live on the Island, not 'push any barrows' to visitors, and not receive payment.

Kudos to all who rallied across Australia to call for an end to native forest logging ("March for forests in Bega", 22/3). In an era of global heating, with escalating numbers of threatened species, and an environment that was deemed "poor and deteriorating" in the last State of the Environment report, Australia must end the practice of clear-felling our precious native forests.

In New South Wales only 4-8 per cent of logged native forest becomes sawn timber used for building houses and furniture, the rest ends up as wood chips or waste. Most building timber already comes from plantations.

It's high time we saw forests for their beauty and ecological significance. Making the switch to sustainably grown plantation timber is the best and only way forward.

There is a shocking lack of concern or awareness by too many of us that Labor and the Coalition are as one when it comes to so called defence matters.

There is complete agreement on their total subservience to the USA as evidenced by AUKUS, the "rotation" of US forces through Darwin, agreement to base B52 bombers at Tindall and US (and UK) submarines at Stirling Naval base in WA and of course the Pine Gap intelligence facility.

Kurt Campbell, Biden's Asia adviser, described the AUKUS agreement as "getting Australia off the fence. We have them locked in now for the next 40 years".

So when the US decides to start WW3 with China we will not only be "locked in" but also a prime target as a result of China's response to US aggression.

American goading of China and our craven obeisance to our great and powerful friend is the problem. China is not the problem.

So we have a dilemma.

Should we continue to vote for parties that endanger us so grievously?