I joined the then Country Party in 1965 when I was aged 18.

In the 51 years since, I have had the privilege and pleasure of meeting and working with hundreds of very fine men and women at branch meetings, annual conferences and in election campaigns.

I was fortunate to become a member of Parliament and, later, state president and a life member.

Regrettably, a large number of these public spirited citizens are now deceased but there are many others who, for various reasons, are not active participants at this time.

Nevertheless, I extend an invitation to anyone who has been connected with the party in any way, or admires the contribution it has made over the years, to join in the celebrations.

There is a Centenary Cocktail function at the Eureka Skydeck, Southbank, on Friday July 29, and a Centenary gala dinner at the State Library of Victoria the following evening.

Anyone interested in joining these celebrations should make contact via the Nationals web site, www.vic.nationals.org.au  in the next day or so.

IT’S time we got savvy on salt. One in 20 deaths in Victoria is attributable to high salt intake – that’s six times the annual road toll.

Clearly this needs to change and our new campaign “Don’t Trust Your Taste Buds” urges Victorians to trust the label and not their taste buds when it comes to identifying hidden salt in processed foods.

A staggering 75 per cent of the salt we eat is hiding in everyday items like breads, cereals and sauces and without knowing it we are consuming almost twice the amount of salt recommended.

Your taste buds might not even taste the salt and foods that we think of as sweet are some of the biggest salt shockers – like pancakes, crumpets and sweet sauces like barbecue and sweet chilli. 

Other popular items like canned soups, deli meats and even family favourites like two-minute noodles, baked beans and tinned spaghetti are stacked with salt.

Too much salt increases the risk of high blood pressure, a leading cause of death and disability in Victoria. 

For shopping and cooking tips to help you slash the salt visit www.donttrustyourtastebuds.com.au.

IN response to Glen Wilson’s letter (“Returning to roots”, The Border Mail, June 18), how does Mr Wilson expect the state government to raise the revenue necessary to pay for this army of paid community workers?

Does Mr Wilson seriously expect us to accept increases to our insurance premiums, vehicle registration, rates ect, along with a raft of new taxes, while at the same time accepting cuts to aged care, hospitals, law enforcement, public transport, council grants, infrastructure ect, for something we are currently receiving for free?

On the other hand, in my opinion, the only reason that the CFA got into this alleged mess would have been a monumental failure of the state government in the first place to oversee the proper management of such a vital state asset, and why hand control to the MBF.

For the Andrews government to have pulled a stunt like that on the eve of such a close federal election would have to be the dumbest move the unions/ALP have pulled since the ALP/DLP split in the 1950s.