Now comes the gobsmacking reality, with Sophie Mirabella appointed Gina Rinehart’s general manager of government and media relations (The Border Mail, August 13).

The revolving door between parliament and the resources sector is alive and well.

Martin Ferguson, Craig Emerson, Greg Combet, Mark Vaile, Nick Bolkus, John Olson, John Dawkins, Helen Coonan and John Anderson are some of many former politicians now working or consulting for mining and energy companies.

Last year the Sydney Morning Herald’s Anne Davies revealed a complex web of interlocking networks of influence tying the NSW and federal governments with various energy and mining companies.

Even The Border Mail (August 13) noted Gina Rinehart’s donations to the election campaigns of Coalition MPs including then Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.

These donations doubtless encourage favours in the form of generous subsidies for the mining sector. So every year billions of our precious taxes are poured into the coal industry, which in turn pours tonnes of pollution into the atmosphere, which amplifies disastrous climate change.

By employing the capable Mrs Mirabella, Ms Rinehart’s walk down the corridors of power becomes one step easier and the community battle to move away from fossil fuels becomes ever harder.

FAIRFAX Media, “our” ABC and comedian Andrew Denton, are shamelessly promoting assisted suicide. State-sanctioned killing is no laughing matter.

You just don't kill people. Not the state, not doctors, not anybody. Those who do face the full force of the law. At least up till now. With all the damning evidence available from the Benelux countries where assisted suicide is legal, I can't believe Andrew Denton can appear on television with a straight face and claim these countries haven't, like the proverbial gadarene swine, reached the bottom of the slippery slope.

Currently a request for assisted suicide from a 39-year-old Belgian, Sebastien, is being assessed on grounds of “unbearable suffering” caused by his inability to come to terms with his homosexuality. 

Addressing the Australian Press Club last week Denton called on the Catholic Church to “stay out” of the euthanasia debate. There is precedent for this. Adolf Hitler infamously threatened Munster's Catholic Cardinal August von Galen with "retribution to the last farthing" for opposing his Aktion T4 Euthanasia program. The Cardinal died in the safety of his bed.  

Reviled and discredited, Hilter euthanased himself along with his wife and dog.

I DO not object to the three-bin system that we now operate under in both Albury and Wodonga. Frankly it was a bit annoying at first but as far as our household goes, we’ve just gotten used to it.

I probably don’t see the point in going backwards on the issue, as suggested by Darren Cameron. But regardless of opinion, there certainly still seems to be conflicting information about the issue.

Cr Cameron wants a return to red-lidded bins being collected weekly. Cr Alice Glachan says no, that would cost us all more money.

Cr Cameron says the Albury waste facility made a $2.4 million cash surplus last year, and no one has questioned the merit of that claim. 

So whether you support weekly collections or not, I do wonder why it would cost any more with that kind of cash surplus. 

Sometimes it is so hard to tell who is talking rubbish.