In the event that his plan should ever come to pass, I hope that government authorities in both NSW and Victoria will see that the general public are warned and frequently reminded of the dangers which can occur on landlocked waters.

I will never forget the terrible tragedy which occurred on Lake Hume 56 years ago. Many others must still remember too.

Last week saw a divisive debate in Parliament, following observations that a majority of the 30 Australians found guilty of terrorist offences were from the Lebanese Australian community.

While the tarring of the whole of that community with suspicion and blame is clearly outrageous, we shouldn’t let this blind us to the reality and danger that Australia’s involvement in the conflicts in the Middle East may lead to serious sectarian or political tensions here.

By coincidence last week also saw the screening of an Australian Story on ABC about a new Syrian refugee and his family which well illustrated these dangers, the more so as the program only presented half of the story.

Talking of his work as a nurse in the only clinic in the besieged town of Madaya to a sympathetic ABC correspondent, there was little reason to doubt the young man’s testimony – that the Syrian government was criminally responsible for the desperate situation there.

Little reason unless you belonged to that part of our community which does not support the West’s proxy-war for regime change in Syria, and hears a very different story about the sieges in Syria from friends and relatives there and from “alternative” media sources.

As in East Aleppo now, Madaya was held under siege not by the Syrian army but by hundreds of ruthless Islamist jihadists, who shot at civilians trying to leave, and hoarded the UN food aid to sell at inflated prices to their captives.

For the testimony from some of those civilians, who were freed when UN aid finally arrived, you may look for the reports from Murad Gazdiev, RT’s correspondent in Syria.

As young car buyers scour the state for their first set of wheels, it is timely to remind them to put safety at the top of their shopping lists.

Many first car buyers and their parents would be surprised to find dozens of used car models with potentially life-saving features like side curtain airbags and electronic stability control, are available for less than $3000.

Gone are the days when the only cars first-time buyers could afford were old clunkers that featured little in the way of safety features.

Victorians are 30 times more likely to crash in their first six months of solo driving, so it makes sense that young drivers do their research before buying a car.

The Transport Accident Commission’s How Safe is Your First Car website is a great place to start, allowing users to find four and five star ANCAP safety rated vehicles within their price range.

While colours, sound systems and fuel economy may seem important to some, these features should all take a back seat to ensuring we all get home safe.

Getting everyone in safer cars will help us in our Towards Zero vision for a future where no person dies or is seriously hurt on our roads.

Parents and young drivers can find more information about this at howsafeisyourfirstcar.com.au