Your family and friends might stay, you may have stayed as a tourist before moving to the Bay, you may have got married here. My family has run the Coachhouse since its inception 41 years ago. My parents have toiled tirelessly running a 24/7 operation.

Year after year, they would go to the bank to keep growing the business. Unfortunately the local tourism market has not grown with it, remaining highly seasonal and predominately weekend focused. Over the years, we have been approached or reached out to developers. Most proposals were tourism focused, but occupancy rates do not support the investment required.

For the past 10 years we have worked with Brian Brown of "The Estuary" and in consultation with the with Eurobodalla Shire Council, honing a development that would suit our site, and be sustainable - that will come to fruition and boost our economy, unlike failed attempts elsewhere. It will create an estimated 100 full-time jobs by completion and offers expansive opportunities during the $200 million construction.

Contrary to opponents' claims, it fits within the town's "Area of Critical Utility", running from the CBD to Hanging Rock, identified for larger scale development due to proximity to the hospital, Beach Rd, public transport and the CBD. "The Estuary" will include an aged-care facility with views over the river; the centre apartments are for energetic retirees - a short walk from shops and eateries. There are also 128 residential apartments (the site currently has 89), mostly likely to become tourist accommodation.

Your paper reported (Bay Post/Moruya Examiner, March 15) that Bega Greens Candidate Will Douglas was suspended as a casual teacher by Moruya High School for apparently inciting students to participate in the Strike 4 Climate initiative.

This is an outrageous abuse. Mr Douglas was not representing the school at this forum, and informing students the event was on falls short of inciting them to participate.

Even if strident encouragement had been given, what is so bad about the afternoon's activities that would warrant a person being suspended from his income? 

Leaving aside the issue of climate, participating in civil demonstration is a highly educational process. It requires organisation, research, creativity, public speaking, negotiation, liaison with bodies external to the school etc.

Had I a child at the school (I did last year and will again next year), I would have been perfectly happy for them to participate.

Mr Douglas's suspension has been made an issue of public interest given his candidature in the upcoming election. In the interests of fairness and transparency in the electoral process, the identity of the complainant must be made public prior to the election.

Political opportunism at the expense of a man's livelihood is a disgrace, regardless of which part of the political spectrum you fall into. If the complainant was an opponent or a member of an opposing political party, such biased and underhanded behaviour should be published to allow the actions and motives to be analysed by the public before the election.

I am not now, nor have ever been, a member of any political party and have at various times voted across the political spectrum.

I have a passing acquaintance with Mr Douglas, our only connection being our children singing in the Eurobodalla Children's choir about a decade ago. I hope his suspension is speedily brought to a close, and I would be more than happy for my son to have him as a teacher in 2020.

Recently, Eurobodalla Shire Council hosted Raindances to raise funds for those affected by drought.

It is understood something like $44,000 was raised. Most of the money went out of the area to Cobar with approximately $11,000 left over to be distributed to shire farmers.

Whilst local wildlife sanctuaries are not farmers they are most certainly affected by drought and deserve assistance in times of drought.

Wildlife sanctuaries rely on donations to fund the care of the orphaned wildlife that comes to them and it is disappointing the council did not recognise these sanctuaries under the Raindance program. They offer an invaluable service to Eurobodalla residents and, with grain and hay prices skyrocketing because of the drought, they struggle to make ends meet, resorting to running online auctions to raise funds.

One such sanctuary is Wild2Free who advise that their last feed bill was $2,107.80. All their feed and water purchased are from local businesses. They receive no government or council funding to provide homes for orphaned animals who might die otherwise. 

Proprietor, Rae Harvey, says: "People outside of Australia who already live in places devoid of native wildlife are extremely passionate about our native animals and consider us very lucky to still have them - for now anyway"

As the candidate for the Animal Justice Party for the seat of Bega, I urge the council to recognise the invaluable service provided by local wildlife sanctuaries.

I would also urge the state government to do more to support wildlife sanctuaries across the state and introduce free desexing vouchers for all domesticated animals.