We need a price that lets dairy farmers feed and support their families, care for the country they farm and maintain and purchase new machinery needed to run the farm.

As things stand dairy farmers are unable to make enough money to feed their own families but are expected to keep supplying raw milk to the big uptown raw milk processing factories for virtually no profit.

Would you go to work for 12 to 14 hours a day for nothing?

I don’t think so.

In the mid-80s Victoria and New South Wales between them had about 20,000 working dairy farms.

Now, to date, there are about 6,000 and those farm numbers are falling.

At this rate the consensus is it won’t be long before Australia will be importing milk for our own use, which is bloody ridiculous to even think about for a country that is such a huge food producer like Australia.

Federal minister Barnaby Joyce, NSW minister Niall Blair abd Victorian minister Jaala Pulford should be right on top of this huge problem and doing something about it straight away.

If they haven’t the heart or internal fortitute to do what needs to be done and what they are paid to do –  sort out this problem – then they need to be replaced by someone with balls big enough to do the job.

Everone is missing the most relevant issue with smoking outside the hospital.

The regulations are vey clear – no smoking in bus shelters, no smoking within 10 metres of any entry.

Therefore there would be no spot outside the hospital that smoking would be allowed.

Find who is responsible for enforcing these regulation.

Opinion is my favourite section of the Maitland Mercury!

It’s unfortunate that, from time to time, its content isn’t exactly what I believe is the civilised way of expressing an opinion, whether in favour or against someone else’s way of expressing dissatisfaction about something.

This is what I found myself reading in my favourite section of this newspaper on Wednesday, May 11.

A page full of criticism, name calling and diminishing comments towards the people that had chosen to express their discontent by jumping on a canoe and cruising around the harbour.

They were attempting to send the government and mining companies a message that it’s time to invest more in clean energy and gradually reduce use of solid fuel.

Last time I checked Australians still enjoyed freedom of speech and the avenue of peaceful demonstration if they didn’t agree with something.

Isn’t that what they were doing?

With full respect to any opinion one might have, those that don’t think the use of solid fuel is causing damage to the environment and people’s health, simply because no one is dropping dead walking the street, should check what the scientists are saying.

Unless they also think that science is nothing but an opinion and not a fact.

Tradies know how hard it is to get work at times. It's not all rainbows and sunshine, that's for sure.

And it's near impossible to get an apprenticeship in trades these days. Even when I started mine nine years ago I had to apply for over 50 to get one.