Announcing the dam came with a lot of fanfare at a political opportune time for all levels of government to be seen to be doing something about the worsening water security. But now that it has rained and a more calculated consideration of the benefit is possible, it seems that it could be a very expensive $500 million dollar puddle that may or may not be of benefit Tamworth.

The fast track approach to get the dam built and to dodge the normal environmental and economic assessment processes gave very little confidence that it was thought through properly.

What business would rush into a multi-million dollar development without a business case to justify the cost? The decision happily ignored that the Dam had failed to pass prior economic feasibility studies.

The dam is expensive, by comparison the Chaffey Dam enlargement stored an extra 38,000 megalitres, whereas Dungowan dam will store just 22,000 megalitres and that won't be all for the city users. The cost difference is also dramatic at $1139 per megalitre for Chaffey upgrade, and $21,511 per megalitre to construct Dungowan dam. That costing would be optimistic, as the real cost is likely to blow out as they all do.

The Tamworth water users need to question is it a wise use of $500,000,000?

There are better options that Tamworth Regional Council should investigate that would provide benefit quickly and would be guaranteed to work. The recycling of waste water is the most obvious option, and subsidising storage for homes and industries to be more self-sufficient would reduce demand for water considerably.

The predictions are for more frequent extreme weather events. It doesn't matter how many dams you have, they are not going to make it rain more, whereas recycling and increasing storage will be guaranteed to make less water go further.

Phil Spark, Tamworth

Gunnedah's Brian Jeffrey is correct to say there continue to be challenges in attracting and retaining GPs in rural areas, not just in Gunnedah, but right across rural and regional Australia.

Data from the past decade shows GP numbers in Australia have increased at triple the rate of the population. Unfortunately, the bulk of this growth has been in cities.

Since becoming Regional Health Minister I've been working towards getting more doctors to rural areas, and as my time as the Member for Parkes (and the father of a local GP), it has always been a focus.

We need to encourage health professionals to choose a career in the bush and then have them stay. Regional Australia is not a second prize for junior doctors and trainees.

There are many rewarding lifestyle and career opportunities in our regions, including for GPs and other health professionals and last Friday I signed an arrangement that transferred the operation of the Gunnedah Rural Health Centre to the Hunter New England Health. This means Gunnedah patients will again have local access to GPs, visiting specialists and allied health care in this purpose-built facility.

Our Government is committed to ensuring rural residents can access quality health services when they need to. This requires tailored approaches that suit each town and region. This agreement is a demonstration of that commitment.

We don't employ GPs in private practice and there is no upside in forcing them to the bush. The right incentives take time.

We do have short term initiatives and we allow foreign doctors where most needed, but we all know this is a necessary band aid. And to Mr Jeffrey's point around local students undertaking GP training, our Bonded Medical Program provides up to 850 students with a Commonwealth-supported university place in return for a commitment to work in a rural area at the end of their study.

Gunnedah is an eligible area under the Program.

Additionally, we created the Murray Darling Medical Schools Networks to change the way medical students undertake rural training. The Network will enable country kids to train in country areas.

The Federal Government provides a range of incentives to encourage more doctors and health professionals to move to, train and stay in rural areas.

To meet the changing health needs of rural communities, Governments need to look at new approaches to workforce and training models, which is why we are looking at ways to better inform and integrate workforce planning and trialling new innovative models of care in rural areas.

Mark Coulton, Federal Rural Health Minister and Member for Parkes.

At the 75th anniversary of the end of WW11 we have time to reflect on the importance of this event. We have recently lost a quite achiever from this era in Gordon Stanger of the Warramunga, one of the last survivors of this conflict. Like so many others the end of the war was a great relief but to those men so much more had to be done before they came home. RIP

Ian Little, Port Macquarie

It would appear that the proposed new Dungowan Dam is attracting a lot of publicity lately. Many reports of criticism by various commentators have appeared in the print media, but very few answers have been forthcoming.

In a letter to the Editor of the Leader on 5th August, Peter Gill writes that a series of letters he has written enquiring about the lack of consultation with the public about the dam have been unanswered by Kevin Anderson or Water NSW.

In the Sydney Morning Herald of 10th of August the Mayor of Tamworth, Col Murray, was asking the question - "Whether the dam will deliver enough water to justify the cost of nearly $500 million amidst the concerns the dams are more purposed to irrigation than town water security?"

Also in the SMH, Independent MP, Justin Field, said - "Business cases should be released before approvals were granted."

"The taxpayer is being expected to cough up billions of dollars for new fast-tracked dams under the banner of town water security but it looks like the big beneficiaries are going to be the industrial and agricultural water users."

More fingers were pointed at litigators when Peter Hannam wrote in the SMH on 3rd August that -"NSWs main irrigation lobby group pressed the Berejiklian government to place the state's water plans above the federal law and sought to tap water earmarked for the environment."

The demands are detailed in a letter, obtained by the Herald, that NSW Irrigators Council sent to the state's senior water bureaucrat in April.

At the time, the government was putting final touches to new water-sharing plans it has since submitted to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority for accreditation. The irrigators sought the insertion of words that would "confirm primacy" of the plans over the 2007 Commonwealth Water Act, a move environmental lawyers say would trigger legal challenges.

The council also backed a narrowing of a definition of what constitutes so-called planned environmental water, a call it said Water Minister Melinda Pavey had taken up. The irrigators thanked the Planning Department for the removal of some environmental rules.

Environmental Defenders Office special counsel Emma Carmody said that while it was normal for a lobby group to advocate its members' interest , it was surprising to see the NSWIC seek provisions to the water-sharing that were at odds with the Basin Plan and Water Act.

Independent NSW MP Justin Field said the Irrigators Council had complained in a letter that its concerns were not being addressed. This leaked document, though, was "proof that they were being heard at the highest levels of government and are getting their way."

The NDL, through Andrew Messenger on 11th August, tells us that a new inquiry into the case for, and the politics behind, the $500 million new Dungowan Dam isn't an anti-dams inquiry according to the Greens' Chair of the Planning and Environment Committee, Cate Faehrmann.

Ms Faehrmann said the project, which won't have a public business case until eight months after construction starts, was approved without a genuine consideration of alternatives to improve water security.

The inquiry will include MLCs from the Liberals, Nationals and Labor parties and the Animal Justice Party representative.

From my own point of view I would like to see water in the Peel River all the time, providing it rains some of the time. The death of at least one platypus was shocking to see when the powers that be stopped all of the flow in the Peel River. What a poor example of our care for our unique native wildlife. Let's hope that, after all the inquiries and inquests, have taken place, the river is restored and the wildlife can return.

Ron Webster, Tamworth