I can't recall a similar story when other journos have left a paper.

Then in Thursdays printed edition of "The Star" the same journo in his capacity as an employee of "The Star" writes a half page story together with the compulsory massive photo of Mr Katter disguised as a news story.

The bias of the Star in favour of Mr Katter has been evident for a long time.

There is seldom a mention of Mr Katter without the customary massive photo of him but surely you can be a bit more subtle.

I think we deserve a little better.

Kendall Santillan,

Mount Isa

Editor's Note: Once again, I utterly reject allegations of bias. The North West Star reports without fear or favour on all sides of politics. As for similar stories when other journalists leave the paper, almost all our departing journalists have been offered that opportunity and there have been many such stories over the years. DB

I am writing to express my appreciation to everyone who supported The Smith Family's 2020 Winter Appeal.

At a time when Australians have been challenged like never before, we have been humbled and inspired by tremendous generosity. Our charity supports the educational achievement of children in need as a practical pathway out of poverty. The donations we received for our Winter Appeal will

mean our vital out-of-school learning and mentoring programs can now be delivered to thousands more students living in disadvantage.

The public's help could not have come at a better time. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, there was strong evidence that disadvantaged students were falling behind at school through not having the same learning opportunities as their more advantaged classmates. At age 15, the gap is equivalent to around three years of schooling.

In recent weeks, the Grattan Institute has confirmed that disadvantaged children who were already falling behind before the crisis, will have slipped further back. It's hard to stay on top of your learning when you don't have essential resources for home schooling such as a computer, internet access, textbooks and stationery. These children will need extra support to catch up.

With the donations received, The Smith Family will provide additional educational support for over 16,000 children and young people during terms 3 and 4. These include our home-based programs boosting the reading skills of children, mentoring support, and our after-school Learning Clubs, helping children to increase their literacy and numeracy skills.

The Smith Family exists to change children's lives through supporting their education. To do this, we rely on the generous support of thousands of Australians. To everyone who offered a hand up to support a child in need through our Appeal, please accept my grateful thanks.

Dr Lisa O'Brien

Chief Executive Officer

The Smith Family

Re the newly formed alliance of western Councils

Erny Ernst: Maybe now you'll access some of the Federal Flood Money that has been up for grabs for these local governments for nearly 12 months. Didn't get so much as a courtesy response from any of them even after I offered to write the submissions for them.

Gary Osman Lets hope the united group can immediately get much needed funds for infrastructure and on going employment opportunities as western councils state govt assistance has severely deteriorated under a state labor govt.

Lesley-Ann Peterson Gary, that is just not right, State Government send millions into Mt Isa and this includes many millions for infrastructure.