The spirit of St George the martyr was revived last Sunday as 40 people filled St George’s Church at Taminick for its annual patronal festival.

The special atmosphere of this small bush church built in a paddock during the First World War imbued all who attended the service, which was led by the Venerable Mel Clark, parish priest of Benalla and Archdeacon of The Goulburn.

Despite the lack of musical accompaniment, traditional hymns were sung with gusto by the congregation of all denominations assembled from near and far.

A restorative and delicious afternoon tea was enjoyed by all at the Taminick Fire Shed afterwards.

St George was the third century soldier saint who has been venerated throughout history for his knightly values of chivalry.

He was just 28 years old when he was tortured and beheaded in the year 303.

The Roman emperor Diocletian ordered George’s beheading after he bravely refused to carry out the emperor’s empire-wide edict to persecute Christians.

The relentless and bloody persecution from 303 to 312 failed, however, to eliminate Christianity, which after 324 became the Roman empire’s preferred religion under Constantine.

Thank you to all who attended last Sunday to keep the spirit of St George alive at Taminick.

Edwina McFarland, Church Warden, St George’s Anglican Church, Taminick

Everyone wins with work experience students

I’m a year 10 student from Melbourne who has been fortunate enough to the complete work experience with the Wangaratta Chronicle.

The opportunity to complete work experience has opened my eyes to a range of many career paths as well as assisting me in developing valuable skills and perspective.

Not only is work experience a beneficial opportunity for students, but it offers real advantages for local businesses.

Small businesses benefit from work experience in many ways, whether it's extra help with day-to-day task or mentoring students and introducing them to future career pathways.

From my own experience, being given the opportunity to take part in work experience has allowed me to become involved in the community and local issues while gaining an understanding of the workplace and possible interests for the future.

I encourage all businesses to offer and allow work experience as it will not only have a meaningful impact for the students, but it will also offer long term benefits.

It might seem like a small thing, but it will mean a lot to both businesses and students.

Jeremy Higgins, Melbourne

End tax breaks to support more social housing

The federal government must prioritise building social housing and ending investor tax breaks in this year’s budget, as new analysis reveals virtually no affordable rentals exist for people on the lowest incomes.

This year’s Rental Affordability Snapshot, released by Anglicare Australia, found that nationally, 0 per cent of private rentals were affordable for people on JobSeeker and Youth Allowance, just 0.2 per cent for someone on the Age Pension, and only 0.5 per cent for a full-time minimum wage worker.

The Federal Budget must deliver tax reform and redirect those savings into homes people can afford.

It’s staggering that there are virtually no affordable rentals in the private market for people on the lowest incomes.

Even full-time workers on the minimum wage are being completely priced out.

The system is failing, but it can be fixed if the federal government steps up now with meaningful reform and investment.

This budget presents a critical opportunity to deliver meaningful reform by ending unfair investor tax breaks that are making the housing crisis worse, and reinvesting those savings into building more public and community housing.

Australia has a shortfall of 640,000 social homes and demand is growing.

Building more homes that are actually affordable will not only support those in greatest need, but also ease pressure across the broader rental market.

We need a housing system that is fair and affordable for everyone. Every Australian deserves a safe, secure and affordable home.

Chantal Caruso, Everybody's Home spokesperson