There are other issues that also could be looked at: a Newcastle cruise terminal, Stockton beach, Nelson Bay Road and many more. However, without effective agitation from our local politicians nothing will happen.

While ever we have wall-to-wall Labor politicians at all levels of government, and while Labor remains in both state and federal opposition, I believe we have very little chance of anything happening. Change will not happen until some people in the area perhaps think about changing.

COUNCILLOR Kath Elliott's opinion piece on the need for our council to engage in community consultation ('Diving into EOI leaves public high and dry', Opinion 14/11) is timely, but it extends well beyond the issue of the future of our ocean baths. Friends of National Park have been seeking a meeting with the council or its officers since November 1 over the immediate future of the park.

Sure, we get acknowledgements, but not what I believe in anyone's language could be called consultation.

The council staff and/or contractors have done an exemplary job in clearing out the remnants of the old Life Without Barriers site, leaving all significant trees and the area of the old garden looks inviting but for being enclosed in high wire fencing.

The area with a bit of grass and a few pathways, tables and chairs would be almost immediately usable, and it is adjacent to the inner city's biggest shopping area.

By all means let's have a formal plan of management for the whole park. But let's not wait many months for that when we have a community asset available here and now with a very minimalist and inexpensive upgrade. Councillors? Officers? Anyone for consultation?

WHAT must it cost to have stop-and-go people manning the barricaded streets of Newcastle on a Monday night? They looked asleep when I drove past feeling like Robinson Crusoe because of the lack of traffic.

What a waste of resources, to also install and then remove the significant infrastructure needed for a three-day race. What an effort to erect barriers and an overhead walkway. I just hope that big business is paying for it all and not the ratepayers.

I want my rates to be used cleverly and productively by innovative leaders for permanent gains like improving roads, services and parking and public facilities. The problem is that I just cannot see too many of these being constructed in Newcastle.

SO, Prime Minister Morrison has rejected an offer by the United States to rescue Australian families of Islamic State fighters from Syria ('PM rejects US extraction offer', Herald 19/11).

Foreign Minister Marise Payne says the situation in Syria is "extraordinarily complex, difficult and dangerous". Yes, we know that, but family members and journalists have managed to travel to the camps.

Are they braver, more resourceful or perhaps just more committed to helping their loved ones or exposing the truth? Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, in my opinion surely the most heartless Australian politician, declares that many of the women pose "serious security risks".

Goulburn's jail is full of prisoners who pose serious security risks and NSW prison authorities seem to be managing them without too much trouble. Could they not manage the women Peter Dutton is apparently afraid of? There are more than 40 children of Australian mothers in the camps, some still toddlers. Do all these children pose "serious security risks"?

Many other countries have managed to extricate their women and children from Syria without the assistance of the US. The only conclusion that I believe can be drawn is that Morrison's position is based solely on internal politics, being seen as ruthless on matters of national security without a skerrick of humanity. So much for his Christian values.

IT seems Dave McTaggart (Short Takes, 15/11) does what he complains Greenies do; making tenuous, ridiculous connections.

Mac Maguire (Short Takes, 12/11) is correct to question country kids attending city boarding schools. There's a group expecting us to fully support their communities when they themselves don't.

More students locally means less school closures and long journeys to the next town, more courses at the high school and more money spent in the town.

Also, imagine tens of thousands per child per year used on private school fees that could be saved for the tough times. That's money they would be spending locally now instead of continually transferring wealth from their community to the city.

WHAT happened to free speech? There is an old saying that goes "I disagree with everything you are saying, but I will defend to my dying day your right to say it."

Now, I don't necessarily agree with everything reportedly said by Israel Folau (Daily Telegraph, 18/11); however, I believe he has a right to say it just as I have a perfect right to agree or disagree with him if I so choose.

He has his beliefs and I have mine.

One of the basic principles of a democracy is freedom of expression. Many thousands of lives have been lost in defence of this and other freedoms, so what happened?

MARGARET Court, get over it ('Margaret Court furore in Fed Cup spotlight', Herald 8/11). How many Australians have done more for their country than you and don't quibble about recognition? How many others have given the utmost for their country without earning an appropriate wage?

One group comes to mind being the volunteers and firefighters that are always in the line of possible peril. Rethink your thoughts and go ahead and boycott the tennis. I do, every year.

THE pen goes to Tony Morley for his letter about the state of Newcastle's nightlife.

AS a 10-year-old, I sat with my father and listened to the Rome Olympics in 1960 on the ABC radio. We heard Herb Elliott and Dawn Fraser win gold. Then again in 1964 in Tokyo we listened to the dulcet tones of Norman May in 1968 in Mexico and heard Michael Wenden win the 100 and 200-metre swimming double. Fast forward to today and hear that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will not be broadcast by the ABC ('Sporting bodies pressure ABC over Olympics', Newcastle Herald 18/11). A sad day for all radio listeners in this great country.

WHILE Alisha Onslow (Letters 15/11) is correct on this being the worst drought in history, it is nothing much worse than that experienced in 1902; rainfall records have only been kept since the early 1880s. I believe one should not fall into the trap of "the science" when the evidence, the written and recorded history, suggests that the climate is no worse than at any other time since Europeans have been in Australia. It is easy to source and available to all. It's online. Read and make up your own minds.

PRIMITIVE religions attributed natural disasters and defeat in battle to the displeasure of their deity. Fundamentalists today are of the same mentality, but fortunately the more educated members of society recognise global warming and human mismanagement as the cause of drought. It's a familiar scenario; religion vs science. Comments about a vengeful god do not help those who have lost all in the bushfires.

CHRISTINE Everingham asks what behaviours are children being encouraged to emulate (Letters, 19/11). That is what I ask when we see all of the graffiti and illegal posters and acts of vandalism. The alcohol sign I believe she is referring to is an incomplete logo that reads "Jim Beam since 1795". In my opinion children must be well educated in alcohol if they know the meaning of the logo.

RICHARD Di Natale and fellow Greens are good at making long-winded statements about the current fires, caused by climate change, and Green policies ('Morrison urges politicians to calm down', Herald 13/11), but that is all they do. How many have helped on the ground? Tony Abbott did.

FOLLOWING Matthew Kelly's article ('Lower interest rates driving down prices', Herald 19/11), Hunter Water has applied to IPART to substantially increase water charges over the next four years, but because borrowing costs have been reduced due to falling interest rates, Hunter Water is now requesting a drop in charges through IPART resulting in us paying less than predicted. But we will still pay more. Confused, confused and confusing.

WITH talk of a bronze statue to honour Andrew Johns (Topics, 16/11), I thought why not erect one as thanks to the firemen who have been putting their lives on the line? My heart goes out to them with admiration for their bravery.