I HAVE been following with interest the many letters, including those from Ben Scott and Alisha Onslow (Letters, 15/11; Letters, 23/11) along with many others, about our current situation regarding the terrible drought conditions. While disregarding of the ramblings of one vocal footballer, I generally try to keep an open mind.
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I am aware that Australia is the driest inhabited continent on the planet where a large proportion of our nation is virtual desert. Repetitive drought, flood or fire appears to be our lot and much of our farmland is extremely marginal to say the least with the exception of the crowded coastal fringe.
The now-apparent changes in our climate seem to have tipped the scales in many of these areas that have always suffered drought.
It is interesting to note that the visionary government decisions to construct the imaginative Snowy Scheme and Warragamba Dam were initiated in the late 1940s and completed by the 1960s. Very little has happened since. Perhaps we need another Goyder Line to delineate where sustainable agriculture, pastoral enterprises and populations can exist.
Tony Winton, Wallsend
IT'S FARMERS' OWN MONEY
IN reply to Colin Fordham (Letters, 23/11), during a decade working in the Riverina I got to know many farming families well. I admired their priorities of hard work, family, mates and community. Unlike for some, asking for help is not easy for them, and if they are asking for help for their mates you can be sure they have already dug deep themselves. I will always defend a family's right to spend their hard-earned as they see fit, particularly when the criticism comes from those I believe are very selective in who and what they criticise.
Dave McTaggart, Edgeworth
RACE DONE BUT NOT DUSTED
ANOTHER Supercars event is done, but not dusted. It will takes weeks if not months to rehabilitate Foreshore Park, reinstall the temporary roundabouts and traffic islands, remove the portaloos, rubbish and plastic tie cables, take away the concrete barricades and return the buses to the East End.
Is this disruption and the ongoing cost to ratepayers justified? In 2017, Supercars claimed that 192,242 "went through the gates". Yet the "visitor uplift" in the event space over that three day week-end was calculated from Telstra data to be only 77,800 ('Phone data counters Supercars crowd tally', Herald, 16/11/18). Supercars this year claimed an attendance figure of 154,008.
The event did look good on TV. But how many people were actually watching it? The original estimated viewing audience that won over the city was 220 million households ('Supercars licence fee confidential', 25/10/17). Last year, the lord mayor gave us a more realistic figure ('Mayor hails race's ratings', Herald 29/11/18). Nevertheless, despite what I believe to be a meagre return on the council's investment, the lord mayor believed it far outweighs the impost on east end residents. Supercars is not just an impost on East Enders.
This year, in my opinion more voices outside the precinct were raised in protest. Supercars CEO Sean Seamer may well hope for "a very long future" in Newcastle ('Spite 'not on', says champion', Herald, 24/11), but his aspirations are unlikely to be shared by those becoming more aware of its negative impacts on the city.
Christine Everingham, Newcastle East
IT'S THE NEWCASTLE WAY
SOCIAL media gets a bad rap, and probably deserves its turgid reputation, but now and then a gem shines through. So it was for me, at least, when I read Herald journalist Max McKinney's tweet on Saturday: "Newcastle East resident James Thompson is hosting 16 family and friends for the weekend. He says he's not a Supercars fan but loves making the most of the event. Would love a few of the sound curtains removed from in front of his house though" ('Fears aren't being heard', Herald 25/11).
Doesn't this capture the mindset of many in the East End and some in Newcastle? That is, I believe, a covert pleasure and pride in renewal, events and upgraded infrastructure, but remaining quick to find fault and indulge in a bit of NIMBYism.
Never change, Newy.
Scot MacDonald, former Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter
PATROLS HAVE A PATTERN
I HAVE lived in Stockton for nearly 30 years and I cannot remember when I last saw a parking patrol officer here.
Today, being Saturday of the Supercars weekend, they are over here in droves. I believe it is much the same around the stadium when special events are held there, and we are expected to believe it is not revenue raising. After all, with the depletion of parking spaces in Newcastle in recent times, the council must be feeling the pinch. Look forward to more of the same in other suburbs from now on.
Bill Snow, Stockton
ART IS STAR OF THE SHOW
THE reopening of the Lake Macquarie Art Gallery as MAC: Museum of Art and Culture ('Lake Mac's new art look', Weekender 23/11) is a very exciting occasion.
We visited on the opening weekend and enjoyed the outdoor art projects including the evolving mural, various Aboriginal art workshops, local artist markets and music.
The opening exhibition in the gallery space is very special. Contemporary, universal, modern Aboriginal art informed by ancient practice and treasures from the collection, including Dobell, Boyd, Blackman and Olley. MAC staff and the cultural experiences team at council are deserving of congratulations for bringing back this magnificent contribution to cultural life. I encourage everyone to visit our new MAC and follow the exciting program of events planned in the future.
Kate Elderton, Toronto
PICTURE IS NOT PERFECT
I HAVE now seen the photograph of solicitor Jared Resevsky from my office and barrister Patrick Williams in the Herald for the third time in a week today ('Tradie's hell to stem cell', Herald 23/11). I thank the Herald for the exposure, but frankly, I am getting exhausted.
Where are the photos of Prince Andrew, or other topical persons in the news?
Yes, my firm did act for a company associated with Daniel Roberts and Shashanth Shankar Tellakula Gowrishankar. and in acting for them this client won an appeal to the Supreme Court.
My firm and Barrister Patrick Williams did a sterling job in representing a client on the merits of the case without bias or prejudice. We are professionals. We have not acted for this client on most of the other matters aligned with the photograph. We did not act for the client in those matters because we were not instructed to act.
Craig Doyle, McDonald Johnson Lawyers
SHARE YOUR OPINION
Email letters@newcastleherald.com.au or send a text message to 0427 154 176 (include name and suburb). Letters should be fewer than 200 words. Short Takes should be fewer than 50 words. Correspondence may be edited and reproduced in any form.
TWO of the most unlikely events to occur in Australian cricket since The Don's second-ball duck in his final test match at Lord's did so in the first test against Pakistan, with barely a ripple by enthusiasts. David Warner, quite likely our fastest run-getter in the game since then, scored only three runs in his final hour at the crease. Steve Smith, second to Bradman in world test averages at about 64.5, was meanwhile dismissed for four, the lowest score in the team.
Ron Elphick, Buff Point
IAN Kirkwood ('It's a bushfire, by gum', Weekender 23/11): this is hardly a fire at Springwood that you cherry-picked to prove a point. This is a 6000-kilometre fire front. We can no longer rely on firefighting aircraft from overseas as our fire seasons now merge with each other. All this has been noted by the experts, who have been in the business of fighting fires all their lives.
Dan Kirkpatrick, Karuah
PETER Lewis aptly captures the folly of the apparent love affair of a city, its people and an industry that promotes fuel-driven vehicles, speed and excessive noise when ordinary citizens simply ask for those in authority to act in the best interests of all the community (Opinion, Herald, 23/11.) Supercars may rev up the heads, however, what value are they to society overall amenity?
Allan Gibson, Cherrybrook
I HAVE said it before; our politicians aren't up to the job and are destroying our country. What is needed is people like Adrian and Emma Brown. When they wanted to buy a cattle station in the Northern Territory in 2014, they were told it's very risky and expensive in this particular environment. Lucky they had intelligence and the will to succeed. They invested in the one thing that is needed on a cattle station: water infrastructure and feed. In three years, their station has gone from carrying 2600 cattle to carrying over 40,000 and they are now supplying agistment to others. We have the right people, only they aren't in Canberra. With the circus that is going on there, who could blame them?
Allan Earl, Beresfield
BILL Snow (Letters, 23/11) is correct in that Israel Folau has a right to freedom of speech, but that does not mean that people do not also have a right to denounce his views and opinions. In my opinion the fact that Folau recently used the tragedy of the bushfires where people lost their lives to push his agenda should be a wake-up call to the fact that he practices an extreme, fundamentalist form of Christianity. His comments are both divisive and, in this case, in very poor taste. They deserve to be challenged if we want to remain a harmonious and cohesive society.
Ivan Hecimovic, Lambton
BILL Snow (Letters, 23/11), Israel Folau exercises his right to free speech at every opportunity available to him. Nobody arrests him or censors him. The rational thinkers in the community use their right to free speech to ridicule his beliefs. Even Alan Jones told him to "button up" and Barnaby Joyce invited us to "throw rocks back at him". Free speech is alive and well.