My newest Australian great grandfather, William, paid his own fare to Australia as a youth in 1853, probably looking for gold, but finding farm management more profitable.

My forebears worked in mining and agriculture ("the pick followed by the plough") until the urbanisation of Australia after WWI. In the 1920s many of them moved to Newcastle looking for work. They settled the land, they worked their Lilly-white English bums off, they raised children, and they made every effort to advance our family.

I am grateful that my forebears came to this beautiful country and provided opportunity for me and my siblings and my children and grandchildren. At age 80 my life spans one third of our European history.

But on Australia Day I also feel great sorrow for what we have done to the land and its Indigenous people. Like many Australians I am growing increasingly appalled at the degradation we have brought to the soils and the rivers and the oceans and the animals and plants, and I grieve for what we have done to our First Nations people.

But I sense a new consciousness that we can do something to remedy this destruction. The bushfires of recent times, the floods that ravaged parts of the country a year ago, the floods that followed the bushfires, and the plastics inundation of our oceans make it imperative that we learn to better care for the world and its living things.

Helping fire victims, buying new helicopters, funding Indigenous programs and the like, are necessary and urgent. But more necessary and more urgent - and much more challenging - is the need to nurture the environment, and to nurture each other.

My father was born on January 26 back when it was called Anniversary Day. His young life as a farm worker and his later years as a BHP labourer, and Mum's life as a mum are part of the great Australian story.

These are the things that occupied my thoughts and feelings on what we now call Australia Day.

I AGREE the planet is getting hotter, you don't need a scientist to tell you that. It's pretty obvious that hundreds of thousands of aircraft flying around the planet spewing out greenhouse gases, at extremely high temperatures into a cold atmosphere, is going to have an effect on the planet's ability to diffuse the heat on the earth's surface back into the atmosphere.

Not to mention the added effect of greenhouse gases being released from the earth's surface, albeit mother nature has a way of dealing with them to maintain the balance needed to sustain life.

Bushfires are also a part of maintaining that balance. Unlike some of our man-made disasters, bushfires are a natural occurrence. They have been happening since the bush was created as part of nature's way of maintaining our atmosphere, usually started by lightning strikes. This clears the undergrowth and the deadwood so the trees can regenerate to continue doing the amazing job they do in sustaining life on this planet.

Climate change or not there will be bushfires as long as there is bush to burn. All we can do is try and reduce the risk by removing trees from around properties and particularly roads going in out of isolated communities where so many people have lost their lives trying to escape. The Australian Defence Force also needs to introduce firefighting into its basic training to assist in fighting these fires at the coalface.

A NUMBER of corporate water users such as City of Newcastle, Newcastle racecourse, and others are looking into the viability of reusing treated waste sewer water by pumping it from HWC treatment facility. This is great news and a great initiative.

Perhaps another means of securing water for these purposes is to create tanks and reservoirs fed by water diverted from our storm water channels, perhaps to go even further HWC could create multiple tanks or reservoirs that the public could fill tankers or ICB's to be used for irrigation or to truck out to more needy areas.

SINCE 1946 when I was born, there have been 17 prime ministers, 10 LNP and 7 ALP. LNP has governed for 49 years and ALP for 24 years. There have been some good prime ministers and some good governments, some poor, but most acted in the best interest of all Australians, visitors and immigrants. But never have I seen such a lazy, do-nothing, I believe corrupt, lying, neo-fascist and overall useless government.

How anybody could vote for this bunch of ditherers is beyond me. They have no plan and probably no intention of making responsible decisions about drought, bushfires and least of all climate change. Instead, they mask their inability to act by establishing royal commissions, government inquiries, etc as a smoke screen (pun not intended). I don't care who you vote for, but please, get rid of these incompetents.

YOU have to wonder at the spending priorities of Newcastle council, when it can spend tens of millions on restoration of City Hall, a building which they have just left empty, but can't find any money to restore another heritage gem, Newcastle Ocean Baths, a central part of our heritage, regularly used by thousands for recreation, physical exercise, and social contact.

In December 2018 lord mayor Nelmes said "We are painstakingly restoring this 1929 heritage building (City Hall) to endure as the Civic precinct's showpiece" ('Restored Newcastle City Hall ramp revealed', Newcastle Herald, 21/12/18). That was just six months before the decision by our Labor-dominated council to vacate that very precinct, in an ill-considered move to rented premises in the west end. Yet again, this smacks of decision-making on the run.

If "activation" is council's current aim, then these spending priorities seem misplaced. Why require a private partner simply to maintain a heavily-used and totemic city asset, the baths? It is obvious that the community simply wants the baths to be restored and run efficiently, without the over-development suggested.

Further, the community demands an honest report from the council on any expressions of interest for the baths project received, their cost to their community, and any impact they might have on users, including paid parking.

WHAT beautiful words of a "fighting warrior", the exact words described of I myself sharing the last breath of my late wife, Melissa, mentioning her nice pins, and what cancer takes from us, so early in life ('Jill's story isn't finished', Newcastle Herald, 23/1). Beautiful words describing a hideous disease. RIP Little Warrior Jill Emberson.

MIGHT it be possible to sit Channel 7's loud, guffawing and garrulous male cricket commentators in front of the TV, to listen to the Channel 9 tennis commentary teams? Their agenda would be simple: to note the fundamentals of the Benaud model, that is, how and when to shut up.

I SHARE your sadness, Tony Winton (Short Takes, 23/1). I still mourn the Laman Street figs. Senseless destruction by an arrogant few. The life of a tree and the life it sustains is nothing short of glorious, miraculous and sacred. Leave them be.

SAD news with the death of Scott Morrison's father. I wonder if Alan Jones will repeat that disgusting comment he made with the passing of Julia Gillard's father.

WE are in a crisis, people are losing everything, people are dying and the Labor party are playing petty politics over community sports grants that are actually improving people's quality of life. Seriously. Internationally we must be looking like a joke.

GRAEME Kime (Letter, 24/1): yes I did watch that most educational documentary. All credit to SBS but unfortunately I imagine most viewers were engrossed with either the tennis and cricket or, wait for it, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. Maybe it's time to give so much meat the flick and the doco should be compulsory viewing for all.

THE Scott Morrison government's attempts to convince us that we're doing our best to reduce greenhouse emissions is laughable. In 2012/13 under a Labor government, Australia was rated first on effective action on climate change. Today we are ranked the worst of 57 OECD countries. From best to worst in seven years. How good's Australia.

MR Morrison has expressed his usual disdain for anyone who disagrees with him. Morrison informed Mr Kean, the NSW Environment Minister, that he 'doesn't know what he's talking about'. With his credentials in tatters, Mr Morrison can be forgiven for being offended by an informed, progressive member of his own party.

THE devastating bushfires have kept those few who hate Australia Day on January 26 a bit quiet. There has been a couple of online votes to change the date, latest was 'no' 83 per cent, 'yes' 13 per cent so those who want us to take responsibility for something 250 years ago are a minority. Next week you can start on Anzac Day and the flag, after all we do not want to offend our past enemies.