Mr Dillon further gets it right when he references Lawrie McKinna's involvement as unflappable. More than that, he has been a stabilising influence and an encouraging force for the Jets. Given his background as a player and administrator, who would expect different? I first met McKinna when he and Graham Arnold were seeking to get the Mariners up and running. His dedication and commitment has not changed. In respect to Mr Dillon's view of the FFA in broad terms, it needs to stir from the also-ran A-League football competition and seek to manage and promote the sport in a far more aggressive way than recently. This round ball code is a base to the highest player count in the country yet it seems to struggle for its proper place, and still we cannot decide if the A-League is a summer competition or a winter event.

The recent announcement that the Women's World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand will provide invaluable free publicity and a huge spike in interest in the game. Let's hope the FFA will gear itself to capitalise on this huge worldwide event and not drop the ball after the event.

ALLIGATOR hunting, pawn, cooking, trucker, dating and fishing programs, advance organiser politically biased news and current affairs and even ABC reruns on what Scott Hillard describes as the diverse commercial media? No, I think I will stick with my ABC and SBS.

Eight cents per day represents great value including relatively objective news and current affairs. I say this because the ABC has been dragged to the right. Just look at appointed staffing, axing of analytical programs such as Lateline and funding starvation. Fundamentally, the argument is about broadening the mind rather than narrowing the mind with the above mentioned mindless commercial programming.

Look no further than the USA, where some interviewees claim COVID-19 is a hoax and does not exist. As for the existence of the left in Australia, where is it? Look no further than Labor's failure to repeal the first toxic tax, the GST, and its introduction of the euphemistic Fair Work Act. Two colours of the same brand, in my opinion. As for your condemnation of the ABC, Mr Hillard, you sure seem to know a lot about its programs. I think you may be a closet fan.

I WOULD like to reply to Christine Ettridge (Letters, 26/6) about her disappointment at discovering Newcastle parking officers patrolling her granddaughter's school. We know that some parents of school-age children are a privileged, elite group. They are exempt from adhering to school safety signs and, for them, road rules are optional. I abhor the audacity of the Newcastle parking officers taking photos of cars allegedly parked illegally outside the school gate. Such behaviour is to be condemned.

I imagine the reason these officers patrol outside schools at end-of-day pickup is usually due to reports by a parent or teacher to the City of Newcastle regarding unsafe practices by some parents' parking habits. If the patrol officer took a photo of her car number plate, perhaps she may look forward to an infringement notice in the mail.

In future, those drivers may like to park their cars around the corner and walk to the school gate for pick up. I have no sympathy for flouters of the traffic rules. Well done Newcastle City parking officers.

I WOULD like to respectfully disagree with Rob Bernasconi (Letters, 29/6). In my experience most young people do not know what work they want to do; in fact, some of us never do. This is evidenced by the number of students who fail first year subjects at university and/or change their course of study.

I left school at 15, because I was tired of being poor although my teachers implored me to stay on. As an adult, I went back to night school to matriculate and eventually to university as a mature-aged student where I regularly changed my plan of study. I am forever grateful that I have been exposed to three languages, maths, science, history, economics, psychology, sociology, physiology, statistics and philosophy. On reflection, I wish I had been able to include geography and literature.

A neighbour of mine graduated as a journalist, practised for many years and then decided that she wanted to be a physiotherapist, a career where she is extremely happy.

Unless students are exposed to a particular subject they may not be aware that they have an aptitude for it. Everyone can benefit from a broad education.

THE looming Eden-Monaro byelection reminds us that the position of candidates on a ballot paper is determined by a system using numbered balls similar to a Lotto draw. The candidate at the top of the list traditionally benefits from the donkey vote, usually estimated at about five per cent of the ballots.

We shouldn't have to depend on this old technology. Ballot papers are, I presume, generated by a software-controlled printer, and in software it is easy to create a randomised list of candidates; not just for the entire batch of papers, but for each paper separately. If this were done, each voter at a polling place would get a voting paper where the order of candidates is likely to be different from that for the preceding voter. The randomising effect would eliminate the advantage of the donkey votes. Such a change would probably be opposed by those who produce how-to-vote lists, but I cannot see any other disadvantage.

IF Carl Stevenson (Letters, 26/6) is referring to Snowy 2.0 in regard to the cost of pumped hydro then he's spot on. The cost has blown out from $2 billion to $5 billion and that doesn't include the cost of building transmission lines.

But he's wrong about nuclear power. A recent study on current and future generation costs by the CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator confirms that wind and solar, including the cost of battery storage, are the cheapest technologies for Australia, now and into the future, and much cheaper than the technologies promoted by the Australian government - gas, carbon capture, and nuclear.

WHY can't bikes be left at a bike ramp near Nobbys car park, and only walkers or prams allowed out to the point? Saturday morning I went for a walk with my husband at around 7.30am out to the breakwall at Nobbys, I am recovering from a heart attack so slowly doing some walking. Both of us were nearly run into by bike riders speeding along this path, out to the point and back. These people were over 50 in age and showed no signs of respect or bells to indicate passing. Had we moved an inch my husband would have been hit as they passed by from behind us. I'm a bike rider and would never do this.

THERE has been a lot said about various media outlets, and a lot of criticism of bias. It seems to me that some people believe that the media should hold the government of the day to account, I support that. However there are a lot of people who believe that the media should only hold the government to account when it is not the government of their choice.

ROB Stokes has told us that the new development on Honeysuckle will deliver more jobs, homes and public spaces ('State approves Honeysuckle apartments', Newcastle Herald 27/6). I suspect that for many this is not what they envisioned, a coffee shop sitting under eight stories of apartments that take away public space and will sit as a monument to the lies we were told about removing the rail line to open up the harbor.

GIVEN the vehemence of his criticisms, Scott Hillard must know a lot about ABC content (Short Takes, 27/6). Good to see him getting his eight cents a day's worth.

SORRY, Adam O'Brien, someone should have told you that the more that you pay for a show pony, the more likely it is lame. Don't be disheartened, as several other good coaches have left feeling sad and used. I suggest buying a big set of steel- cap boots and plant them appropriately.

I WOULD like to correct question 17 in Saturday's super quiz (Topics, 27/6). How many players take to the field whilst a cricket team is fielding? The answer is not 11 as published. I believe the correct answer is 13 as there are always two batsmen. Let's hope summer has a tonne of cricket to watch.

I SAW pictures of Trump playing golf during this horrendous COVID time and the old saying of Nero plays the fiddle while Rome burns came to mind.

TO Peter Devey and Scott Hillard who object to the constructive journalism by ABC reporting staff (Short Takes, 27/6). My advice to Peter and Scott is to simply change channels and then lay back and enjoy the bombardment of countless numbers of poorly acted insurance ads on the other channels. The lack of educational stimulus by other channels is the reason I prefer the honest viewing of the ABC.