For years we were able to trust our future to Labor, which stood by the miner. But now, we've got a Labor party where one person (Murray Watt) says they "treasure" every mining job, while another (Mark Butler) says the party wants to move away from mining.

Now we've got the Nationals coming to town, and they are actually speaking up for coal jobs ('Roadmap in wrong direction: Nationals', Newcastle Herald 26/11). At the next election, voters will be asked to choose between a party that supports mining jobs and the tens of thousands of jobs they support or a party that isn't sure whether it's coming or going. I know how I'll vote.

IN his opinion piece commenting on the alleged criminal actions of SAS troops in Afghanistan, Harley Dennett ('Murder, cover-up in special forces', Newcastle Herald 20/11) opines that the Australian War Memorial needs to amend its SAS tribute.

I agree that the Australian War Memorial must make changes to the SAS exhibit. However, I wonder if the Australian War Memorial will make similar changes to the memorial tributes for every conflict Australia has been involved in since the Boer War.

Difficult as it may be, Australians should be made aware that Australian troops have been accused of committing war crimes in many of the wars we have been involved in. The undeserved iconic status given to 'Breaker' Morant cannot hide the fact that he was responsible for the execution of at least eight people who were unarmed.

At the end of World War I in December 1918 Australian soldiers along with their New Zealand counterparts bayoneted at least 40 unarmed Bedouin, with some reports that the number executed could be as high as 100. The Kokoda Trail is etched into the Australian psyche but how many Australians are aware that the execution of Japanese prisoners of war was commonplace. As one senior army officer recorded, "after one platoon had cleared a Japanese position and captured several Japanese Troops the platoon moved on leaving the prisoners behind, a second platoon would follow and execute the prisoners".

Since the Vietnam war it has become increasingly difficult to identify the enemy but there can be no excuse for murder.

GREG Hunt (Short Takes, 26/11) says Donald Trump still has 75 million supporters. But how many of them voted for Trump because he's Trump, and how many voted for him because he was the Republican candidate?

I asked a group of Republicans online a question to test this: If Donald Trump now started his own political party, how many Republicans would leave the party to join him? The highest estimate was 30 per cent, some people suggested "very few" or similar, and the average was around 15 per cent.

That would be enough to split the conservative vote with the result that few or no Republicans would win an election if there was both a Democrat and a Trump party candidate running against them. It indicates that Trump's real supporter base is much smaller than sometimes suggested, but certainly big enough that it can't be ignored.

He has already driven many Never Trump Republicans from the fold. If he doesn't start a new party, how many more will leave if he continues to behave as he has so far, but now without either the power or protection of being president? Contrary to Mr Hunt's suggestion, it might be conservatives wishing they could write Trump off, with the left happy to see him causing endless headaches for the Republican party.

RICHARD Mallaby (Letters, 19/11) claimed pumped hydro storage was proven by citing Switzerland. Switzerland? Really? Switzerland is a small cool, mountainous, snowbound alpine country in the centre of Europe. How can that compare to Australia, the driest of all continents, that is flat, hot, very dry and prone to very prolonged droughts? In fact, a feature story by Matthew Kelly ("Dam left high and dry", Herald 20/11) started off with the words "A NEW Lower Hunter dam, could take years to fill, rendering it potentially useless in the midst of a severe drought".

Pumped hydro storage would require two dams at each facility with both prone to severe water evaporation-loss in dry periods, lowering generating efficiency to even lower than Switzerland's 70 . Even in Switzerland (No.1 in the world), PHS provides less than a third of their power. The rest is made up from thermal (3 plants) and Nuclear (5 plants). There is no record of anyone from the NSW government having visited any potential pumped hydro storage sites in NSW to ensure that any of them would be practical. But don't worry, the renewable energy zones as planned will still have plenty of dispatchables (coal and gas-powered plants) to keep the lights on. History shows that's pretty well understood and tested.

THERE has been a fair amount of talk of late regarding our national anthem and a proposed minor change by our Premier, making a huge change in meaning. There have also been suggestions by prominent public figures to have a complete change with the most popular suggestion, We Are Australian. I feel that we need to remember that as important as the lyrics may be, the melody and harmonies are of equal importance. This is particularly evident with national anthems where the melody only is often played on the world stage. Think Olympic Games presentation ceremonies.

The melody of a national anthem needs to elicit an emotional response in the listener. For example, consider the French and American anthems. Although We Are Australian certainly has meaningful words, I'm afraid the melody and harmonies just do not cut it, certainly in the eight bars of the verse. The eight-bar chorus is just too short to stand on its own as an anthem.

JOHN Hewson's column ('National interests should come before party', Opinion 27/11) was the way I have been thinking for years. The Opposition at every level should work with the government. They received almost as many votes, and for this reason both should work together for the people of Australia. All parties should work together for the good of the people of Australia.

Germany and Australia are the only two countries in the world that work towards having a budget in surplus. Now and for a long time borrowing money is cheap, and we should build on this to make our country a sustainable country to live in. Let's forget the Abbott way of thinking and doing; let's work together and have prosperity for our children and grandchildren.

GIVEN they have said coal and gas fire electricity is cheaper than the alternatives I assume Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan and David Gillespie don't have solar panels on their roofs ('Nationals launch petition for new Hunter coal power station', Newcastle Herald 27/11)

I WOULD like to give a special mention to the friendly and hardworking staff and volunteers of the Soul Cafe in Dalton Street Newcastle and thank them for their work serving hot meals to the needy during the day. They all do a wonderful job.

REGARDING Rick Hoswell on Joel Fitzgibbon's level of thought and actions (Short Takes, 24/11): perhaps Joel has common sense.

BEING a political grandstander like Scott Morrison has its drawbacks when it comes to China relations. Careful diplomacy has been ignored for political point scoring. Now Mr Morrison will have to eat humble pie.

I FIND it a bit rich that the Morrison government is looking to delay superannuation guarantee increases when federal politicians receive 15.4 per cent contribution into their super from the tax payer.

ROD Woodhouse (Short Takes, 24/11) has a strong point. The stopping of the river flow by damming rivers is unwise as a healthy river environment is created by active river flow. Many water creatures rely on the river flow and we should be concerned about that. The solution is really very simple and that is digging a dam adjacent to the river and extracting only the excess flow, so as the river remains healthy and the community gets to a water storage facility for both humans and animals. It is imperative that any such dams are dug deep so little water is lost via evaporation. Stop being lazy; dig dams deep and stop blocking our rivers.

I WAS pleased when Julian Assange made public the killing of civilians by US forces. We need to know. With the current exposure of alleged war crimes by SAS Australia, it is good atrocities are not being covered over. In my opinion those that sent men repeatedly to tours of duty are responsible for the aftermath our soldiers face. We thank those that fight wars to keep Australia safe. We do not respect those that join us to wars unrelated to Australian safety.

REGARDING the conference centre plan ('CEntre of attention, Herald 24/11) it's a great idea as long as there is somewhere in the building that locals, not just business clientele, can enjoy as well.