I wish her every success, but know it will be a long, hard road. All other victims of child sexual abuse will vouch for that. When men, women and children are violated in this way they receive a life sentence regarding their mental, emotional and physical health. Suicide is common.

When Rosie Batty was Australian of the Year back in 2015 there were expectations that things would change regarding family violence. Rosie herself was a broken woman because of the murder of her young son by her ex-partner.

She shone a light on heinous crimes mostly against women and children but sadly the reality is way too many women are still dying at the hands of violent, aggressive partners and much more funding is needed for education, protection and housing.

We can only hope that by speaking out these two exceptional women will soon see changes to the law that will enable victims of crime to get through the court process in a more equitable and less taxing and humiliating way, a way that won't hinder them seeking justice.

At present the law makes it way too hard for victims.

SCOTT Morrison has said "we don't respond to threats", in respect of Google's threatened suspension of its service to Australia. However, this is a bluff; political spin for voter consumption. But how can a sovereign nation kowtow to the digital gurus of Silicon Valley? ('We don't respond to threats': PM, Herald, 23/1).

Google has become an essential part of Australians' lives. We use this digital search engine every day to find information and products. Businesses use it to find customers. Google earns income through linking you with advertisers. Every time you click on an advertiser's site, the advertiser pays Google. The better Google designs an algorithm that finds you, the more revenue is earned by Google.

You do not pay for Google because you are the "product".

MORE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

Using the same method, Google finds and presents you with news stories that will interest you. It also "aggregates" news stories from everywhere and presents them as 'Google News'. This enhances your use of Google and boosts Google's revenue.

Our federal government wants Google to pay for news it uses to boost its revenue flow. This seems entirely reasonable. But if the federal government legislates accordingly, Google has firstly threatened to suspend its news service to Australian users. It has since found that this to be impractical and costly. So, now it is threatening to suspend its Google search engine to Australians altogether.

Australia cannot go it alone in confronting Google. We need a significant number of other nations of the world to join Australia. Otherwise, Australia will end up with a lame deal with Google. 'Scotty from marketing' will have his work cut out to spin this deal to the voting public.

THE public availability of local police and, hopefully. Hunter health expert advice on the magnitudes of alcohol-related harms in Newcastle and the most effective measures to prevent and reduce the same, is most welcome and long overdue (NH, 28/1, King St Hotel).

The police's critical submissions to Newcastle Council regarding the King St Hotel's DA proposal to significantly increase their patronage, makes for compulsory reading. It lays bare not only the contribution of late trading pubs to our high levels of alcohol-related violence and disturbances of which only a fraction is reported to police, but also the inconsistency of the pub's assertions with the police's evidence and experience.

A good example is the pub's reported reliance on the alcohol lobby assertion also supported by Newcastle Council, that increased patronage creates more foot traffic, that in turn creates more passive surveillance by presumably other patrons, and consequentially safety.

This assertion is dubious at best. There is little or no independent scientific evidence supporting their conclusion. Instead, large crowds of intoxicated patrons on the streets later at night, bumping into each other, is a sure recipe for violence and harm.

Newcastle police and health experts know this best. Their trusted brave front line workers have been responding to these preventable and declining hazards for years at substantial costs to taxpayers and their own safety and welfare.

The King Street Hotel DA will provide an important litmus test for our elected representatives. Will they finally prioritise the safety and amenity of the rapidly expanding number of inner-city residents and families over those of the vested commercial interests of the powerful alcohol lobby seeking now to openly abolish the package of Newcastle's licensing conditions? It respectfully begins with belated preference and acceptance of the credibility, independence and reliability of police and health advice when it comes to the regulation of our city's public spaces and licensed premises.

THE proposal to improve King St Hotel, including through the addition of a small bar, will be an interesting test case for council. I hope they signal they are committed to developing Newcastle's night-time economy by approving this application, and in doing so, give more businesses the confidence to invest in our nightlife.

Having a vibrant night-time economy, which includes more nightclubs, carries with it social risks including anti-social behaviour. But the response to those risks can't be to deny progress because of fear or worst-case scenario predictions. Let's embrace progress and provide young people in our city more options for entertainment.

QUEENSLAND Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is crying poor and putting the blame on the federal government for the condition of their tourism industry. She keeps on closing her borders to her state because of a power trip, also ignoring her own constituents who pleaded with her to look after their industry.

Don't blame other states, nor the federal government, for your ignorance. I'm sorry, but your requests for retaining the JobKeeper payments towards your tourism industry should not be endorsed. The people of NSW took it on the chin and worked hard towards getting the economy back on its feet while she kept borders closed. Residents from all other states dearly wanted to be tourists in your state, but no, you wanted to swing the big club. Shame, I feel sorry for your people in this industry, but they re-elected you.

COAL to power a manufacturing renaissance. Eh? Come again? What a knuckle-headed, short-sighted, downright dopey idea. Is there no one representing the region who isn't motivated by a fear of losing their seat? Brave, visionary leadership seems to have gone into hard lockdown in the Hunter's coal myopia epidemic, which has had widespread impact across the political spectrum. Holding our collective breath for a warrior to appear, with a Biden-esque broom to sweep out the self-interested, I can't help wondering if the region will ever reach the front of the line for a respirator. As Seba Smith wrote in 'The Money Diggers' - 'there are more ways than one to skin a cat, so are there more ways than one of digging for money'. By the way, calling it 'clean' coal doesn't make it so. No. It doesn't.

"CLIMATE deniers" as people are branded, are much maligned in letters to the editor, however, in my view the bigger deniers are the those that worship at the altar of climate change, these people refused to acknowledge that on any given day the vast majority of electricity in Australia is generated via that demon called coal, these people also in denial that we will need baseload power for years to come even on Australia Day not a cloud in the sky and yet we still needed coal to produce something like 80 per cent of all electricity in NSW and we still had brownouts across Sydney. Heaven help us if we continue down this road of denial of the need for coal/gas fired generation. If we want manufacturing jobs back in Australia, we need to get real, real quick, on the need for baseload power generation.

WE should change Australia Day from a date to a day. It should be the third Monday in January instead of a fixed date. It's Aussie to have a long weekend.

AUSTRALIA Day. We applaud it and then whinge. Some laud it and some cringe. I personally love it because it is a day off of work. But I'll be damned if I'm going to protest on something I believe in on a public holiday. Yet if I were to do it on a working day, it would be known as striking and that may be misconstrued as illegal.

SO-called "recipients of arts grants and bludgers" (Letters, 28/1) can't get a look in to pick fruit. While many Australians are still finding it difficult to get home due to the pandemic, there seems to be no problem flying in Pacific Islanders and others on 457 visas to fulfil this task and at the right price.

HE has a preferred prime minister rating that is less than half of Scott Morrison's, but Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has boldly stated that he "will be the next leader of the country after the next election". After politics, Albo might have a big future as a stand up comedian.