Notably, other teams such as Cronulla lost three concussed players; Canberra had two concussed players, and of course there is the injury ravaged Eastern Suburbs team with a minimum number now available for the next round with concussion concerns paramount. All teams are so impacted and player welfare an issue, and structure a consideration.

A prominent absentee of course was Boyd Cordner, who has had ongoing concussion concerns since last year. Of course, the concussion issue is such that an 18th man replacement rule to placate the concussion problem arising from the quickened tempo of the game is seen as a short cut band-aid solution.

Gone are the days of player endurance after sniffing the ambo's magic potion, with the rule changes a spectator allurement. A comprehensive structure review should be a consideration. The injury toll on today's players is severe. Gang tackling, contact to "accidentally" injure and mishandle an opposition player has gone to extreme levels, now surpassing the levels of head-knocks as seen in the days of the likes of Parramatta's legendary lock-forward Ray Price.

AS a 91-year-old living in a retirement community I tried to get my first jab at my long-standing appointment I had with my GP on April 6, only to be told that the next COVID-19 clinic would not be held until May 20 as the federal government would not be supplying the vaccine before then.

The Prime Minister and his health minister said we, the aged, would have priority but if this is priority then God help those down the line. This is another case of Mr Morrison promising but never performing, like he did in the early days of the pandemic as the royal commission recorded that the federal government and his useless minister failed to plan for the protection of the aged in care. This led to the unnecessary and lonely deaths of some 685 patients in care.

This Coalition government has had the report of the royal commission for months but has given no indication of its plans to implement the recommendations and stop the abuse and neglect as recorded by its inquiries. Mr Morrison and his government in my opinion seem to regard our early deaths as saving on the budget so that they can give a greater cut to the rich. Not that they need it, as the wealth of our top billionaires increased during the pandemic by an obscene amount of some $85 billion as this government allowed billions of JobKeeper funds to flow to billionaires.

NOW is the time to prepare for future devastating bushfires ('Fire season smoulders out', Herald 1/4). Putting them out long before they take hold.

How could this be achieved, you ask? Well it's this simple: the federal government adheres to the Bushfire Royal Commission's recommendation to become involved in eliminating bushfires across the continent.

Involve Australia's best pilots by forming nation-wide squadrons of RAAF pilots available for interstate service, especially those who could retrain in large water-bombing aircraft and Elvis-style helicopters who wish to keep those skills when retiring and entering civilian life. During the devastating 2019-2020 bushfires we witnessed four civilian helicopter crashes and three deaths of American volunteers when their large water-bombing aircraft was lost.

It has been proved state governments can't cope with these emergencies.

There were no firefighting aircraft available worldwide when the California fires were raging.

The 33 civilians who lost their lives, over 2000 homes lost or damaged, the trauma and misery Australians suffered and are still suffering is intolerable in a wealthy, first-world country. The devastation of our fauna and flora and oxygen-generating forests is also intolerable. The earth's climate has changed and is always changing. Failure to adhere to the royal commission's recommendations should see heads roll.

A FEW people have less than enough knowledge about the reality of how we the invaders came to steal and possess the country Australia we call home.

Peter Holland (Short Takes, 30/3) suggests you read Stan Grant's book Talking to my country, and I suggest you read Bruce Pascoe's Dark Emu. This information must be taught in all Australian school services and distributed to every country's education curriculum. The atrocities carried out by the "superior whities" continue with ridicule, blasphemy and degradation of the essence of the longest, living human culture on the planet. Within 250 years Australia's First Nations people have seen desolation of the land they cared for over 60,000 years.

IT seems to me that the lord mayor's comments in Wednesday's story ('Inquiry says funding snubs 'unacceptable'', Herald 31/3) have indicated that Newcastle misses out on grant funding because we elect Labor representatives and Labor is in opposition.

Has she just opened the independents' campaign for the September local government election in Newcastle? If we vote independent we can solve that little problem. That's easy. How will that work for us?

I HAVE just witnessed investigative reporting at its very best: Exposed: The ghost train fire. This miniseries presented on ABC TV in three parts has shown us how corruption was allegedly rife in the NSW Police Force in the 1970s and '80s. It was 1979 and that corruption went right to the top and the show appears to allege that officials, potentially including former Premier Neville Wran, were involved. The fire led to the death of six children and one dad, while one mum stood outside the ride and watched as her entire family burned to death.

It has become evident to me that major cover-ups occurred over many years and true justice did not occur. I applaud this investigation and I cried for the victims and their families. I lived in Sydney several years before this tragedy and visited Luna Park often, and so it hit quite close to home for me, but everyone recognises injustice when it is shown on this scale.

Watch it on ABC IView if you can. It will make you angry and bring out feelings of disgust and despair that such injustice should have gone unpunished. I hope that it's not too late.

FEDERAL LNP member Andrew Laming, our man of the moment, says he will not contest the next Federal Election and the PM is fine with that. That would be great if the next election was next weekend. The way the government is travelling, the next election could be 12 to 18 months away and this person will be receiving his full salary and perks until then. Show some leadership PM and show this person the door now. It is about principal not numbers.

IT'S not good enough for Andrew Laming just to not re-contest at the election due to completely unacceptable behaviour ('No police action against Andrew Laming', Newcastle Herald 1/4). Apparently it means he is good enough to stay and represent constituents for this term, which seems very convenient given the numbers. It seems that the counseling can come later and at a more suitable time. I am truly glad not to be one of his constituents. With the toxic environment and stress around the capital I am really not sure how well members would receive the proposed drug and alcohol testing. However, if testing leads to any reduction in political performance we really will be in trouble.

IN Mayfield all banks and building societies are closed or moved on. What's the place coming to?

AT long last the State Senate of Arizona has bowed to overwhelming voter concern to start immediately on a full forensic audit of Maricopa County which in my opinion was the most suspicious of vote fraud in the American 2020 election. this will put faith back into the election system or demolish it.

MICHAEL Stevenson, these companies should be publicly named and shamed, and consumers should black ban them.

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison makes a big announcement: building missiles in Australia. Let's hope the missiles are not duds like the vaccine rollout.

DENNIS Crampton (Short Takes, 31/3) nobody ever kicks a dead dog." It seems Albo's $15bn National Reconstruction Fund is good enough to have you worried. Originally ignoring it, you motivated me to take a look. I think your concern is justified.

PETER Sansom (Letters 31/3) reminds me of a comment by NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance in the early stages of light rail in Newcastle. When asked for details about plans for future extensions, Mr Constance replied, "That's a matter for future government".

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