Balancing supply and demand is a technical problem, and the country has enough engineers to solve it. The real problem is a managerial one: having too many hands stirring the pot.

Back when we had a single state electricity commission, in charge of all generators and all distribution infrastructure, rational planning was possible because the left hand knew what the right hand was doing. With our present rat's nest of a system, everyone is focused on their own subsystem, and it's harder to solve the global planning problems. If, for example, the network is close to going unstable because of reliance on a too-long transmission line, there is a serious risk that all the operating companies will say "I don't hold the hose, mate". There is an even bigger risk that nobody will notice that there is a problem because of inadequate sharing of information. Does the coordinating authority, the Australian Energy Market Regulator, employ any power system design and analysis engineers? It appears to be concerned only with pricing, but market forces have zero competence in solving technical problems.

Our political masters have seen plenty of screw-ups caused by privatisation. They have adequate evidence to show that greed-based management does not work. Why do they insist on privatising every public asset they can find?

IT was reported that retail heiress Tracy Norman will be an independent candidate for the Upper Hunter byelection, running on a platform of ditching fossil fuels in the coal-rich region ('Former mayor to run in byelection', Newcastle Herald 15/4). It was also reported that countries such as Japan and South Korea had already set a 2050 deadline to become carbon neutral. Many countries are planning to build or are building coal fired power plants, including Japan 45, South Korea 26 and China 1171.

For countries now building coal fired power plants, which last for in excess of 50 years, and then making deadlines to become carbon neutral in 29 years, does not make any common sense. The pre-eminent department within the Australian Government is the Treasury, and they would be lucky to make an accurate prediction in a 12-month period. Are we then to believe what some overseas politicians are promising of what will happen in 29 years' time?

At this time renewables play a small part in our electricity supply, and so they should. The taxpayer-funded renewables gravy train keeps rolling along being propped up by tens of millions of dollars from public funds.

JOHN Rumble (Letters, 16/4): 30 years ago climate scientists warned the world must substantially reduce the burning of fossil fuels to create energy, and transition to non-carbon renewables, if we were to avoid a hotter climate and more extreme weather events, which could make parts of the world uninhabitable for future generations.

Back then fossil fuels were far cheaper than renewables. The world was skeptical of the climate claims, and resistant to such major change, so the transition was slow. Another 30 years on, the cost of renewable energy has dropped dramatically (over 90 per cent for solar). Renewables not only reduce emissions, they now have the significant price advantage, and have proven to be more reliable and flexible than fossil fuels. And, unlike our coal fired plants, they don't use the amount of drinking water required to support 5.4 million Australians.

In recent years, the world has experienced just how economy-wrecking even the early impacts of our changing climate can be, leading to greater understanding of how serious the situation is.

Environmental pressure and economic common sense will accelerate the energy transition to renewables, making Malcolm Turnbull's proposed moratorium on new coal mines in the Upper Hunter ('Turnbull's coal comments 'sealed his fate'', Herald 7/4) critical, not comical; and the union's drive for a labour transition plan to the many renewable jobs that will be generated, an essential and pressing activity.

MY 90-year-old mother is in John Hunter Hospital's Royal Newcastle Centre after an urgent knee operation on Friday. The entrance to the Royal is only open Monday to Friday. At weekends everyone has to use the main entrance. It is a long walk from there to my mother's ward, E3. As I have rheumatoid and osteoarthritis I am unable to walk that far. This means I am unable to see my mother this weekend. She is quite confused and scared, but I cannot be there to comfort her. I understand about COVID precautions, but I believe this is about cost cutting. On Friday there was one nurse at the Royal entrance checking temperatures, so why not at the weekend? A sad situation.

THE efficacy for the Pfizer vaccine is far greater than any of the other COVID vaccines at present on the market according to the latest evaluation by the independent Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.

The efficacies at preventing symptomatic disease and also preventing infection are measured by the IHME as 95 and 86 per cent respectively for Pfizer and 74 per cent and 52 per cent for AstraZeneca. For new variants of COVID-19 the figures for AstraZeneca are projected to be even lower with an efficacy of 10 per cent.

In the light of these statistics, everyone, including the over 50s, should be given the opportunity to have the Pfizer vaccine, albeit at a later date than for the AstraZeneca.

OVER the course of the 2020 and 2021 summer the Hunter Melanoma Foundation (HMF) ran a campaign, Spot Check, that provided the general public and Hunter Surf Life Saving Community with free skin checks. Australia has one of the highest incidence of melanoma cases in the world. From the Spot Check campaign more than 723 people were checked by a team of doctors and from that more than 35 people were identified as needing further investigation for skin lesions.

These doctors from Newcastle Skin Check will tell you that they were just part of a wider group that included volunteers, sponsors and supporters who made it possible for so many people to be checked.

Even though the Foundation held a presentation that thanked everyone who contributed to the success of Spot Check. I think it is important to further acknowledge the importance local businesses like Newcastle Skin Check play in ensuring initiatives like this can not only come to fruition but continue into the future. I believe it important that the community is aware that the doctors donated their time, resources and expertise to provide these free skin checks.

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison's new empathetic, engaging approach makes him look sookie and vulnerable in my opinion. He's still as indecisive as ever. Not what I expect to see in a Prime Minister.

HERE is a very old saying that can be used every day: beware of half-truths, you may have the wrong half.

WHERE is the vaccine rollout in Newcastle? My hubby and I are in our 70s, and have found there's no vaccine available with our GP. It is a large practice they were guaranteed vaccines a month ago, still waiting. Now they are talking about under 50s. The organisation is terrible.

BRAVO to Miriam Allan's superb singing at Prince Phillip's funeral in the four-person choir, and let's inform Novocastrians that she is one of us.

WHAT will happen to the economy when out of work Australians can no longer afford to buy cheap imported items?

DON Fraser (Short Takes, 20/4) could read a little wider and he may get a better idea of why people think Scott Morrison is a hypocrite. The only trouble is that all but the right wingers can see the hypocrisy.

IN reply to Michael Hinchey, (Short Takes, 19/4), my comment on Prince Philip ran as a letter on April 15, not as a short take. To clarify for Mr Hinchey's sake, Prince Philip helped start WWF and was concerned about climate change but that was decades ago. Over the last 10 years the prince, being better informed on the science, had become "an outspoken climate sceptic and critic". A wise man indeed. Vale, Prince Philip.

FURTHER to the Christine Holgate saga ('Humiliated: Holgate has PM in sights', Newcastle Herald 14/4) it has been reported she was entitled, as CEO, to give the four people bonuses of up to $150,000 each which she decided against in favour of the Cartier gifts in 2018. In doing so she has saved Australia Post even more, so why did Prime Minister Scott Morrison get so worked up? Also if the Australian people are the major stakeholders why were we, the people, not consulted before he called for her sacking?

PLEASE, please, please can we have more letters from people like Doug and Cherylin Beever (Short Takes, 20/4)? With all the negativity and greed around us these days it's easy to forget what is really important until selfless individuals, who make this country the great place it is, remind us.