THE Labor Party would be foolish to listen to the opinion of Joel Fitzgibbon after the results of the latest Lowy Institute's annual climate poll.
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Sixty per cent agreed "climate change was a serious and pressing problem", 65 per cent backed an emissions trading scheme (John Howard wanted one in 2006) and 60 per cent opposed new coal mines.
Results of the recent Upper Hunter by-election do not reflect the reality of the country. The top four candidates received a combined 71 per cent of the vote by telling voters what they wanted to hear - that things won't change if you vote for us.
The result understandably reflected a coal-mining community fearing looming change that will come through unstoppable market forces. If political parties are only offering the same vision the voter may as well go with the devil they know.
Labor needs to be honest with these communities - reject totally Mr Fitzgibbon's beliefs and position itself as the supporter of miners and their communities at present while providing transition planning and funding for their futures.
And Labor should look at their donors. Both major parties have taken over $100 million from big corporations since 2012. Conflict of interest exists between corporate and community needs and erodes our trust in politicians.
John Arnold, Anna Bay
Why are we going with gas?
THERE are a number of technical solutions that can be considered for providing energy security services to our national electricity grid.
All of the solutions will have their own strengths and weaknesses in solving what is a complex technological challenge and each should be considered on their own merits.
Who and how then determined that gas-fired generation units are the appropriate technology for the Kurri Kurri plant?
The gas-fired plant has been submitted for NSW state planning approval by Snowy Hydro apparently on the directive of the Prime Minister and Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister.
It will be funded, as a last resort, by the federal government as they have been unable to interest private investors who declined investment as the project was deemed to be uneconomic and high risk.
AEMO, the government's own department responsible for the energy grid produces in consultation with industry experts an integrated systems plan that sets out a 20-year technology and operations strategy for the energy network.
MORE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
- Knights should give Matt Lodge a chance
- Junior sport is about fresh air, learning
- Kurri Kurri gas plant a future stranded asset
- Knights should show more commitment
- Has anyone asked the fans what they want?
- Connecting the dots on where gas will go
- Common sense must prevail on pests
- We must do more to solve the housing crisis
The plan, updated at intervals to account for rapidly changing technology, indicates that gas will contribute a minor and diminishing role in electricity generation.
As the gas-fired technology has been dismissed by private investors as uneconomic and high risk and by federal and industry experts as a minor diminishing player in the electricity generation future, then it raises the question on what basis have the gas-fired units been proposed for the Kurri Kurri plant?
Sadly we may never know as the state planning process does not address these issues assessing the project as a stand alone entity against the state planning approval criteria.
Having dismissed the opinion of financial experts, government department and industry experts one can reasonably question why the government is proposing a gas-fired power plant?
Will the Kurri Kurri plant be the first small step that leads us into this government's ideologically ill-conceived gas recovery plan with its inherent adverse environmental and economic consequences?
Allan Evans, Lambton
Concern for 'precious' reserve
ALMOST nine years since the Coal River Working Party's original submission it is indeed great news that the Newcastle Recreation Reserve (King Edward Park) has finally been listed on to the State Heritage Register.
No explanation - at least publicly - was provided by the government however as to why the Headland Reserve was cast adrift from the listing.
It is very clear though that the government has denied the evidence - from the Coal River Working Party, the Heritage Council's previous recommendation and numerous facts-based submissions by the community including from members of Worimi - that the Headland Reserve is an astounding place of state and national aboriginal and post-settlement heritage significance.
The Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council - who were granted title to the Headland Reserve in 2018 on their third attempt - have acknowledged the Aboriginal cultural heritage and heritage significance of the site as have the NSW Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee. It's listed, too, on the Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System as "a place of ceremony and dreaming".
Yet, in recent comments to the City of Newcastle Council, Awabakal CEO Rob Russell is now, apparently, seeking to diminish the heritage value of the Headland Reserve in support of an (unsubstantiated) claim that heritage listing would "disincentivise proposals for any future development".
Perhaps only Pollyanna could deny that one (the government's decision to reject the Headland Reserve's heritage) plus one (Mr Russell's comments) doesn't equal two, that is, bleak prospects for the precious Headland Reserve.
John Lewer, Newcastle
Ratepayers deserve attention
FOR the past 12 months the Lord Mayor has been boasting about her ambitious capital works program.
The plan was to spend $116 million this financial year as a post COVID-19 response.
While I support council spending on lasting and important projects and generating employment, I have been critical of the emphasis on new capital works at the expense of addressing our looming infrastructure backlog.
It is well known that new projects provide better photo opportunities in the lead up to local government elections in September.
However, recent reports indicate that the Lord Mayor's big capital works plans may not be achieved.
Last week, council's accounting team quietly stripped $4 million off the works budget reducing the forecast to $112 million.
Earlier this month councillors were told that rainfall had caused delays in the delivery of the works program.
And the April financial report confirms that after 10 months of the financial year council had managed to spend about $62.9 million (just half of the stated goal) and was $20 million behind the year to date budget.
That means council will need to spend about $50 million in just two months to meet the Lord Mayor's forecast goal.
I look forward to this being achieved.
Having had their rates increased by 50 per cent in recent years, City of Newcastle ratepayers deserve to see those funds actually spent on them.
Cr John Church, Newcastle
SHORT TAKES
THERE is no doubt that over the years, Knights fans have had more than their share of disappointments but they have always continued to attend games with the knowledge of not knowing what side is going to turn up. They have stood by over the years while many changes were made to the playing roster and coaching ranks, some they thought for the better, others not. At the moment there are a lot of supporters who are undecided about leaving or staying on as members of the club. And if they decide to sign Matt Lodge on from Brisbane I believe they will also be making a decision that is going to affect the supporters of the club.
Barry Reed, Islington
I CANNOT understand why any reasonable thinking group would wish to build a new basketball stadium at the proposed site near Hillsborough Road. What a poor location that is with regards to transport, the limited amount of car parking proposed, the effect on the local residents and away from any other sporting hub. The present central location of Broadmeadow with a train station nearby, lots of parking available is perfect for a new stadium to be built as well as being part of a sporting precinct. With the state government considering plans for that area, surely room for a new stadium can be included in that rather than being in an obscure place that will only cause problems.
Steve Robinson, Wangi Wangi
SNOWY Hydro boss Paul Broad obviously wants to keep his well paid job (Herald, 27/5). His claim that the explosion in the Callide coal fired power station in Queensland justifies the Morrison Government proposal to spend $800 million on building and supplying a gas fired power station at Kurri Kurri does not make sense. Had NSW experienced a similar explosion in one of their coal-fired power stations they would simply have needed to fire up the Colongra gas-fired power station on the Central Coast which has similar capacity to the proposed Kurri Kurri station or as a last resort cut back the electricity supply to the Tomago smelter as they did 10 days ago to address a peak in demand. Simply opportunistic, political scare tactics to justify the construction of the Kurri Kurri gas-fired power station.
Alex McDonald, Rathmines
HAVING spent time in Jordan, Israel and Syria I found Peter Devey's rose garden picture (Letters, 24/5) laughably outrageous. Israeli Arabs mostly live in ever increasingly overcrowded majority or exclusive Arab towns and villages because they are forced to. Hemmed by policies which prevent or severely limit expansion and excluded from living in many other Israeli towns. Their 20 per cent of the population makes up half of Israel's poor. Eight of the country's ten poorest towns are Arab. Their 20 per cent receive less than 10 per cent of government funds allocated to municipalities. The same disparity is evident in education. South Africa anybody?