MANY readers have made comment about the proposed 'Stairway to Heaven' project. Some people even seem to like the idea, but how will the concept pass council when it is not disability friendly? There is no wheelchair access unless they make half the stairway a smooth ramp. People in wheelchairs could be taken to the top and just let go to the bottom. It would be a ride they would never forget. Kurt Fearnley could set some real records riding to the bottom. During the Supercars event, cars could do a hill-climb race to the top. The possibilities are endless. My favourite would be to not build a stairway but to spend the money building a cable-car to the top from the harbour. At the top of the cable-car lift, a teahouse with little old ladies sipping their cups of tea. I'm sure Newcastle people will get right behind this idea. Let's start a petition?

THE Tomago aluminium smelter operated at reduced capacity several times recently due to higher than anticipated electricity usage across the power grid. Tomago Aluminium has a power supply deal with AGL, the operators of Liddell Power Station, which results in the smelter voluntarily reducing operations, not forced shutdowns, when the demand for power from the grid is getting close to maximum available. The voluntary reduction in operations is supposed to occur when the price of power rises to approximately $15,000 per megawatt hour. During the most recent voluntary shutdowns, Snowy Hydro, the Commonwealth government-owned power entity, and owner of the Colongra gas-fired peaking power plant, offered to generate power and supply it to the grid, so that Tomago Aluminium could keep working at full capacity, for the price of around $7000 per megawatt hour. This offer was rejected as being too expensive, and the cheaper option was to have the aluminium smelter voluntarily reduce operations until the power demand subsided. Tomago Aluminium boss, Matt Howell, has previously been reported as saying that gas peaking power stations were essential to ensure the smelter did not have to reduce operations due to excessive electricity demand elsewhere on the grid. However, he didn't complain when additional power was available from Snowy Hydro's Colongra plant, but was rejected because the asking price of $7000 was deemed too high, but nowhere near the $15,000 threshold of the deal between the smelter and AGL. Why build another gas peaking power plant at Kurri Kurri, also owned by the Commonwealth's Snowy Hydro, when it won't be turned on to provide power to keep Tomago Aluminium working at full capacity either? Is Australia's 'gas-led recovery' more about developing gas fields for the export market, than operating gas-fired power plants during the transition to renewables?

ALLEN Small, if your regular grocer is charging more than normal for potatoes, you might cut back. That is what the Tomago smelter did with power when there were brief price spikes recently. It was not asked or instructed to. Curiously, there have been many such spikes recently where gas peaking plants already in existence for such occasions, including Snowy Hydro's Colongra, have not turned on, making the market price unnecessarily high. Alison Crook, CEO of utility Enova, told shareholders, "there may be some element of demonstrating the 'need' for gas in what is occurring". She has asked the ACCC to investigate. But the long term problem with relying on fossil fuels for our manufacturing and exporting is that more than 60 per cent of the global economy is now committed to net zero emissions by 2050 or earlier. A transition is taking place. Australia should be part of it.

THE letter by Bruce Graham, (Coal is not the answer, Letters, 29/5), suggesting I "couldn't give a fig about things like climate change and greenhouse gases" is the usual rant from the true believers in the climate religion. My letter concerning the proposed gas-fired plant simply raised concerns about the reliability of gas as an energy source for the proposed plant given that none of the plant's gas or even diesel, comes from NSW and the pipelines that supply it are old and have had engineering problems in the past. Coal is a natural energy source that is already close to Liddell and even Kurri Kurri and helps maintain a diversity of energy sources to power the national grid. While "true believers" might believe the sun and wind will do the job, the fact is they will not as they are intermittent. As for batteries they do not have the energy intensity to power the grid for very long, but do provide a useful service providing frequency control and ancillary services to the grid, as does Tomago Smelter and the base load generators. For Bruce's information, the world is not moving to reduce coal-fired generation with China (currently representing 30 per cent of total anthropogenic CO2 emissions) still commissioning more than all of Australia's coal-fired generation annually.

IT has been announced that police who have served 10 years or more will be able to choose to leave the job with full superannuation benefits and an ex-gratia payment of up to $269,000. It is said that this is designed to reduce compensation payments, presumably from medical retirements. I fear that this will result in a massive brain drain of experienced officers to the greater detriment of the force and the community at large. Some years ago, as a result of low wages, resignations resulted in the fact that 76 per cent of the police force was below the rank of sergeant and to counteract this ex-police were offered the opportunity to re-join the service at the rank they were on at the time of their resignation and many did. As a former member, I am acutely aware that at 10 years service, a policeman is at the peak of his or her experience and of immense value to the job. Policing is a unique occupation and the loss of this experience will be counter productive in the extreme. It appears to me the police force is taking the easy way out instead of addressing the issues resulting in medical retirements with their accompanying compensation payouts.

I NOTICED baby peas in the supermarket freezer. I never knew peas gave birth. With my newfound knowledge I'm establishing PETOV - people for the ethical treatment of vegetables. Vegan cruelty knows no bounds and must be stopped.

JOEL Fitzgibbon should just join the Liberal Party or the party of Lost Causes and Yesterday's men and be done with it. He is a wrecker to the Labor cause. When a senior Liberal minister compliments him, that should be taken as his lack of fit in Labor and his total inability to advocate for the ordinary Australians he claims to represent.

JOEL Fitzgibbon should resign from the Labor Party as he would fit in rather well with Mark Latham and Pauline Hanson. He might even eventually become leader of the illustrious One Nation Party.

COULD it be that his decreased result in the last federal election had less to do with coal and more to do with Joel?

JODI McKay became the Member for Newcastle in 2007 because as a plaything of Labor's powerbrokers she ousted Bryce Gaudry. Bryce was one of the true gentlemen of politics as most Novocastrians remember.

MARTIN Schlaeger (Short Takes, 1/6) criticises the PM for getting the Pfizer jab, but did not mention that Albo got the Pfizer also. It was a joint exercise to show confidence in the vaccines. Also they both had their first jabs on February 23 before Astrazeneca arrived in Australia on February 28.

MICHAEL Hinchey, I am impressed (Short Takes, 29/5). Yes, language is our friend, but we must resist the urge to dismiss those who do not share our fascination for language lest we be accused of floccinaucinihilipilification.

ME thinks if anyone is shaking the sauce bottle just a little too much with their opinions the award goes to Michael Hinchey.

IF Dr Norman Swan arrived at my front door with a bowel cancer screening kit with 30 of his friends, I would 'you know what' myself. Instant sample. Not a hard test to take, but very essential. I prefer my kit in the mail though.

THE Knights don't need a superstar who hardly ever plays. Don't tell me he is saving himself for State of Origin.