Mr Devey's assertion that the chancellor is merely a figurehead is also nonsense. The chancellor is the chair of the council, which, according to the University of Newcastle, is "the most senior decision-making body responsible for the oversight, management and development of strategic plans and key policies." It is hard to understand how the council could not see the irreconcilable conflict arising from appointing the chairman of a coal company to the chancellorship of a public university ('Vaile bails', Newcastle Herald 22/6).

Last year, the academic staff voted overwhelmingly in support of Professor Martin's election to one of only two academic seats on the council of 16 members. I believe the fact that a person of such competence and integrity has felt compelled to resign calls into question the institution itself. Is the council fulfilling its governance role, or is it subject to the whim of the senior executives?

THE decision made by City of Newcastle councillors regarding the Beach Hotel in my opinion has shown how there appears to be two very separate rules for areas of Newcastle.

Recently the application to extend the opening hours of the club in the west end in King Street was approved against the wishes of the police, hospital medics, local residents and paramedics. This area, across the road from a large McDonalds outlet, had been the scene of much drama in past years and yet it was seen by council to suddenly be a safe area to expand both hours and patronage.

The Beach Hotel to my knowledge has no history of violence and has traded somewhat safely for decades. The Beach Hotel proposal reduced the projected number of patrons using the hotel but the King Street proposal increased its patronage.

In my younger days I have had many meals and a few drinks at this wonderful old establishment, the Beach Hotel that has battled on even with the approval by council of Surf House built quite close by. I'm searching to find the reasoning between the King Street approval and the Merewether rejection.

Residents have made formal objections in Merewether and no doubt residents in the west end have made the same objections as well, as new apartments in that area are increasing.

THERE is no shortage of social and economic challenges facing our country at the moment, some COVID-related but others, such as the dire circumstances of home ownership by many as purely a lack of political courage.

I can't think of a single issue that will divide our nation, both short term and long term, and create an obvious chasm between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' in our society.

Not only should a stable and safe home be an achievable goal for every Australian, but it goes a long way in establishing security and stability for families and builds community. How can our children that have every right to meet partners and create their own families not have the ability to put down their own roots and buy their own homes?

How distressing is it to read that four-bedroom homes traditionally sought by families with children, are being purchased by investors and converted to rentals?

Wealthy people have many other ways to invest and build their wealth. Purchasing properties as investments whilst their fellow citizens cannot have a home of their own is abhorrent and our taxation, investment and negative gearing loopholes regarding property need to be urgently changed so that others can have a fair go.

EVER called a service provider and not found yourself on hold? You sit there, holding your phone, and trying to hold on to your sanity, as the minutes tick by. Your day on hold, the reason for your call on hold, as you're told repeatedly you're on hold. Being on hold has taken such a hold that talking about it no longer holds the attention.

But hold on. In every such call I make, the recorded message tells me my call is "very important". Well, why don't you answer it? It says "we're experiencing an unusually high" or "higher than average" volume of calls. Well, if it happens all the time, how can it be unusual or above average? And if it isn't unusual, why don't you put everything else on hold and fix it?

Such questions occur to me while I'm on hold, but I've usually forgotten them by the time I'm no longer on hold, or I'm too afraid to ask them in case I get put back on hold.

Sadly, I never even got to that point when I rang Newcastle City Council about something or other the other day. After 20 minutes on hold due to an "unusually high number of calls", I couldn't hold on any longer and gave up.

I have a question for CEO Jeremy Bath: if the $8.3 million council relocation has delivered (to use his words on the council website) "an environment in which staff can...better serve the residents of Newcastle", why are we all on hold?

MUCH gets written about coal and renewable energy with radicals on both sides of the argument predicting extreme outcomes.

The truth is that coal does have a finite life, yes there is a lot of coal left to mine, but it is not everlasting and so will run out of time. The use of renewable energy sources will prolong the supply of coal, not forever either, but for long enough that when the time comes then the total loss of coal will not have much impact at all.

In my opinion, nobody in their wildest dreams thinks that all the coal mines will be closed down in a hurry. It will go the way of most fading supplies of anything, the less profitable and lower quality will go out of service first.

I do look forward to the time that comes, although having been on the planet for as long as I have, it might be a bit ambitious to think it will happen in my lifetime, but while I am here I will support the transition away from coal, I do have solar panels on my roof and they have repaid my outlay already. I do also drive a dedicated gas powered car so feel I am doing my bit for the environment and the air we breathe. My contribution, small as it is, makes me feel better. If others feel good about not contributing and are doing their best to shorten the lifespan of coal that could be considered good too.

IT used to be said that NSW stood for Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong, but it is increasingly clear that it is only Sydney when mega projects money is doled out by Macquarie Street.

THOUSANDS of home owners are without power in Victoria because storms knocked down power poles. They will be rebuilt ready for the same thing to happen again, perhaps this time in summer bushfires. Perhaps one day the power lines will be put underground.

FINALLY, an analysis of Bruce Pascoe's book Dark Emu by Australia's best anthropologist on Aboriginal issues, Adelaide University's Peter Sutton, and archaeologist Keryn Walshe has provided extensive evidence, drawn from the knowledge of Indigenous elders and decades of anthropological studies, supporting the argument that pre-colonial aboriginal societies were indeed hunter-gatherers and not a race resembling traditional European farmers as claimed by Pascoe. This could be a case where the truth gets in the way of misplaced ideology.

SANDY Buchanan (Short Takes 21/6) seems to have forgotten that it was the Liberal party minister who negotiated the free trade agreement with China who helped organise the long term lease of Darwin harbour to the Chinese and the NSW Liberal government that negotiated the lease of Newcastle harbour to the Chinese.further didn't all western governments hold that Taiwan was china from 1949 to 1972.

AFTER Prime Minister Scott Morrison's quarantine, I suppose the last of our manufacturing businesses will learn their fate under the free trade for Britain agreement.

DAILY I pass the Wandiyali Aboriginal Centre and note that they do not fly the Australian flag. They fly both the Aboriginal and Torres Islander flags out front. Australian flag protocol states the order of precedence is national flag, state or territory flag, Aboriginal flag and Torre Strait Islander flag. That protocol seems to imply that the Australian flag should always come first.

AUSTRALIAN citizen Julian Assange will be spending another birthday in a UK prison. Assange will stand out as a symbol of Australia's democracy's hypocrisy for decades to come, here in the United States Of Australia. Bring Assange home now.

CONSIDERING the government's push towards electric cars, why have we just had two brand new petrol service stations opened in Tighes Hill and Mayfield?

I RECKON the photo of French president Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Scott Morrison (Herald, 18/6) could be promotion for a boxing match: Notre Dame versus The Hunchback.