COMPULSORY vaccinations are required for many occupations.
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If you want to join the police force, the armed services, become a teacher, doctor, nurse, paramedic and many other front-line workers, vaccinations are compulsory for reasons which are obvious.
You even have to be vaccinated for overseas travel.
Many firms and corporations are now requiring their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect their respective livelihoods.
I am nearly 76 and can remember the effort put in to eradicate the scourges of polio, T.B. and others. The very civic-minded Australian public was more than happy to play its part and, thankfully, those diseases are a distant memory.
I have always been proud of my Australian identity but recent anti-vaccine protests, especially those in Victoria this week ('Ugly scenes as protests continue', Newcastle Herald, 22/9) have regressed my pride to shame.
Would they still feel the same if they lost a loved one to COVID-19?
This is not the Australia I grew up in. This is not the Australia so many lives were lost defending, to make it a safe place for even protesters to live in.
The sooner the government resolves to make COVID-19 vaccinations compulsory, the better.
Perhaps even some construction worker lives might be saved.
Bill Snow, Stockton
Factional quid pro quo
BAD timing Colin Fordham (Short Takes, 17/9, 18/9)! Having derided Carl Stevensen for a favourable opinion of the Liberal Party's machinations (in fairly personal, sarcastic terms, I think), Mr Fordham lauds the "more democratic" Labor Party. Trouble is, it's not. Not when it doesn't suit the seedy underbelly of the Labor Party; namely its corrosive factionalism.
In parachuting Kristina Keneally and Daniel Repacholi into Lower House seats (the latter of whom only joined the Labor Party in August, apparently), Labor's national executive has totally bypassed the rank-and-file vote for preselection, which Mr Fordham holds so dear.
All for the sake of some factional quid proquo. To use a popular anti-ScoMo term; how do you "spin" that one, Colin?
Ian Player, Jewells
Making sense of sub saga
NOW let me get this straight: In 2016, Australia signed a submarine contract with France.
The deal was apparently open-ended with regard to cost, with the initial $50 billion cost increasing to $90 billion by 2021 (and who knows what the final cost may have been by the delivery date of 2035).
Under the arrangement, France would build 12 of its nuclear submarines, BUT would remove the nuclear engines and replace them with conventional power (go figure).
On Thursday last week the government announced that it was abandoning the French bid (at a presumed cost of $2.4 billion of dead money, which could escalate to who knows what after the lawyers have got involved in what is a blatant breach of contract).
In its place, Australia would purchase eight nuclear submarines (no, it didn't involve taking conventional engines out of subs and replacing them with nukes) from the US.
This, according to our revered leader Scott, was a much better deal because we don't even know how much this is going to cost AND the subs won't be delivered until at least 2050.
So... we bought some nuclear subs from the French for $50 bill, which went to $90 bill and we got them to take the nukes out and put diesels in.
Then we cancelled that deal at a cost of $2.4 bill and counting.
We then signed up with the US and the UK to build us subs with nukes and an unknown cost in order to defeat China in a war that we can't fight for at least 20 years cause that's the minimum time it will take to deliver the subs with nukes.
Meanwhile, climate change charges on amok; we can't contain COVID in hotels; drivers can pick up pilots at the airport without having to wear a mask; the Premier says she won't do press conferences and then does; people in the eastern suburbs go to the beach in numbers at their leisure; Christian Porter gets a million bucks from someone he doesn't know (as we all do); and Scott had two jobs and he failed both.
Dr Barney Langford, Whitebridge
Get rid of faceless men
IT appears that the Labor Party hasn't learnt a thing.
Their decision to parachute in Daniel Repacholi, with the backing of Joel Fitzgibbon and the appalling CFMMEU, shows the party apparatchiks couldn't care less about the democratic process and the people of Hunter will just have to accept whoever they parachute into the seat.
One reform that could see an end to decisions like this would be for the ALP to finally join the 21st century and end the union control of the party.
The party is more under the control of faceless men than it has ever been, and it can not be considered a democratic party.
Peter C Jones, Rathmines
Robbo's a larrikin
I TOTALLY agree, Ian Kirkwood ('Robbo's gay friends: 'He's no homophobe'', Opinion, 18/9), Allan Robinson is a top bloke.
My kids went to Corpus Christi Primary School, Waratah, with Robbo's children. He is really a community person and he does a lot of things for the community under the radar.
It was not uncommon at times when driving past the school at lunch times to find Robbo playing ball games with the kids in the field opposite the school.
On one particular pool carnival day it was even rumoured he was kicked out for bombing the kids in the pool, (well he is jockey sized!). That's the larrikin that is Robbo and that's what the majority of people like about him, and his good heart.
Tony Morley, Waratah
Supercars could be super spreader
THE article on the Supercars event ('Supercars round 'still on track' for 2022', Herald, 15/9) doesn't mention when they will start restricting access to Nobbys beach car park and the roads around it, and how long this will last.
Staging the event in summer will affect many more people, both the beach-goers and local residents.
In addition, this has the potential to be a super spreader event. Will booster shots be available by then to help keep residents safe from the impact the COVID virus could have on the community and the health system?
Michelle Kindleysides, Mount Hutton
SHORT TAKES
BEFORE France gets too outraged by our decision to scrap the deal to buy their submarines for a better product (''Forever partnership': Nuclear subs', Newcastle Herald, 17/9), they should reflect on the fact that more than 50,000 Australians are buried in their soil after defending their country against foreign invasion.
Anthony Hall, Cooks Hill
I JUST don't get it. How does building nuclear submarines and intensifying the arms race help promote peace and stability? This has to be the biggest spin of the century.
Kathie Anthony, Waratah
JUST get vaccinated, please.
Peter Selmeci, Murrays Beach
BREAKING news: Kristina Keneally will be the new West Tigers coach. A failing team needs someone who knows how to fail their way to the top. Go Tigers.
Steve Barnett, Fingal Bay
I'M tired of hearing we have to live with COVID. COVID is living with us and as an unwanted guest, or an unruly child, it needs to be disciplined, put in its place and taken head-on, not for us to run and hide when it rears its ugly head. We should not be totally dependent on a vaccine that is a band-aid, which may stop the bleeding but doesn't remove the sore. Restrictions, yes. Lockdowns, no.
Steven Busch, Rathmines
AS a person with poor eyesight, I have found audiobooks on my iPad. I have really enjoyed Lee Child's Jack Reacher series narrated by Jeff Harding. I saw that a Reacher movie was on TV on Sunday, so I clicked it on, only to see my favourite character portrayed by - wait for it -Tom Cruise, wearing a suit! Jack Reacher is a 6'6, 250lb giant who wears old jeans and t-shirts. Perhaps Arnold Schwarzenegger would have been a better choice!
Pat Scott, Arcadia Vale
I THANK Mike Sargent for his correction ('How ALP elects a leader', Letters, 21/9). The Labor leader in 2013 was chosen by a combined 50/50 vote of members and parliament. Shorten 52.02% and Albanese 47.98%. My main points: no faceless men, no backroom caucus.
Colin Fordham, Lambton
FOR the most motorised part of Australia, small electric buses, running frequently, on a grid route layout, is a strong transport contender ('Tram plan will strangle roads but there's a good alternative', Weekender, 18/9). "The state government gave ... four hopeless light rail options", explains why Australia's most sensational interurban rail destination, Newcastle, was destroyed.
Graeme Tychsen, Toronto
THE proposal by HCCDC says that after community consultation this is the artist's impression of their vision. I have to ask, where are the open parkland entertainment areas for children, families, teenagers' skatepark, amphitheatre and cafes? What a dog's breakfast they have dished up. Hopefully our council sees through another cash grab by developers.
Alan Higgins, Newcastle West
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