Newcastle Herald letters to the editor: Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Either we decide to protect the koalas in Australia, or we don't. There can be no half measures.

It seems that every level of government is failing them by allowing the cutting down of the trees on which they live and feed, not keeping them safe from the roads by fencing, not creating skyways, not creating tunnels for them to move to nearby habitat. And constantly encroaching into koala habitat to build housing.

These most iconic of animals are the ones that tourists wish to see. Well, we'll keep a few for show in zoos and sanctuaries.

The evidence is that money comes before everything. Australia is right up there so far as animal extinction is concerned, largely because of our poor environmental policies. If we don't mend our ways we are going to lose koalas as well.

PETER Jones thinks using the word invasion is offensive to the descendants of early British "settlers" (Short Takes, 28/1).

Is he one of those descendants? If not, how would he know? If the British colonisation of Australia wasn't an invasion, what was it?

Has he considered that Indigenous Australians might be offended by his opinion that their ancestors, members of the longest surviving continuous culture in the world, were uncivilised until the British arrived? More to the point, does he care?

Are his views an example of the "civilisation" of which he thinks Indigenous Australians were in such "desperate need"? The civilisation that stole their land, murdered their people, obliterated their languages, removed their children and now locks them up in ever-increasing numbers?

I can't speak for Indigenous people, so I don't know which they would find more offensive - that some of their compatriots are prepared to publicly express such toxic nonsense, or that the mainstream media is prepared to publish it.

DURING the current omicron wave, an alarming 40 per cent of COVID deaths are elderly residents in aged care nursing homes This is set to rise. This compares with 13 per cent of deaths during the delta wave.

No wonder elderly people who need help are opting for home care packages rather than nursing homes.

The federal government is partly responsible for these premature deaths in aged care nursing homes. Despite hand-wringing, vows and promises, it has failed to act on the recommendations of the Aged Care Royal Commission's final report of March 2021. Despite almost a year passing, there is still a shortage of PPE gear and qualified staff. Anecdotally, secret elder abuse continues. Recently, the delivery of RATs and booster shots was delayed as people took their Christmas breaks. Little has changed since the earlier bitter experience.

As with previous outbreaks, residents are treated like jailbirds. They are locked in their rooms or their facilities. Relatives and friends are excluded. COVID kills residents, one by one. As before, residents die fearful, lonely, miserable deaths.

The electorate might forgive the federal coalition if it demonstrated that it actually cared. But, following Senator Colbeck's behaviour, it is clear that the coalition doesn't give a rat's about the elderly. The federal coalition only cares about retaining political power.

AS a regular reader of the Herald Letters to the Editor and Short Takes for over 60 years, I am amazed by the number of regular self-declared experts who believe they could do a better job of running the government than our politicians. Have they put their hand up for such a job not knowing if they would be accepted, even by their own group of like-minded cohorts, for promoting their expertise on an unlimited range of subjects? If perchance they did become a leader and make good decisions, there will be those with a quill ready to tear them to pieces. Maybe Newcastle Uni should give consideration to introducing a PhD course in Political Negativity. I am sure there are other readers willing to supply names for the lecturer's job?

The self-promoting expertise that most writers want us to accept is always based on the one advantage they have over the ones they are criticising, which is hindsight. With COVID-19, I wonder how these writers would perform if they were required to make the right decisions, in advance, without hindsight? Would they too be found wanting as each new twist in the outbreak is manifested?

If our leaders were able to move around hospital wards with a magic wand curing people on the spot, our team of regular writers would put pen to paper in record time, advising readers not to accept the cure because the length of the magic wand used was not regulation size, or the magician did not belong to their side of politics.

Australia encountered early problems with vaccinations etc, some as a result of an over-cautious TGA approval-process hindering an early start, unlike many overseas countries who do not have the luxury of similar restrictions.

Unlike the local pundits, our leaders do not have this attribute of 20/20 hindsight. Despite this handicap, Australia is now among the countries with the lowest record of deaths per million people; the ultimate standard of measure? Australia 112 per million compared to UK and USA, both over 2300 per million. Maybe Australia has benefited by not rushing in early with too many wrong decisions.

If we compare the event to a marathon, the pundits think it is more important to be in front at every hurdle rather than how we cross the finish line. It seems the finish line is still some way off and many new hurdles could still be added.

STEVE Barnett (Short Takes, 31/1), it isn't the political party you need to worry about with power costs and your kidneys, it is renewable energy progress.

In Q4 of 2022, Labor Victoria was 35 per cent renewable energy at $56 per megawatt hour (MWh).

Liberal SA was 65 per cent renewable at $65 per MWh. Liberal NSW was 25 per cent renewable at $80 per MWh, and Labor Queensland was just 20 per cent renewable was at $91 per MWh.

The price gap between the high fossil fuel, high price states and high renewable, low price states continues to widen, and there has been no drop in reliability. As he has been critical of SA in the past, perhaps he should consider relocating his kidneys to Victoria.

A FEW years ago, when the Herald published the Letter of the Week, I was selected as a winner. Apart from this accolade I received a prize in the form of a handsome Newcastle Herald pen. I'm pleased to say this pen is still with me and has become my companion when I am working on a few ideas and yes, I still write in longhand. I remember one time when it fell under the lounge and I had the devil's own job retrieving it. I still can't believe my pen hasn't run out of ideas for me.

STEVE Barnett (Short Takes, 3/2), I'd rather have Adam Bandt as deputy PM any time, rather than a repeat of Barnaby Joyce for another three years.

I DESPAIR of political leadership when I see coverage of the PM blurring boundaries as he washes a stranger's hair and the premier grinning after setting up a super spreader event in schools. Bring on the election.

FINALLY Barnaby and Berejiklian have fallen in line with majority public opinion - Morrison cannot be trusted with the truth, or the leadership of our country. His refusal to acknowledge responsibility for the COVID-19 fiasco merely reinforces our perception of him as untrustworthy and deceitful.

I FEEL that mobile speed cameras do not encourage safe driving, but seem to be more of a revenue-raising tool. It would be far better to put people through driver education programs and/or advanced driver skills programs.

SO Mac Maguire (Short Takes 5/2) is writing about his ideas in contrast with ScoMo and Albo. I'm guessing he votes Labor. He quotes that Albo relies on his "dedication, loyalty and integrity". What a joke! He fails to mention that "two way" Albo has a different policy depending on what part of Oz he is standing in. Also the worst frontbench Labor has had for over a decade.

WELL done, Jets. You can do it when you really try.

JOHN Arnold (Short Takes, 5/2) says the empty shelves are the result of the inept LNP government and there were no empty shelves during the GFC under Labor, but he fails to acknowledge the waste of money and debacle of the school halls exercise and the deaths and ridiculously expensive Rudd pink batts thought bubble as just two examples of John's beloved Labor party's inept stewardship.

HOW many times do we need to hear these lies and comments from within the government? Even Barnaby is fessing up, for God's sake! These people and those who voted for them are starting to understand their worth!