Letters July 22 2022: State of the Environment offers plenty of blame, including for Australia's economy

I FIND it amazing that successive governments for decades have done nothing to protect our wildlife. They come into power and then there is the blame game. What have this lot done previously when they were in power, the same as their predecessor, and their predecessor prior to that? Nothing. You only have to read "The threat of cats on Hunter wildlife (Newcastle Herald 16/7), and that's only the Hunter. As the article stated there is an estimate of about 20 million feral cats, which I think is grossly underestimated, and 6 million domestic cats, with the majority of them roaming the streets 24 hours a day, all killing hundreds of millions of birds and reptiles and 1.4 billion mammals every year across Australia. Something has to be done to eradicate the feral cats and dogs (not dingoes). They need to cull feral cats and introduce laws to keep cats locked up, like you have to do if you have a dog. Cats hunt more than 700 species of native mammals and reptiles around urban areas. I just wonder what the current government will do, if anything, because something has to be done. If you travel the outback, which I have done, then you will be aware of the problem that exists there.

THE Samuel Report on the state of Australia's environment has been finally released, after being held up by the previous Coalition government since December 2021. The report reveals a litany of problems: from destruction of ecosystems, extinctions, declining biodiversity to global warming, soil depletion, lack of water, etc., ("Our environment is sick and getting sicker", Herald 20/7).

Perhaps the biggest environmental problem is land clearing, which destroys huge swathes of native habitats and ecosystems. Associated with this we have a carbon credits scheme which is systematically rorted by private land holders. This needs to be cleaned up for starters.

For 230 years, Australia has been settled by Europeans who bought their commercial agriculture and private land title system with them. The traditional occupants, Aboriginal Australians, were hunter-gatherers, who looked after the wild because they recognised that it was their "mother". In 1788 there were an estimated 700,000 Australians, including white colonists, who only expected to live into their mid-40s. Now there are 26 million Australians whose average life expectancy is twice that. Do the sums.

This ancient dry continent cannot support us all without further land clearance and environmental degradation. Global warming will accelerate this environmental degradation. Our children and grandchildren will never see the most threatened species in the wild. They will need to pay to see native animals in wildlife sanctuaries and zoos. Depressing. And most of this is our doing.

THE current housing crisis is confirmation that the market does not provide for the needs of the populace. There is minimal profit in providing low-cost housing for people who cannot afford the current market rates for either rentals or house purchase.

Over the past many years, governments, both state and federal, have failed to provide affordable public housing. The situation is so dire that even people in reasonably well-paid positions cannot afford market rents or to dream of home ownership.

This situation will continue until the stock of public housing is significantly increased. Get to it, Mr Albanese and Mr Perrottet.

One of the ramifications of COVID-19 is the chaos that it has inflicted on bus services in the Maitland area, which resulted in a chronic shortage of drivers and the cancellation of numerous services. Consequently, numerous passengers including the elderly are left stranded for hours. Normally the bus service provided by Hunter Valley Buses is quite satisfactory, however in recent months I believe the service throughout the region has been utterly pathetic. To make matters worse the information on some of the transport apps are inaccurate, meaning that services can be cancelled without notice.

Despite the adverse circumstances, I believe that there are strategies that if implemented could partly alleviate the problem in the short term. First, there are several runs the operate to places like Rathluba that tend to have extremely low patronage. It is my belief that these services should be cancelled for the foreseeable future to free vehicles for busier routes.

Second, all late night services should be cancelled to free drivers for peak periods. Third, the 181 and 182 services should be combined into a simpler route between Rutherford and Greenhills to ensure that there are sufficient drivers to cover services. I understand the chaos that is currently facing the organisation, but I would urge planning staff to seriously consider a solution.

RICHARD Mallaby (Letters, 9/7) wrote "... nor with the 4.55 gigawatt loss of Eraring and Liddell which equates to about 18 gigawatts of renewables" but leaves off the critical factor. In fair weather or foul 4.55 gigawatt hours is constant. As we saw in the recent crisis, batteries spent an unreliable generation on just 4 per cent of the entire grid. However the biggest error is like the battery capacity he quoted, 54 gigawatts of batteries is around 11 hours of Eraring and Liddell. Once your battery is spent, it's lights out. South Australia is way ahead of everyone and power dependent on natural coal via the interconnectors, now two, for a population twice the Hunter.

HAVE the proponents of nuclear considered that uranium is finite? If the world decided to adopt nuclear energy it would last a decade. Unfortunately the waste produced would be an ongoing legacy for thousands of years and a real danger to life on earth. Would these people be prepared to have a plant in their backyard, and would they volunteer to remediate likely plant station mishaps knowing the serious dangers? I suggest they research the tragedies that are Chernobyl and Fukushima, and of the consequences for the "liquidators" and the 50 people at least. Tidal, solar and wind power are infinite, reliable and far safer sources of energy on which to focus our energy.

ANTHONY Albanese seems more intent on being a world leader in renewable energy than being Prime Minister of Australia.

THE Liberal Party and the right wing press have raked Anthony Albanese over the coals for leaving Australia to go to Ukraine for a diplomatic mission, but were extremely quiet about Peter Dutton's recent US holiday.

I NOTE Ian King's comment, (Short Takes, 9/7), regarding Adam Bandt's flag issue. Mr King said "Aboriginal people fought and died for our freedom under the same Australian flag", but neglected to comment that "our" largely means immigrant Australians. Aboriginal people got equal rights and some freedom 17 years after World War II and being counted as residents long after that date. Aboriginal returned servicemen from World War I were denied all grants and privileges given to returned servicemen, unable to even have a drink in any hotel with their servicemen mates on ANZAC Day. Perhaps Adam Bandt is more mindful of our history.

IF foot and mouth disease gets into Australia we will be looking at a depression like 1929. Ban travel to Bali now, Albo, your head's on the chopping block.

I WONDER how much longer the new government is going to keep using the term "we inherited a trillion dollars in debt." They must have very short memories. A look back at the initial COVID payments the Labor party agreed to the payments being introduced and at the same time they criticised the government for not spending more to help those in need. Well it's time to stop the cheap talk and get on with what you were elected to do. Yes we have debt and yes it was a bipartisan debt. Don't keep playing the blame game. Do your job.

ADZ Carter goes on about Scott Morrison and his trips. At least he paid for his holidays with his wife, not like Albanese jetting off with his girlfriend for a trip to Europe and plenty of photo shoots with anyone he could get a photograph with.

I WATCHED the 6pm Sunday news on NBN and unless I blinked, in the sport report there was no story in relation to the British Open Golf which happened to be its 150th year.

HOW much longer do we have to wait for a new Knights coach? In my opinion his performance record is not good enough.

I'M starting up a crowdfunding page for the purchase of eyebrows for Peter Dutton.