During our discussions he predicted that in 50 years' time every Australian household would have its own power generator because we would not be able to provide sufficient electricity through conventional means to power our homes.

He believed the only answer was nuclear power and expressed his frustration that no-one would listen to him, least of all politicians. In 2014, not long before he died, we crossed paths at Waratah Village. He told me he had recently had one of his most satisfying experiences - he had received approval to place reading material on nuclear power in the Members' Reading Room in Parliament House. I look back now with admiration at his foresight all those years ago. He was an amazing man.

THANK you Ian Kirkwood, ('Two views of America's role in Ukraine war', Opinion 30/7), and John Arnold, ('History had role in war's outbreak', Letters 8/8). You certainly have a way of sanitising how the Russian leadership approaches its place in the world.

This is a rogue state. This leadership has a history of attacking its people in the UK, shooting down Malaysian flight MH17, killing or attempting to kill political opponents in Russia, and killing or silencing journalists.

Then there is the butchery that is the war in Ukraine; civilian killings, rape, imprisonment, threatening captured soldiers with execution, threatening the world with nuclear war or starvation. The destruction and bombings of hospitals, civilian accommodation and cultural centres including the Maripol Theatre airstrike with the words children in large white letters near it.

Sorry, but this has nothing to do with Russian security. This is about aggression; a sense of being untouchable and a desire to relive old glories. Russian victories over the Nazis were the high point of the Communist Regime and Putin wants to go there again. Look at what Putin and his allies are saying: they claim to be denazifying Ukraine.

Most of the countries in Europe that are bordering Russia offer their people far greater freedom of expression than Russia, that I feel was the biggest threat to Putin, his own people may strive for a change of leadership. So let's build a Soviet block so we can remain in power. If you have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world, what security threat is there?

WHILE academics, bureaucrats and politicians try to speak for teachers and their problems, none of them really understand about the lousy pay and nightmarish accountability workload of classroom practitioners, ('Retraining teachers is a top priority', Newcastle Herald 9/8).

Training new teachers rather than addressing the real issues is a cheap, short-sighted and ultimately wasteful solution to the problem of teacher shortages. But snow-jobbing and retraining existing teachers, many of whom are dissatisfied and burned out, is also doomed to failure.

This is especially the case at present, when there are so many other well-paid jobs available without the workload and the stress of teaching.

Until the once-noble profession of teaching is elevated in the minds of members of society, such that they are prepared to pay higher wages through higher state taxes, teachers will remain underpaid and overworked. Until work requirements are determined by practitioner associations, and wages are determined independently rather than by state budget constraints, the problem of teacher shortages will continue.

IT seemed like the Nadesalingam family would be stuck in a government-induced limbo forever without any hope of walking on Biloela soil again ('Biloela family receive permanent visas', Herald 5/8).

The former Coalition government, devoid of any compassion or kindness to this family, stubbornly clung to the party's iconic former PM John Winston Howard's attitude towards asylum seekers with roots, I believe, steeped in racism. I see more threats to our country from within like gangs, white supremacist groups, climate change deniers and the ever-growing gap between rich and poor not to mention right wing conservative governments.

Everything has changed now thanks to some common sense and a brand new government that has seen sense and welcomed this family back to the place they made their home. We celebrate, rejoice and give thanks that they are safely tucked in their beds up in Biloela and able to sleep soundly each night knowing they will never again be dragged away in the early hours and unjustly incarcerated for years.

THERE has been a lot of talk in federal parliament driven mainly by the Labor Party and the Greens about the need for an integrity commission similar to the NSW ICAC. While I am very much in favour of just such a commission, I would hope without the fiasco the NSW ICAC has become.

While Labor talks big on the subject of corruption, they believe the federal parliament is full of corruption and things need to change and they do. What I do find amazing is that the Labor want to abolish the Australia Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). While the Federal Court and the High Court have found that the CFMMEU shrug off the payment of fines, as the Australian Financial Review has reported, there's apparently no need for the ABCC - or so say Labor.

Maybe the very first case to come before this new federal vision of ICAC should be an inquiry into the relationship between the Labor Party and the CFMMEU and the union movement in general. While they're at it, throw in the donations paid by Industry super funds to both the union movement and the Labor party for scrutiny as well.

AS someone who takes a keen interest in politics I hope the new government sticks to its promises. I agreed with the Coalition response to the COVID crisis however when it came to climate change it was all downhill. It seems no matter what, all governments end up with some type of crisis and it all goes down to dishonesty where politicians treat the community with contempt.

To have a working democracy there are two basic items that are needed. The first is a free press, a press that reports the true facts, a press that is impartial not tied to the right or left. The second is a Federal Integrity Commission which the coalition promised but for obvious reasons did not pursue. Times have changed but sadly some political parties have not.

To me the scene of Abbott, Morrison and Dutton laughing at the misfortune of some Pacific Islands sums up the Coalition.

STEVE Barnett, my answer to your question about what will make up for lost coal royalties under renewables is a kilometre tax on your electric car, higher rego costs, higher GST and upped land rates, for starters. Let's not forget the stamp duties that were supposed to go under GST. There's plenty of scope to rip the people off.

IAN King, (Short Takes, 4/8), allow me to clear up your confusion. Firstly, your assertion that any of my roles are "self-appointed" is false. I work in the music industry, so as well as being a labour of love, I'm obligated to support the scene. As for your bewilderment about whether I still held my "original position", I, like most Herald correspondents, discuss current topics (political or otherwise), and more often than not, my contributions are in reply to other correspondents. Naturally I cannot speak for you or absolutely everyone, but in my experience, people are generally capable of having opinions on more than one subject.

MY understanding is Olivia Newton-John attended Newcastle Girls High School when her father Brin, became deputy vice-chancellor of the university. After about six months Olivia returned to Melbourne ('We honestly love you', Newcastle Herald 10/8).

IF Nancy Pelosi has been trying to find a place in history, I guess she has succeeded. She has shown the world how, and is herself the embodiment of, the US as, notwithstanding its high-minded rhetoric, basically an arrogant, ideologically driven society indifferent to the suffering of peoples from other countries, even those which profess some sympathy for its political system. Taiwan should be careful of what it wishes for and expects. On recent occasions when America's military came to the aid of another country in support of "democracy" (Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq spring to mind), the adventures resulted in untold human tragedy and didn't end well.

THANK you for an excellent editorial covering the importance of collaborative bipartisan support for climate action ("We don't have time for shenanigans", Opinion 5/8). Bridget Archer, the only Liberal MP who voted in favour of Labor's historically significant climate change bill, should indeed be commended for her courage. The rest of the Coalition, it seems, are increasingly out of step with public sentiment regarding the importance, urgency and sheer magnitude of action required to address climate change. We absolutely "don't have time to waste on false starts and political shenanigans". The Coalition needs to get on board and collaborate or risk political irrelevance.

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