Letters and short takes February 21 2023

There are not a lot of shops left standing there and although we can see the vision of what Hunter Street might become, the stores that have been there for some years are now really suffering. With the arrival of Supercars there are road closures and parking at Nobbys is gone as well. A solution must be found to this problem or when Supercars are finally packed up and gone there will be none of the old Newcastle businesses remaining. Perhaps the answer lies in parking on the land next to the harbour at Newcastle West on Honeysuckle Drive and providing transport to Newcastle Mall for the workers.

AS an oft-derided resident of Newcastle East, I recently contacted Supercars to voice concern about the lack of parking in the East End brought about by clearways and the closure of parking places along Wharf Road. I also asked what arrangements were being made for residents - some of whom have mobility issues. The response was to simply send a pro forma letter telling me what I already knew rather than addressing the specific concern. I wrote to Supercars immediately after receiving the automated response and again requested an answer to what was a very simple question. To date, I have not received a reply.

Parking is a serious issue for many in the East End. However, with no response forthcoming from Supercars, I can only assume that no-one really cares and that East End residents are being left alone to endure the nightmare that this event brings to what was once a peaceful neighbourhood enjoyed all year round by locals and visitors alike.

The time has come for the organisers to act in the interests of East End residents rather than simply paying lip service to what is becoming an increasingly intolerable situation. Sadly, as past experience suggests, I doubt if anything will happen.

TO see a specialist or even some doctors one is presented with a bill in the hundreds of dollars. Sure, the receptionist can submit this to Medicare for a reimbursement that takes probably a few days to go into one's account. For those that are doing it tough, and there are many more entering this stage in their lives, it is impossible to have said amount, even if the gap payment is possible. Why oh why can they not just charge the gap and process the Medicare payment to the specialist/doctor? Would this also not relieve the strain on hospital emergency departments that those who cannot afford the initial payment use instead? It's just another bureaucratic rush of blood to the brain.

SINCE I retired, I have researched and written a history of electricity generation in NSW in the 20th century. That only took seven years. Then I spent two years writing a history of Munmorah Power Station. Then another four years or so, writing a history of Liddell. Now I have embarked on a history of Eraring, as detailed in November.

That Mathew Kelly article ('Preserving plant's legacy', Herald 15/11) described me as a 'power station tragic ... a person who has done everything from operating them to writing their histories.' Since then, I have tried to describe what being a power station tragic really means.

Equally, what does being a steam train tragic mean, or a Ford or Holden one? How about a Shelley Fine Bone English China tragic. I am not having much success.

What is it? Is it a love of technology? Is it a long association with a piece of technology? Is it an admirer of rare items? When I ask Google it tells me that a 'tragic' is a sad, sorrowful person. Grammarly (editor in MS Word), in checking 'tragic' in the last paragraph, suggests alternate words such as miserable, sad or sorry. A few of my friends sometimes question my sanity about being a 'tragic' and, if pushed, might even go as far as agree with Google. Personally I proudly wear the label; it's just I am not sure why.

IT no doubt comes as a matter of considerable relief to find that the Independent Planning Commission has refused the application by Daracon for consent to expand the Martins Creek Quarry based on the unacceptable level of disturbance which would have been caused by heavy truck movements along the haul route to the citizens of Paterson, Bolwarra, Bolwarra Heights and Maitland ('Quarry expansion rejected', Newcastle Herald 14/2).

However I think the IPC did bend over backwards to find in favour of the applicant quarry on all other issues.

It's concerning the IPC found no reason to refuse the application based on consideration of noise generated by rail transport, groundwater pollution, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, the effects of blasting, the effects on visual amenity, the effects of biodiversity, problems associated with rehabilitation at the site or heritage considerations both Aboriginal and Historic. So much for all that.

ON February 23, the full bench of the Federal Court will deliver judgement in the ACCC vs. NSW Ports appeal. The ACCC commenced action in 2018. The outstanding question is whether the court was made aware that the Port of Newcastle container penalty was hidden from the public and Parliament before it was exposed by the Newcastle Herald in 2016. The state government claims that the hidden penalty was legislated under the Ports Assets (Authorised Transactions) Act 2012, however Parliament cannot legislate anything that is hidden from it.

Ruth Burrell, (Short Takes, 15/2), complained of "the same old topics of climate change, 'woke' and others" on the Letters page. Fair enough, you could say, but Ms Burrell didn't provide any new topic to discuss, did she?

You might note that there has barely been a mention of climate change on the letters page in weeks. Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd famously proclaimed climate change to be "the great moral challenge of our generation". Considering that profound claim and the huge expenditure of billions of dollars of our money that state and federal governments have committed to fight this challenge, perhaps we should be discussing this topic every day? Concern about 'woke', of course, revolves around the growing social emphasis on just about every public issue that's discussed. As if that was justified? If Ms Burrell or anyone else wants to write about a new topic, I say feel free.

THE Knights have not done well in the pre-season games like they did last season. Let's hope they pick up for the real games ('O'Brien eyes training block', Newcastle Herald 20/2). Miracles can happen. Well won, Jets - maybe the longest game in history ('Jets handle delays to move closer to finals', Herald 20/2).

NEVER mind the details on how this Voice will work; how, as Albo says, it will benefit all Australians when it only concerns a small percentage of the population.

I WONDER how the legal system came to the conclusion that a non-parole period of only five years and six months was a suitable sentence for the Hunter stepdad who sexually assaulted his step daughter on a weekly basis from the ages of 4 to 14. To me, this really shows how little children and women are valued in our judicial system.

THE Australian cricket side's batting performance was not worthy of backyard cricket. In my opinion they looked like drunk baboons swinging a stick. Wake up to yourselves.

OVER the last few years many countries across the world, including Australia, have experienced one or more unprecedented and devastating fires, floods, droughts, heat waves and winds. Many people are asking when will this all end? In my opinion there is a clear path to bringing our climatic conditions back to something resembling normal, and that is to stop burning fossil fuels to create energy.

AS an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament can be legislated without changing our constitution, I have to wonder: why are we being forced to vote on it at a referendum?

A LETTER writer frets that 'fragile whites' could be compelled to pay 1 per cent of their earnings to Indigenous Australians if the Voice is passed. Perhaps that would be fair if whites arriving here had only murdered and disenfranchised 1 per cent of the Aboriginal people.

There once was a fellow called Woke,

Who thought he was a regular bloke.

To Short Takes he wrote,

Several letters of note,

Converting poor Woke to a joke.

SMART City doesn't necessarily mean 'smart' as in intelligent or clever. I reckon smart is an acronym :- S-urveillance M-onitoring A-nalysis R-eporting T-echnology. In other words, society as an open prison.