Our council believes that the CBD is emerging as Newcastle West, and this store believes Cooks Hill qualifies. I reckon most Novocastrians still think it's uptown, where it always was. Can anyone enlighten me?

I BELIEVE one must question the intention of the front page story on Premier Dominic Perrottet's long stint without visiting Newcastle ("Hey Dom, we're up here", Newcastle Herald 2/3). 500 days and no visit. Really, why would he bother attending this region, especially in the lead-up to an election when most people would agree that he has almost no chance of winning its seats?

Mr Perrottet could have the best possible policies and I believe still the local burghers would vote as usual and be happy to sit back and criticise the perceived lack of attention paid to this area. Also, he would probably be jeered at and ridiculed for his trouble. One only has to cast their mind back a few years to when Prime Minister Howard was virtually run out of town when this publication revealed he was holidaying at Hawks Nest.

I believe the ALP could run Daffy Duck as a candidate here and still win.

If the ALP win in the state election what can we expect; maybe sand on Stockton beach, but without an engineered solution a few big seas will wash it away again. Perhaps there's very little engineering knowledge in the local team.

What else; some trains built by somebody sometime in the future maybe? More nurses sometime in the future? The promise of renewable energy jobs, whatever they may be? Oh yes, and the possibility of a container terminal with no-one yet identifying how the containers are going to be moved to and from this terminal. If the voting changes, things may change.

STEVE Barnett ("Why Mardi Gras matters far past the parade", Letters, 1/3), wrote a very nice warm-hearted letter on Mardi Gras. I've been to Mardi Gras myself as a spectator and it was very entertaining. The original 1978 parade was a legitimate protest on human rights for gay people. Derided and abused for taking part, those original '78ers must have been people of much courage. But that was 45 years ago.

Those human rights protests have long finished, and recent protests have all been about political issues well-covered by mainstream media. In my opinion the current parade has become a colourful masquerade or parody performed by overdressed (in some cases underdressed) pretentious, self-indulgent attention seekers. They have every right to do that, if they wish. But do we need to keep celebrating this? What do people think?

THE government and the Leader of the Opposition are right to use Supercars to highlight the unique qualities of our beautiful city. Where else can you find caged beaches and enjoy the Pacific vista through wire mesh? How wonderful that we have perfect beaches, pristine because families can't spoil them for two months of each year. And how wonderful to be able to laugh at families in the despised East who can't park for two months, have cages on their doorstop for that time and then risk having their children's hearing damaged on the Big Weekend? How refreshing to find that Newcastle is exempted from the State's propaganda on silly issues like road safety and emissions reduction. How fantastic knowing that our government and Opposition intends to keep Newcastle as its very own Jurassic Park.

LES Brennan raised an important issue, ("Questions remain over interest in Supercars", 24/2), how well received by the Newcastle public is Supercars? What is the justification for the disruption to our prime tourist destination in peak season? It's impossible to tell from the attendance count because the numbers who come through the gate are not released. Only the "tickets issued" by the promoter are made public, and many of these are free and counted whether people come or not. It's impossible to tell from local and state government reports on its economic benefits because these agencies use these same figures to calculate overall "visitation" benefits. The only answer is to come to the East End and see for yourself. Ask around the local businesses. Listen to what is being said, that is, if you don't mind negotiating the constantly changing traffic conditions and can find somewhere to park. You may miss the changed amenity of your favourite local café though. Our lauded beaches can only be viewed through scaffolding and concrete barricades.

It was painful reading Amanda Vanstone's anti-Greens, pro-coal rant, ("The Greens are to blame for Australia's climate change response", Herald, 2/3). While blaming the left for nastiness in the political debate, she says that if you disagree with environmentalists, "you are characterised as being in the pocket of one industry or another". Looking at the huge political donations from fossil interests to the major parties, this seems to be an accurate assessment rather than 'nastiness'. Then Ms Vanstone brings up the "what about China" fallacy, naming their use of coal but ignoring their massive and rapid uptake of renewables, and that our carbon footprint per person is about double theirs. This is poor opinion writing in my opinion.

GOING off the level media attention and numerous letters to the Herald, I must congratulate Anthony Albanese in orchestrating the best political move I can ever recall. The Voice is now taking centre stage as the best political diversion of the 21st century. In my view it takes away time that would normally be used for more important issues. When a country cannot agree over an issue that concerns three per cent of the population, what hope does it have when it comes to more far-reaching issues? What has happened to using the majority of time to govern for the majority?

I believe minority parties are controlling majority parties. If this is democracy, then democracy is lost.

The RBA is currently considering further rate rises. People are struggling, which they don't show in their statistical analysis. Inflation will fall because people can't pay rent, buy goods, pay insurance and power bills to name a few. The RBA in my view decreased rates to fuel the real estate sector then said rates will stay down for two years. Put the brakes on.

JUST how low can this state government go? They classed Parramatta as a regional city so that it can benefit from the Regional Infrastructure Scheme, denying the true regional towns much-needed funding, but they say that Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital is metropolitan so that there will be no free visitor parking.

FOLLOWING his appearance at the Robodebt inquiry, in my opinion Stuart Roberts should be nominated for an Academy Award.

THE claim by Peter Dolan that a vote for The Voice will result in land owners paying another lot of rent is blatant scaremongering, (Short Takes, 3/3). Anyone in their right mind would realise that such a move by government would be political suicide.

PETER Devey asks "what has changed since then?" 'Then' being K Rudd's apology to the stolen generation. One thing that hasn't changed are the racist views expressed in some of the letters to the editor.

IMAGINE if you have to apply for a permit to enter and exit your own home, and can't park in your preferred zone. Imagine six kilometres of concrete and steel barriers enclosing a suburban residential area.

HOSTS from the US Fox News empire have admitted willingly presenting Trump's lie about a stolen election as fact, even though they knew it was not true. It was what their paying viewers wanted to hear, they claim. How lucky are we in Australia where talking heads would never be so blatantly partisan, deceitful and scheming.

I THINK we've been poorly served by the state government over the last several years. After Carr left for a bank job we had Iemma, Rees and Kenneally in what I believe was really the Obeid government. They were followed by O'Farrell, who lost the premiership over a $3000 bottle of wine, then Baird who in my opinion sold whatever he could before leaving for a bank job. After that we had Berejiklian who allegedly threw taxpayers' money at her secret boyfriend's seat. Now it's Perrottet, whose party seems to be divided. It's time for serious change.

A QUESTION regarding democracy: when did we, the Australian people, vote in a referendum where we gave up our rights? Right to say no? Right to own our home? Right to own land? Right to refuse big business to destroy our farmland? Take back democracy. It's in your hands people.