Letters and short takes May 29 2023

Who would join the police force? Many front-line police are overworked, and often face dangerous life-or-death situations where armed offenders threaten their lives.

While there may be some who will curse the officer involved for tarnishing their names in a split-second incident, I suspect many will also be relieved that it is not them who is suspended and facing criminal charges.

Police may be worried that public calls for more independent, transparent and prompt investigations will result in stripping away their right to silence and make their difficult jobs more difficult. Some police will seriously consider other jobs.

There must be a better way.

Zoo vets use tranquiliser dart guns on animals who escape from zoos, including primates. The darts subdue the animals quickly and with minimal pain. In a typical scenario, police surround an armed threatening offender.

If the police then used dart guns rather than Tasers or guns, then I'd bet fewer of these people would be injured or die.

I am sure that with a little target practice police could learn to shoot darts into an area of a person's back where the darts could not easily be removed, thus giving tranquillisers long enough to take effect.

SO Newcastle Labor councillors say they are being bullied ("Out of the pool", Newcastle Herald 25/5), but in my opinion it's difficult to bully a majority who reign supreme in council decisions.

I recall a few years ago when Cr John Church was bullied at a conference up at Port Stephens. There were lots of witnesses, but I believe the culprit wasn't found and never faced any consequences.

Newcastle ratepayers always seem to get what Labor decides because no-one else gets to have a decisive opinion.

The inland pools are so important to so many residents, and yet I fear decisions have been made regarding their future very quickly.

If we looked at how many use the pools, especially in comparison to a skate park on the beach that in my opinion is doomed to failure, a lot more money should have been provided by the council for maintenance over the years and the pools would not have needed the work that they now need.

ANDREW Hirst ("We're paying price in power shift", Letters, 22/5): renewables are variable, not unreliable.

National Energy Grid reliability has improved with increasing renewable penetration, and it is coal and gas that are driving up prices because we don't have enough renewables yet to set grid prices for the majority of time.

South Australia averaged over 70 per cent renewables in 2022 and benefited from lower prices as a result.

It may be correct that countries going down the renewable path have experienced higher costs but they will be transitory.

The fact that most European nations ramped up their transition plans following Russia's invasion of the Ukraine shows they believe a renewable future will provide the cheapest and most reliable energy future.

For most countries, it won't be a nuclear one as they can't afford the time or the cost.

To date there are only two operating small modular reactors in Russia and China. The initial estimated cost of the Chinese small modular reactor increased threefold.

For the Russian one it was sixfold, and for an Argentinian one not yet in service, it is over 20 times the cost.

For large nuclear reactors the estimates for the only reactors under construction in the USA have blown out by 12 times. For the only ones in the UK it is eightfold, and the French sixfold.

The current construction costs range from $25 billion to $30 billion per reactor.

US company NuScale, interested in building a reactor, estimates it will cost $30,000 per kilowatt ($14 billion for a 462-megawatt plant) but is struggling to attract investor interest. Hardly surprising giving the cost uncertainties.

ON May 31 it will be 10 years since Port Botany and Port Kembla were leased to NSW Ports Pty Ltd under contractual arrangements that were hidden from the public and Parliament at the time.

A trial was conducted by the Federal Court - ACCC V NSW Ports - into the leasing arrangements. On June 29 2021, the court's judgement detailed the negotiations that occurred leading to the government making a contractual commitment to pay NSW Ports for containers handled at the Port of Newcastle and to lease the Port of Newcastle to the private sector, so that the cost could be "passed through" to the lessee.

The leasing arrangements were made under the "Ports Assets (Authorised Transactions) Act 2012". However, the act did not include the Port of Newcastle on May 31 2013.

I believe the contractual commitment to "pass through" the payment obligation to a future lessee of the Port of Newcastle was made without Parliament's authorisation or knowledge.

The court held that the government was exempt from the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 because Parliament intended to authorise the Treasurer's decision to "pass through" the payment liability to a future lessee of the Port of Newcastle.

IN my opinion the country has had a decade of financial neglect from the right-wing Liberal Coalition Party being one-eyed, allowing self-interest unchecked and racking up major debt. I believe Australia is in a cycle of boom and bust under capitalism.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants growth for Australia by opening the door to migrants. I think it's just more people for the capitalists to exploit and will push Australians' backs to the wall.

I believe the only growth this plan will produce is pushing people and children out of homes, driving poor hygiene and long queues for free food banks. To me it's starting to look like pictures from the Great Depression.

I believe high immigration would create more inflation, as the prime minister wants to bring "brains" into the country. I'm sure we have plenty of brains in the country. Maybe our "brains" need some extra training for the special expertise that's required to keep Australians in good positions.

I think governments should be opening recruiting offices to train and give job opportunities to the people to meet labour shortfalls. Business should show respect for award wages for their employees, and offer jobs for Australians first.

I believe the housing market has been tied up by negative gearing. It should be ended; the people are suffering from the lack of a roof over their heads, and they are treading water - especially the young.

I believe governments need a public housing commission department to build social housing stocks by public capital works. It worked in the past and stocks should never be sold off, that's what I call healthy growth.

Shelter is a human right; a country needs socialism and cannot simply depend on capitalism.

HOW disrespectful to ask our local football team to find another venue for two months to allow Supercross to use McDonald Jones Stadium ("Newcastle Jets shocked as motorsport event kicks them out of stadium", Newcastle Herald 24/5). Surely Newcastle Showground is a more appropriate venue for Supercross?

I WILL vote "no" to the Voice unless I am convinced otherwise because I don't understand the implications and the government does not seem to care about clarification of the detail. There are 120 local Indigenous councils in NSW alone, all have a say, and are mostly self-funded. Many representative groups are already working to help our Indigenous population. There are six federal and nine state members who identify as Indigenous. I believe that a "yes" vote will be divisive for Australians and not bring us together. Convince me otherwise.

LOOKING at the troublesome worksite photos of Judy Tynan's neighbours from hell story ("Modern wall-fare: Judy's $80k battle", Herald 24/5) I suggest Newcastle council engage a demolition company and have that wreck of a building site taken out to Summerhill, with a caveat on theland until the bill is paid. Simply outrageous.

FEDERAL Minister Chris Bowen has recently said there is nothing against nuclear power technology at all, however, it is not an option for Australia as it is too expensive and he cannot find a place where it would be located. For Mr. Bowen's benefit, nuclear power plants can be located on existing power station sites and use existing poles and wires, and can currently operate for up to 80 years and possibly longer. On average a solar farm can last between 25-30 years and a wind turbine generally 20 years before needing to be replaced. Given the foregoing life expectancies a nuclear plant would have a life expectancy four times that of solar and wind plants and thus would be overall cheaper, and we would have more free land for food production and greenie picnics.

RUTH Burrell (Short Takes, 24/5), I'm afraid it sounds like you will be wrong if the Voice referendum passes. The prime minister has already stated that it would be a "brave government" to ignore the advice of the Voice and if they do it will quite possibly lead to a costly legal minefield.

I ASSUME the CBA employees who are complaining about returning to 50 per cent office attendance had to do full office attendance before COVID. Most of the rest of the workers have had to be at work 100 per cent of the time for a while now. This probably explains why a customer like me cannot get face to face help at a CBA branch.