Newcastle Herald letters to the editor and short takes Monday, November 6, 2023

If it's vitally important to keep our visitors safe, why doesn't Newcastle beach warrant a year-round surf life saving presence? Newcastle beach, where Patt Baleisuva tragically drowned, was not patrolled. Nor was there to my knowledge any lifesaving support equipment or signage in any other language advising visitors that Newcastle beach is not patrolled all year around.

Newcastle beach is beautiful, inviting and can be quite dangerous. It is popular all year. We should invest and save lives. Employ life savers so the city beach is patrolled 365 days of the year.

THE 1967 referendum provided for Indigenous Australians to be counted in the census and for the federal government to make laws about them. It was carried, and there was no threat to the status quo.

The 1999 referendum proposal, presented by John Howard, sought recognition for Australia's first peoples in a preamble to the Constitution: "Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, the nation's first people, for their deep kinship with their lands and for their ancient and continuing cultures which enrich the life of our country". Defeated - 39.3 per cent voted 'yes' and 60.7 per cent voted 'no', in spite of cross-party support. Almost identical to the recent referendum result.

What does this say about white Australians? That we are happy to count our first peoples but don't want to acknowledge their right to be recognised and heard? I have previously used the word antipathy (a deep-seated feeling of aversion) to describe the attitude of many white Australians towards Indigenous Australians. If asked, they will deny that aversion, even to themselves - perhaps not unexpected after 200-plus years of conditioning to see Aboriginal people as different, as "other"; to fear them and, after they were subjugated and stripped of their lands, their children and their rights, to view them with a level of contempt or indifference.

The majority of people voted the way they wanted to, to repudiate our first peoples, with the 'yes' and 'no' campaigns merely providing their excuse or justification. I have nothing more to say.

REGARDING a recent contribution ('Tripping with Albo', Letters, 26/10): Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been in office for 570 days, of which he has spent 70 days overseas, patching up Scott Morrison's stuff-ups, as well as attending bilateral meetings, NATO meetings and several other meetings our leader needed to attend. Not one of them involved an Hawaiian holiday.

IT looks like there's still a lot of people who can't seem to move on from the Voice Referendum. To put it simply, a 'yes' vote would have been for a change. A 'no' vote was for more of the same. In response to Steve Barnett's complaint about the waste of taxpayers' money on the Indigenous peoples and the fat cats in the system ('Inefficiency at heart of 'no' vote landslide', Letters, 30/10): well Steve, by voting 'no', nothing is going to change. I would have hoped that if the 'yes' vote was successful, a lot of those bodies would have been axed. The first thing Albo did when he got into power was to get rid of most of the politicians' aides, which a lot of fat cats in government weren't too happy with. We'll never know what could have been.

OPPOSITION leader Peter Dutton and Nationals leader David Littleproud want the government to overturn Australia's ban on nuclear energy and investigate using small modular nuclear reactors to replace coal-fired power. Is it a coincidence then that Barnaby Joyce attended the recent anti wind farm rally in Port Stephens and Peter Dutton has also visited the area recently?

It is acknowledged that an alternative power source would be best sited in the Hunter region, with relatively easy access to the power grid. The Newcastle/Port Stephens area satisfies this requirement for alternatives, including nuclear reactors. Could it be that a secondary motive for Dutton and Joyce in Port Stephens was the identification of suitable sites in the area for nuclear reactors? Locations such as Pindimar, Bob's Farm, and Fullerton Cove come to mind.

IN THE NEWS:

MITCHELL Griffin ('Supercars shows why East End belongs to all', Letters, 2/11), you could not be further from the truth. If Newcastle East is not a residential suburb then what is it? Motels and houses spell residential to me. Why do we need iconic images of Newcastle with Supercars in them? A nice image overlooking Newcastle's coast alone is far more appealing than an image with a petrol guzzler. Get the race out of the city.

THE Wall Street Journal has named Adelaide as Australia's coolest city. No surprise. As a regular visitor over many years I have to agree this is the place to go for food, hospitality, entertainment, beaches, fishing and diving experiences. Like all cities it has a dark side: drugs, homelessness and gang violence. Nowhere is immune from that. If Newcastle is to grow as a destination I think the Adelaide model is the way to go.

I HAVE not spoken to anyone outside Newcastle who was asked to participate in the survey about the V8 race meeting.

BE it the slaughter by Hamas or the large-scale bombing by the Israelis, when did the killing of innocent civilians become anything other than crimes against humanity, with those responsible held to account accordingly? Bombing Gaza will not bring peace to this troubled region. Oh, for visionary leaders who would call time on this age-old conflict and find a path, albeit difficult, to peace.

PEOPLE who say it's a happy outcome that the 'no' voters won, I find humorous. This is like saying colonisation was good for the Aboriginal people - what idiotic rubbish. Indigenous Australia, go hard. Maintain your rage. Democracy is respect for minorities, not rule by majorities. It's a small bee that stings the bull. Australians are not qualified to speak for Indigenous people, so let's stop meddling in their affairs.

THE Voice solely belonged to the elders who formulated it at Uluru. It was the prime minister's referendum.