The plan seems a replica of the US's green subsidies plan, oddly named the Reduction Inflation Act, which does not appear to be working all that well given the latest US annual inflation rate was 3.5 per cent, up from 3.2 per cent from the previous year.

Given the high, and rising, energy costs involved in Albo's green plan, it appears to be the antithesis of its objectives. The plan has come in for criticism from expert economists and, in particular, the Labor appointed head of the Productivity Commission, who warned the plan could divert investment from the most productive parts of the economy.

One would have thought any government plan on productivity would have been run by the Productivity Commission in the first instance, but obviously our government knows what it is doing. For the nation's sake, I hope this is not a green thought bubble, an election stunt or political ideology.

The term "non-combatant" is used several times in Milton Caine's recent letter ("Israel erred, but it is not heartless", Letters, 13/4).

Civilian could be used in its place but why not use the word Palestinians indicating people rather than a more formal dehumanising war term? There have been way too many aid and humanitarian workers targeted. The Israeli authorities are usually notified of aid vehicles and they are always well marked. Also many journalists, hospitals and refugee camps have been bombed.

Hamas members may or may not be hiding in various places, but that is no excuse for the destruction of buildings and tens of thousands of innocent lives.

Retaliation, land, religion and the fulfilment of religious prophecy are not excuses for war. There can be no winners, only losers.

WITH regards to the Merewether right-of-way issue ("Residents renew fight for walkway", Newcastle Herald 11/4), the City of Newcastle spokesperson appears to be misinformed. An alternative walkway through the adjacent fire station is not an option. Never was, never is and never will be. Council officers should have known that when they met on-site with fire station personnel way back in 2022 before trying to sell the idea to the community. I imagine they definitely would have known it when informed in writing by the department that a tract through an emergency operations area was simply untenable.

Moreover, a quick glance at council's own site maps should have rendered it an impossibility from the get-go. Why? There is a privately-owned property at the rear of the fire station that would also have to be traversed in order for the pathway to reach its destination. Put simply: the fire station route was always mission impossible. Given the above, it was disappointing but revelatory to see our spokesperson still flogging this dead horse. Instead of repeating mistakes of the past, council might get together with the developers and broker a real solution.

FOUR decades into my trade, nothing gives me more satisfaction than a Saturday in the butchery. Unfortunately we don't close at 12pm these days. We don't want anyone to starve to death because of regulating trading hours. So we work all day, no weekends. Every day's the same. Why have a calendar anymore, it's just day one through to day 365 or 366. I call that overtime.

Anyway, Saturday is a good day; parents come in with their children, who, this time of year, have started playing winter sports. My partner in crime, Noel (Mr Wallsend), is like Mike Rabbit behind the counter asking all the kids how the game went today in true sports reporter mode. So did you win today? Yep, the kid will say. What was the score? The young ones give Noel the result of the game and he continues to interview them on their performance, the ref, the whole box and dice, leaving the parents and other customers laughing out loud.

But last Saturday took the cake, Noel.

"So mate, did you win?" The kid says 'yep, I scored three goals'. Well done, Noel said, but I used to score six goals every game when I played. The young fella instantly said: "If you were that good, why are you a butcher?". "I like ham," Noel replies. "My last name is Beckham, it was my destiny to be a butcher". Own-goal Noel is his nickname now.

IMAGINE my delight after taking a drive to a Rutherford shopping centre to grab some cash, the Eftpos machine wanted to charge me $2.90 to withdraw my own money from my own account, which is nothing short of outrageous.

Fuming, I cancelled the transaction and wandered a few metres over to Woolworths and requested cash out. This is the cruncher: I was told you cannot get cash out unless you buy something.

I believe this is tantamount to blackmail, and the gutless federal government is letting these corporations get away with it. Surely the Australian population should be protected from this sort of outrageous activity?

DEFENDING Israel over the death of Australian Zomi Frankom, Milton Caine ("Israel erred, but it is not heartless", Letters, 13/4), claims "there is absolutely no other evidence of Israel intentionally putting non-combatants in harm's way."

In six months of relentless death and destruction, the Israeli government has killed over 30,000 civilians, most women and minors, as well as 224 aid workers and 90 Palestinian journalists.

Of course there was the shooting of three of their own released hostages.

REGARDING Alissa Jones's letter on behalf of City of Newcastle ("Many sport fields are under-used", Letters 12/4), she writes that the sporting groups that will be affected by the loss of Wallarah and Blackley ovals in New Lambton, due to the proposed building of this sports centre, "have not spoken out against the development and continue to work collaboratively with CN".

Why has there been no collaborative work between CN and residents - not just local residents - who will be affected by having the sports centre in the proposed location?

CN may believe it's not its "job" to do so, but as they are fully aware of the serious concerns of residents, where is their social and moral responsibility? The residents feel ignored and disrespected.