Retaining the $2 inland pool entry fee ("Decision looms on $2 pool entry trial as council deliberates", Newcastle Herald 11/6), seems fair considering the ocean baths have no entry fee and probably attracts even more outsiders as the inland pools. In addition, the East End will soon have an $18.4m waterpark/playground in the Foreshore Park. Will the council be charging admission to help cover its high maintenance costs?
Much is being said at present regarding local newscaster NBN after it was purchased by WIN TV, and it plans to reduce local news to a 30-minute broadcast. At first glance it appears to be just another takeover by a bigger organisation to shift decisions to a bigger authority. In some ways, Novocastrians have become accustomed to Sydney making decisions for us. I have looked beyond that here though, as for some time I have questioned the content of local news in NBN's nightly one-hour news.
Perhaps we don't have enough local news to fill one hour, but I've noticed over the years that local news on NBN is only around 15 minutes, especially if sport is excluded. It appears to me that 30 minutes might be just enough. What will follow is one hour of world news and Australia-wide news. and all up that's a lot of news.
I love the presence of newsreaders on NBN, especially the females. Their pronunciation and diction is nothing short of superb. I will always miss past newsreaders like Paul Lobb and Gavin Morris, Murray Finlay and Ray Dinneen. We claimed them all as true Novocastrians, but as we all have access to instant news on internet devices I believe we had to see the eventual reduction in newspapers and TV news. The times they are a-changing, but I will miss the weekend local news.
Those disgusted with the NBN news spot echoing Sydney's news, and wanting a full coverage of news 24 hours a day, I suggest you give Sky News a shot. You may not agree with their narrative, but they allow you to read between the lines when all sides of politics are welcome to have a say.
Of course some refuse, but that's fine because it's their choice, but are they being true to their conviction, if not wanting to be scrutinised? However, I notice that more politicians are now booking a spot to have their say, because it's my opinion that Sky News broadcasts the news that must be said. Whether one news platform is going to promote another news platform over contentious issues will be surprising indeed.
I have read much indignation regarding changes to NBN evening news bulletins. I find the letters somewhat mystifying since the changes don't come into effect until June 27, but I'll give you a heads-up.
I rarely watch TV news (of any channel). I listen to Radio National breakfast. There are three news bulletins read at 6am, 6:30am and 7am from the ABC studios in Newcastle, as well as news analysis throughout breakfast. With TV news an important story may break, say overseas, but if there is no vision to go with the story it doesn't get much of a run. Take the Air Canada crash at La Guardia airport. The crash has occurred, so the TV news stations run the same four or five shots over and over while the reporter is telling his story. This is why I won't be worried about changes to NBN news.
For those concerned about capital gains tax changes going through parliament, some need a reminder of what capital gains tax is.
One hint is in the name: "capital gains" tax is a tax on the "gain", or profit. If you don't make a profit, you don't get taxed. In fact, if you make a loss there is a tax benefit as well.
It is also only on investments. Those that are not wealthy enough to be able to invest will probably never have capital gains to be taxed, so it will not affect them. The biggest change is to the "discount", or to use another term "rort", where the actual profit that is taxed is reduced.
In summary, the capital gains tax changes are to address the rort in the tax system for those that are wealthy enough to be able to invest and make a profit out of that investment. It is seen by some as one small step in the fight to address the issue that wealthy people that are making big profits appear to be getting taxed less than the poor or low income earners.
Fred McInerney is right to be concerned about the cost blowout of Snowy 2.0 ("Is Snowy Hydro 2.0 worthwhile?", Letters, 6/6), but perhaps we should pay more attention to how so many projects are suffering from similar problems. The inland rail has had the chop and the M6 motorway could also be abandoned because, like Snowy 2.0, it ran into unforeseen tunneling problems.
It would appear that some projects get force fed, and in the case of Snowy 2.0 it was a pet project of Malcolm Turnbull who pushed its start, I believe before sufficient geotechnical investigation was done. It would also appear that the inland rail had too many politicians wanting to see it diverted to benefit their own interests. More alarming than either of these is the pet project of our prime minister, who wants a fast rail from Sydney to Newcastle with a starting price of around $90 billion. It involves more than twice as much tunneling as Snowy 2.0. However the latter project, if completed, would be a money earner while the fast rail never could earn enough to cover running costs, let alone pay for its construction.
Ian King, you should be ashamed of yourself for expressing your views on the opinion page of the Herald ("Where has Clausen gone", Letters, 2/6). You've managed to coax Andy Ward out of his Newy cocoon to tell you to mind your own business. Don't you know that we live out in the sticks?
Andy Ward ("He's not your councillor", Letters, 5/6), while taking sides with Declan Clausen and telling me to "stick to Lake Macquarie issues", has obviously missed my point of asking a simple question, nothing more. In addition, does that mean that anyone living in one LGA and being a ratepayer in another should not comment on any public figure outside the LGA where they live?
I often wonder why we can't get our pollies to be authentic instead of the coded messages we receive that are more blame than support. There are wars going on around the world where there are more ceasefires announced than wars resumed or started.
Hey Albo, here's an idea: instead of investigating investing our money in these data centres for artificial intelligence, why don't you launch an investigation into something you and your government do well: natural stupidity?
