THE Newcastle Herald has reported on a number of occasions that the container terminal proposed for the former BHP site is estimated to generate more than 19,000 direct and indirect jobs if it proceeds ('Bedwetters', Herald 30/6).
Who produced this figure, and where can I get a copy of the modelling used? A review of the model will show how and where the jobs will be created.
I've witnessed the chaos with trucks in the streets around the Port Botany container terminal so let's hope 18,800 of the new jobs aren't just truck drivers.
Also, amid the enthusiasm for the new terminal I fear there is no detail. Where are the details of the rail loops and, very importantly, where are the details of the segregated road links to the highways leading north and south? A layout with a table of 24 hour truck movements would help judge the impacts. I'm interested in following this up if someone can tell me where to start.
Terry Bryden, Merewether
Help will prove taxing for some
I SEE NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet's plan for "helping" first home buyers would be to allow them to pay a property tax rather than stamp duty on purchase. Stamp duty is payable on purchase of land or property, and it may well be a one-off cost for some people if they do not move house.
A land tax is yearly and will continue for subsequent buyers according to some reports. Previously, your principal place of residence was exempt. I have not heard the Premier deny this scheme would be applied to all property at some point.
Governments always strive to increase tax, not reduce it despite any offers made.
A property tax has been considered a number of times over the last few decades but it was always proposed to tax principal residences to maximise revenue.
Ross Simpson, Stockton
Wearing masks is a team game
THANK you Dallas Bellamy for raising the proper use of masks in protecting against catching COVID-19 ("No masking what works best", Letters 29/6). However, that is not why I wear a mask, as you may surmise by my beard breaking through.
I wear it because the victim can transmit before they develop symptoms themselves. I wear the mask while selling street magazines, so that I can be assured that I am not giving COVID to my customers. I was educated to this orientation by friends with low immune systems when the pandemic first arrived. I do not wear an N95 myself, preferring for the moment to have a beard. I restrict aerosol from my sneezing by my cloth mask. Plant-based N95 masks are on the way, but need to be tested by CSIRO to go on Therapeutic Goods Register (ARTG). The very best aerosol risk profile is when all parties use a mask. It's a team effort.
On the subject of teacher loading, it sounds like some rearranging is called for. I recommend a heart to heart discussion with the students about the meaning of the three words "dependent; independent; interdependent", and how on a continuum the first and third might look identical to an outside observer. The difference is truly whether the student believes within themselves that they are capable of being independent in some small aspect. Then you find that you have more than 30 teachers in a room. Learning is a team effort. Let's reimagine school.
Andrew Spannenberg, Mayfield
Migration is only safe as houses
THE recent bombardment of calls for a return to higher immigration have now included a new theme. Migrants, particularly skilled people, might not come here because of the world demand for their services.
This is especially true for health care workers because few nations, including Australia, train enough for their needs. The COVID pandemic has reportedly killed 180,000 and left many more sick or disabled. It means that those with skills are in high demand and if they migrate, they will choose the best option based very much on pay and cost of living. Given that we have one of the worst housing affordability in the world, there is every chance that we will not only miss out but that our own skilled people may seek greener pastures.
This has already happened. A Business Australia study found that in the year 2020/21 more skilled people left than arrived. It caused the economic collapse in Ireland and Spain, and is now a concern in Canada where immigration created a housing bubble, pushing prices up much faster than the US and driving crippling household debt.
As a consequence, not only are the young skilled people leaving but a survey found 30 per cent of migrants are also likely to leave in the next two years. It is of course a Catch 22 situation: fix the housing crises and we can retain and attract skilled people, but high levels of migration make the housing crisis largely unfixable.
Don Owers, Dudley
Grief can forge some strong bonds
I WAS thrilled to read your article in Topics last week ("Lake Mac camp helps grieving kids", Topics 29/6). Grief is such a raw emotion, and unless you have walked that tough road, it's hard to understand. So, for children it must be even harder.
It is a great idea for a camp in this area, directed at relevant children. I was also pleased to see that Josh Levin was a volunteer who had experienced grief, along with younger brother, Noah. Their dad had died at the age of 40. Both boys had attended a similar camp in Sydney, a few years ago.
I first met this family in 2015 at a Memorial Service at the Mater Hospital Waratah. They were very distressed - I was in the same position, so asked Deb afterwards if she would like to meet up for coffee some time. Deb was much younger than me, an older lady, but we had both lost a husband.
We just clicked at that first meeting and a rather lovely friendship with the family has been formed. Now, seven years later, we are all in a better space. Those young boys, are now handsome young men in university and finishing school. They were both school captain in their final year, and working towards wonderful careers.
Well done, Deb, and may these camps continue to help heal young lives and forge new friendships found along the way.
Margaret Kidd, New Lambton
How will we remember Putin?
READING recently about the 16th century Russian tsar Ivan IV, also known as Ivan the Terrible, I noted that he was said to be prone to paranoia, rage and mental instability. I wondered at the time, how Vladimir Putin would be remembered in future years, in view of the fact that the phrase "make peace, not war" is apparently not included in his guiding principles.
He has a wide range of destructive weapons at his disposal, as well as the support of China, so European and Western countries are rightly concerned about the respective ambitions of those two powers.
They would all do well to consider the words of physicist Albert Einstein in the aftermath of the destruction caused by atomic bombs and the subsequent research into even more powerful weapons. On the consequences of a future nuclear war and the resultant devastation, Einstein suggested that the world war after the next one would be fought with rocks.
David Stewart, New Lambton
SHORT TAKES
GREG Hunt (Short Takes 1/7) calls climate protesters in Sydney "morons" for causing extra carbon emissions. It seems to me it's moronic to nitpick about ideological purity while ignoring the point the protest was trying to make. Anyway, doesn't Mr Hunt think emissions are absolutely nothing to worry about? As for IPA research, I believe my second class school project on tadpoles displayed more intellectual and methodological rigour.
Michael Hinchey, New Lambton
MANDATING vehicle emission standards will be a sensible move for the Labor government to take. From the climate perspective, this will help accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles to enable the Labor government to meet its 2030 climate change goals. The health benefits are significant too; higher levels of air pollution have been linked to increased heart and lung problems, and increased mortality. Fewer petrol cars on our roads will reduce air pollution and improve health outcomes for the general population. Any policy that will not only help us achieve our climate goals, but also reduce the burden on our overloaded public health system is simply a win-win policy.
Ching Ang, Magill
JUST to clarify about McDonald Jones Stadium hosting only one concert 32 years ago. I attended the venue with thousands of other people to see The Angels around 1978.
Graeme Bennett, Warners Bay
HAVEN'T Newcastle rates already gone up excessively after the council voted to give us 49 per cent over seven years? No wonder the budget is good. Isn't that enough to give us a break, like Cr Church said?
Bruce Cook, Adamstown
MICHAEL Hinchey and Michael Gormly, I'd rather drink Taliban urine than share a beer with the likes of Adam Bandt.
Steve Barnett, Fingal Bay
CHRIS Bowen said at the National Press Club last week that Labor had a mandate on climate policy following the last election. From my reading of the figures, Labor attracted 32.79 per cent of the votes, which in my view is not a mandate for climate policy. It means that 67.2 per cent of voters did not want Labor's policies but they won the election based on our flawed preferential voting system, but that's another story.
Don Ayres, Belmont
WATCHING recent media performances by NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell made me think about the difference in tone set by her predecessor and National Party colleague Adrian Piccoli. Maybe Ms Mitchell should have a chat with Mr Piccoli, who always treated teachers with respect. I believe she should also be mindful of the damage to the Greiner government's reputation caused by then minister Terry Metherell's megaphoned hubris.
