I READ with interest Michael Parris' story regarding vaccination checks ("Vax checks hit and miss", Newcastle Herald 14/10). It appears that some businesses were "uncomfortable" about asking for proof of vaccination and this leads me to ask how uncomfortable they would feel if unvaccinated people were allowed in and a COVID case was the result.
I have visited two large businesses (Kmart and Target) and a hairdresser this week and was thoroughly checked before entry in all three places. No discomfort at all. I was also checked at Mayfield pool, and my husband was checked at his barber's where he witnessed someone being sent home to retrieve his vaccination proof. No drama.
Denise Lindus Trummel, Mayfield
Lake's ferry important addition
LAKE Macquarie is missing something that nearly every city with a waterway has: a ferry service. Our city's identity is based around our central lake so why is a ferry network that connects our major population centres not a key part of our city's transport strategy?
Our city is disconnected by virtue of being low density sprawl around a central lake so a ferry is the obvious solution to improving trip times. This would connect our community and economy as people will find it easier to travel and spend money in our city, with communities like Swansea and Toronto becoming a short ferry ride apart rather than a long drive.
Ferries operated on the lake before World War II, so why not bring it back? Roads around our city are already under strain due to high traffic and congestion which is only going to keep increasing in the coming decades as the city continues to grow. Establishing a ferry network will get people out of cars and onto a more sustainable form of transport that will ease congestion on our roads.
The dominance of the automobile in our city is a detriment to our health, our communities, and our economy. Car-centric urban planning has crippled our city for far too long. If connections to cycling and bus networks are included at each of the ferry stops then people will shift their modes of transit. Build it and they will come.
Bryce Ham, Whitebridge
Nobody inspects ICAC imposition
JOHN Woodward, ("ICAC's range of functions serves NSW well", Opinion, 12/10) and John Ure, ("ICAC's original mandate holds true today", Opinion, 13/10), painted a picture of the NSW ICAC providing a good service to the people of NSW. But does it?
Mr Woodward as a lawyer and John Ure as a former head of the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence should have a lot of legal knowledge and be aware of the history of ICAC. So why have they both failed to mention any of the legal failures of ICAC and particularly the victims of ICAC failure?
Nick Greiner was forced to resign as Premier in 1992 from an ICAC investigation even though he was then cleared of any corruption by the Supreme Court. His political career, though, was ruined. More recently State Emergency Commissioner, Murray Kear and his deputy Steve Pearce were slandered by testimony to ICAC but later cleared by the courts. Their public careers were also ruined.
Newcastle businessman Andrew Poole was found to be corrupt by ICAC though the courts disagreed. Crown Prosecutor Margaret Cunneen was found to be corrupt by ICAC but it took an appeal to the High Court to clear her name. Her public career also ended. And there have been other victims. ICAC never apologises for their failures or to their victims. It can cost you huge legal bills to defend your name against ICAC. ICAC has plenty of taxpayer funds after all to play these legal games.
The ICAC has immense legal powers and operates more like a royal commission or an inquisition than a criminal court where you have a presumption of innocence. There is more of a presumption of public embarrassment as experienced, recently perhaps by Gladys Berejiklian. It may be important to investigate allegations of corruption, but ICAC doesn't have an unsullied record. I would think that some more reform of NSW ICAC is still needed.
Peter Devey, Merewether
Is building it here good value?
IN reply to Stan Keifer (Letters, 13/10): you said we should be building our own ships in Australia, and I agree, however, you would remember when ships were being built at the dockyard here in Newcastle the number of unions involved at times prevented workers doing more than a few hours a day at times. A lot of time was spent on strikes.
It would be great to create jobs, but can we afford the same product if we were to build our own ships? I do have a number of friends that worked at the dockyard who fully agree with what I have said.
Our Navy does have ships to help our neighbours in the South Pacific. These were recently used in this role and also carry out search and rescue and surveillance roles, especially in our northern waters. They also assisted in the recent fires on the east coast.
I agree that guns and torpedoes will not be used in future conflicts, but I do say we need nuclear subs to assist our allies in times of confrontation and I do not believe we will be a nuclear-free country for very long. Scott Morrison, in my opinion, has made a great decision.
John Morgan, Karuah
Migration brings needs too
IN between depressing reports on the impact of the virus our media has also mentioned the economic impact of the pandemic which seems likely to remain with us for some time. Recently the Australian Financial Review gave us the wisdom of our leading bureaucrats who advised the government that we need an "explosive" surge of 2 million migrants. It's certainly an explosive comment considering that even by ABS figures we have 4.6 per cent of the population unemployed (639,000), and I believe the real figure is close to double that.
There are also 1.7 million on welfare and income support, which is soon to be cut back and thus will increase the already 3.24 million people living below the poverty line. My understanding is that a disproportionate number are Indigenous, migrants or disadvantaged people. I fear such an enormous boost in population will drive up house prices and rentals and increase the number of homeless people as well as those living in cramped and inadequate accommodation, and in contrast to the view of the bureaucrats we already have high levels of unemployment in skilled migrants who often end up in menial jobs.
There was of course no mention of where these people could live but already there has been suggestions that raising the Warragamba dam wall would allow development of the Windsor-Penrith floodplain. That would not only be an environmental catastrophe but would not protect residents from flooding. It is also a location with the unhappy distinction of being the hottest place on the planet, when temperatures there reached 49.9 degrees in 2020.
Don Owers, Dudley
SHORT TAKES
WOW, Steven Busch, (Letters, 15/10), the government must really be monsters for wanting people to get vaccinated so they don't become sick enough to require hospitalisation? Seriously! No vaccine is 100 per cent effective, however by getting the COVID-19 vaccination it significantly reduces transmissibility, reduces the risk of hospitalisation and reduces the risk of death ('High risk', Newcastle Herald 15/10). Seems a no-brainer.
Rachel Jenkins, Waterloo
I THOUGHT the answer would be obvious John Cooper, (Short Takes, 14/10). People who die from smoking or alcohol abuse had a choice. People who die due to the effects of climate change do not. They do, however, have a voting choice.
Marvyn Smith, Heddon Greta
BECAUSE Robbie O'Davis is an ex-footballer it appears rules do not apply to him (''Heartless and un-Australian', Newcastle Herald 7/10)? There are hundreds of people in the same position as him obeying the rules, as hard as they are. I believe he deserves the same justice as everyone else who breaks the rules. No bleeding hearts here.
David Reynolds, Charlestown
WHO has the streets? Someone once said The meek shall inherit the Earth, and if we don't get back out in the streets they might. I was recently accompanied in a walk along a nearly deserted Darby Street by a possum. It was quite happy to promenade with me for a while, until I produced my phone to video record the event. The ring-tailed hightailed it up a tree that I know from bloody experience has a birds nest. All hell broke loose. So maybe the meek aren't so mild after all.
Ray Dinneen, Newcastle
SO City of Newcastle is spruiking the results of a survey it conducted on community satisfaction with their performance ('Council links increased satisfaction to works spend', Herald 15/10). 61 per cent of 409 respondents said they were satisfied. Well, in my opinion that is certainly an accurate and well balanced result considering there are 155,411 people in Newcastle's local government area
Graeme Bennett, Warners Bay
HOW was Tony Abbott able to go to Taiwan when we can't even go to Sydney ('Abbott calls for solidarity with Taiwan', Herald 8/10)?
Bill Slicer, Tighes Hill
GLEN Wilson (Letters, 14/10) I haven't heard anything from the NSW government about helping the hospitals after the easing of COVID-related restrictions either. But to balance this out, Dominic Perrottet has now doubled the amount of people who are allowed to attend funerals.
Adz Carter, Newcastle
THE POLL
SHOULD Sydney travel have been delayed beyond 80 per cent vaccinated?
