18,800 Australians want to come home but are stranded overseas. What if it was you and your family? ('Vowels and continents', Newcastle Herald 22/8).
We live in unprecedented times. It has been impossible for governments to be proactive in the lead-up to this pandemic. They have been forced to make up policies and rules on the run. Everyone understands this.
The rule that caps at 4000 the number of Australians who return each week from overseas seems to be a cruel and unnecessary. The 4000 who make the Morrison government cut must have "critical skills", or otherwise qualify. The most important other qualification seems to be wealth, via the ability to pay exorbitant air fares.
It is time to change the 4000 per week rule and get these ordinary people home. If airlines need subsidies to fly them home, then our federal government should pay.
State and federal governments now know that strict quarantine rules need to be enforced. If governments haven't learnt how to effectively quarantine returnees, then they have learned nothing from the Ruby Princess and the Victorian hotel debacles.
With proper safeguards and checks in place, the cap should be lifted. This would save a lot of emotional stress and financial hardship for ordinary Australians who are stranded overseas. It might also help Qantas.
Geoff Black, Caves Beach
Don't shift blame, learn lessons
THE continuous discussion of COVID leaves us on overload. This allows us to miss the crucial point in some matters, one being the reason for workers in aged care working at multiple centers.
Many if not most carers are AINs. These are, in old speak, nurse's aids. The employment conditions are to work 3.5-hour shifts with irregular rosters, and be classed as casual. Working five-hour shifts requires them to have a half hour paid meal break.
This makes them ineligible for sick leave, even if they have worked in the same place for years. There is no long service leave and often little access to support needed to use patient care equipment safely.
The need for protection of these vital workers is patently obvious.
Care units do well when they are well managed and organised. While state and federal politicians argue, their respective lack of responsibility means that these and other problems that we should be learning from will remain unsolved.
Look to the lessons that can be learned if we are to believe we are in this together.
Lyn Rendle, Rankin Park
Exports heighten our emissions
I WRITE in response to Joel Fitzgibbon ('Gas the key to cleaner future', Opinion 21/8). He states that "Australia is responsible for around 1.3 per cent of global emissions". I believe this statement is misleading because Australia supplies 34 per cent of fossil fuels to the rest of the world. When our export emissions are included, we are the fifth largest carbon polluter globally- at about five per cent of global emissions.
Mr Fitzgibbon is correct to point out that there is no investor interest in new coal projects. Global market demand for coal has declined so much that even existing coal mines, such as Glencore's, will temporarily shut down. Many corporations are exiting thermal coal, including BHP who recently announced plans to sell off its thermal coal mines within two years.
Gas is, however, not our savior. Because gas-fired electricity generation is more expensive than renewable energy, many are turning to renewable energy to run their businesses and households. As the global demand for gas declines and global gas prices plummet, gas fields are at high risk of becoming stranded assets. As it is, major gas corporations such as Origin Energy and Santos have recently reported hefty losses following months of low gas prices.
Instead of clinging on to industries of the past, we need to follow the money trail. Current market trends currently point to the renewable industry as the path to prosperity. Let us take advantage of our cheaper natural wind and solar resources to rebuild our economy and be the renewable economic superpower of the future.
Ching Ang, Kensington Gardens
Saving isn't always super choice
A NUMBER of articles have been run lately on early super withdrawal ('Hunter make super grab', Herald 22/8). I questioned the Noel Whittaker article some weeks back, and you may be surprised.
Basically, if you are on a low income I believe putting any more into super than the minimum is a waste of time.The amount of savings required to generate what the pension returns is beyond most workers. One would need to save $30,000 a year for 50 years, that's $1.5 million to generate the $25,000 that the pension is currently, plus the $3000 potential benefits (rates, rego, medical) that have not been included.
I agree with Noel Whittaker. This is provided there is no change in the pension. We have been told for decades that the pension may not be there when we retire. I can assure you that access to the pension is easier these days and the politicians bend over backwards to give them more, even when there is negative growth. No such thing as poor pensioners. It will be interesting to see if some sort of balance is applied to the early withdrawal of super.
John Alterator, Hawks Nest
Very little rest in an empty nest
HAVING read Jeff Corbett ('That real empty feeling', Opinion 22/8), I too am placed in a similar circumstance. I have recently placed my wife into aged care and to say that life has changed is an understatement. Gone is the need to be out of bed at a certain time, to prepare meals for two or to provide assistance in general are no longer required. There is an emptiness within the house which is both eerie and endless. A state of depression may exist from time to time knowing that this situation will not change in the foreseeable future.
Sure, there is access to a daily telephone call and/or Facebook Messenger but this doesn't replace a face to face connection which, due to the current environment, is not possible. So yes, adapting to an 'empty nest' is and will be difficult.
Max Purdon, Whitebridge
Fair play, even if it's not good
WHEN you think that you have seen the worst, get a copy of Sunday's Knights game ('Hurts so good', Herald 24/8) and your mind will change. I believe the referee should have been tarred and feathered at half time along with that old has-been Brad Fittler. The ref let go about 10 infringements before sending off Pearce at a very critical time. I am not a supporter of either team, but if I invite football into my home, I demand if not good it be fair.
Dennis Crampton, Swansea
SHARE YOUR OPINION
Email letters@newcastleherald.com.au or send a text message to 0427 154 176 (include name and suburb). Letters should be fewer than 200 words. Short Takes should be fewer than 50 words. Correspondence may be edited and reproduced in any form.
SHORT TAKES
THE Altar Boys by Suzanne Smith is a salient reminder of a finding from the royal commission: "some victims have not survived the abuse, having since taken their own lives." Lest we forget.
Mark Porter, New Lambton
I FEEL Scott Morrison's exclusive praise for NSW's response to the COVID crisis shows again what a disgracefully partisan and biased federal government we have at the moment. We saw it with the fires, the sports rorts and again now.
Mac Maguire, Charlestown
JOEL Fitzgibbon should be aware that thinking Labor voters, city or country, don't make decisions and pluck opinions from thin air ('MP's 'explosive' claim', Herald 21/8). Whether it be ammonium nitrate, natural gas, coal or global warming, it is the hard science that does the talking, not political convenience.
Geoff Hassall, Birmingham Gardens
I DON'T think Joel Fitzgibbon explained why dangerous chemicals can't be stockpiled closer to where they are used in his own electorate. ('MP's 'explosive' claim', Herald 21/8)
Bill Slicer, Tighes Hill
THE powers the Premier of Queensland seems to be wielding to refuse entry to Queensland even from areas with no coronavirus are hard to comprehend. How can these hardball tactics against other Australians help her re-election chances? Most of us do the right thing. Most of us do not want to be guilty of infecting others but it seems we are all guilty in her eyes.
Betsy Watson, Swansea
IT bothers me that football teams these days don't seem to ever wear their actual colours. On the weekend the Knights were in fluoro? Why were they not in their trademark red and blue? For older folk, like myself, it's confusing and makes it not as interesting to watch. I'd certainly like the teams to stick with their normal colours for every game and just play footy. Maybe I'm old school but that's just my opinion.
Amy Matzanke, Sandgate
I THINK that the Seven network deserve a bouquet for going to the extraordinary time and expense to broadcast live the Hunter Wildfires versus Gordon Highlanders Shute Shield clash on Saturday afternoon. Not only did it showcase grassroots rugby at its best (God knows it needs it), but also shone a spotlight on Newcastle and No. 2 Sportsground, which looked fantastic. The result? Who cares. Well done, Seven.
Tony Bennett, Broke
WELL said, Sue Kenny (Short Takes, 21/8), living life through a smartphone is no life.
Sandra Iceton, New Lambton Heights
MY quest for free range vegetables has proven fruitless. Cruelty has no boundaries with vegans. A young female family member doesn't eat meat because of all this vegan rubbish but strangely chicken schnitzel seems to pass as vegan. When quizzed about this the answer was that it's "not red meat". I put this down to a complete lack of protein.
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