THIS Christmas I will be enjoying lobster, prawns, caviar, beef and lamb and indulging myself with many bottles of good Australian wine all thanks to the Chinese and I hope other Australians do the same. It seems the Chinese have a spoiled child mentality that needs some re-education.
Clearly, they believe that they deserve to be the masters of the world, but they are not and will not be. Based on their many stupid strategic decisions of recent years, such as islands that are at risk of tsunamis and can easily be wiped out in less than 30 minutes by US military or buying up western assets like Darwin Ports that can be nationalised at a stroke, a country that relies on imports of food from the world to feed its people is at great risk of being destroyed by the Western World as 20 to 50 per cent of its arable land is polluted and is unusable courtesy of their own actions. While they can attempt to punish Australia by introducing punitive tariffs and moving to other food sources from the US and Canada, they are dependent on iron ore from Australia for some years to come so when dealing with these thugs a simple solution is to give them 30 days' notice to drop all tariffs before we halve our export allocations of iron ore. We should then advise them that we will halve our exports of iron ore again every time they unfairly apply tariffs against Australia.
John Davies, Newcastle East
Self-sufficiency is within reach
CHINA is obviously out to teach Australia a lesson for being up front in asking a question that the rest of the world should have asked, yet our country has been singled out for its honesty. They have turned their back on our producers, and I believe we should be doing exactly the same, placing a heavy tariff on the resources that their country relies on such as iron ore.
We as a country should be sourcing prospective buyers for all our exports. We have been so reliant on China for way too long. Let's face it; they buy up most of our resources and properties without concern or obligations to our lifestyles or economy. The Chinese Communist Party has and is slowly but surely smothering the Pacific regions, including Australia, to fill their own greed and political agenda. We all need to protect our homeland. We as a country can be self-sufficient.
Closing the borders because of a pandemic which started in China is probably the best wake-up call we needed to realise just who our supporting neighbours and loyal supporters are. Buy Australian.
Graeme Kime, Cameron Park
Towns must mine resources to live
UNFORTUNATELY for our mine workers, mines generally are located in awkward places. Where they exist are nowhere near cities where alternative work is available should the need arise. In addition, the towns surrounding these mines are full of people in businesses that support those mines, houses that house the workers and their families, retailers that feed and clothe everybody and the list goes on. The mines go, the towns go, and while there might be other jobs somewhere, you just can't pick up and take all these things to that somewhere.
Do the thousands upon thousands of mine workers in our valley become grooms at the horse studs, fruit pickers at the farms (not much of that going on) or zookeepers for the saving of animal species that nature has declared fruitless?
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Over time, lots of it, new areas of employment may open up, but I believe the skill set for today is way above the talents of most tradies. For example, we could use thousands upon thousands of new health workers, doctors who are happy to live and service country and regional areas where miners and their families live. Agricultural workers on industrial sized farms, counsellors and psychiatrists to tell everybody that it will be all right.
Strangely enough, without mining we can't even begin to create a renewable energy system. There are plenty of idealists living in cities.
Garry Robinson, Mannering Park
Crashing faith in institutions
IT seems that an appalling situation is developing in regard to the liability of the payment of the excess in relation to a motor vehicle accident; this needs urgent attention and a just outcome. While I was walking between Jesmond shops and Birmingham Gardens I happened upon a lady who had just got out of hospital after a multiple vehicle accident on Thomas Street, Wallsend, where her car was hit by a speeding driver and forced her car into another vehicle which also hit another vehicle. The lady said to me that she was very annoyed that she has been told that while her car is irreparable she has to pay the excess of the car that her car hit in the multiple vehicle pile-ups.
At one time of my life I worked as a panel-beater and in fact I ran several workshops at different times, and it was always the person who caused the initial collision who was liable to make the payment for any excess claim for the damaged vehicles and that is where it should remain. I am appalled at the distress that this lady is being put through at this time by insurance companies.
While it is true that the last car damaged has a theoretical claim against the car that hit it; this is then passed on to the car that hit that car and so on until the finally the car that hit the first car ends up with the entire repair bill. All other vehicles are victims of the first collision that caused the entire damage as the knock effect is responsible for the entire repair bill.
Since 1985 I have become aware of the extent of the corrupt practices of all of the financial institutions from insurance companies, banks, building societies, credit providers and even the financial advisors. I did call for a wide inquiry into the financial industries back then, and while in 2018 such an inquiry was held it was in my opinion neither wide spread nor effective.
Milton Caine, Birmingham Gardens
Prices should include full cost
THE leaching of heavy metals from power station fly-ash dams is a major ongoing environmental headache ('EPA to investigate coal ash impacts', Herald 12/12). At present, environmental costs are not borne by the current generation or by polluting businesses. They are the problem of future generations.
But the long-term environmental costs of anything mass produced should be part of the item's sale or use price. If these extra costs are assessed realistically, then extra money could be set aside in specific purpose sinking or public trust funds. Then this money would only be available for future generations to address things like rehabilitating polluted industrial sites.
This principle applies to everything we produce. For example, the environmental cost of disposal of solar panels should be accurately assessed. The real price of panels should be paid by consumers when they are purchased or as they are used. This money should be set aside and available to dispose of panels.
Geoff Black, Caves Beach
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 in any form.
SHORT TAKES
MICHAEL Hinchey ((Letters 15/12), my goodness you never leave any doubt about your breathless disdain for any conservative government. I believe most politicians of any persuasion display some form of dubious behaviour in doing their job. People like you could never do it Michael, obviously being pure as the driven snow! (Yes it still does snow!).
Greg Hunt, Newcastle West
ALLAN Evans' approval and praise of the youth of today who speak out regarding their fear of climate change and encourage measures taken to combat it probably speaks for many. What I would like to know is whether the youth of today speak their own opinion, by weighing up all the facts and checking all the numbers with an open mind, or are they simply repeating all they have been taught, presumably the opinion of their teacher? I am not knocking teachers, but I can honestly say some have a closed mind and are very hard to convince otherwise when they believe they are right, even when common sense says they may be wrong. So, should teachers teach what they believe or encourage an open mind by presenting other possibilities? It would be interesting to hear a constructive, non-biased response from the teachers.
Carl Stevenson, Dora Creek
IN response to the 'damage' The Station Newcastle is claiming, this is absurd, the seat in question is far removed from the main 'piazza' area and is of no inconvenience to anyone. It just provides another alternative way of utilising the space while still allowing ample room for people to enjoy it in other ways. I saw this the other day as I rode past and felt a (rare in Newcastle) glimmer of hope - someone had taken it upon themselves to go to the effort of DIY concreting for the greater good of a (admittedly, relatively small like the Station's comment said) but impassioned group of others. Newcastle is more than happy to launch more spaces with a purely financial agenda (like The Station) and build more eyesore apartment blocks with absolutely no mind to infrastructure, entertainment (live music, legitimate art galleries), anything for young people to positively engage in (like a street skate spot for instance) or any of the other 'perks' of a real city. It is looking more and more like an overdeveloped town with cranes. The future is not as bright as the investors seem to think
Cooper Bowman, Wickham
A FRIEND of mine is a bit of a petrol head. He lives 190km from Melbourne and won't contemplate an EV because of the perceived poor range and lack of charging stations. But if the deputy lord mayor of Newcastle, Declan Clausen, can drive 170km to Sydney on half a charge ("The resurrection of the electric car", 11/12), my friend should not even need to stop on the drive to Melbourne. But looking at the map of charging stations around the country, I don't think even that is a problem. For me it's the cost of purchase. I certainly couldn't afford the Jag driven by the deputy mayor, but as prices come down and second-hand EVs become available I'm pretty sure my next car will be electric. But at $2 million, I definitely won't be buying the Lotus electric supercar. Mr Clausen, the resurrection is complete.
Ray Peck, Hawthorn
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