THE Williamtown PFAS compensation reported last week ('Settlement details sink in', Newcastle Herald 13/3) seems to be nothing but a possible continuing health hazard or even a possible death sentence for the current dwellers or any others who would be silly enough to purchase the existing dwellings from them.
The danger of PFAS remains and the incumbents are in my opinion being offered some dollars to keep quiet. The health of humans is the issue here. What are the politicians and the Department of Defence thinking in offering dollars, but not offering a means of escape? The only realistic solution is for the federal government to purchase all of the affected land holdings at a realistic price. What happens to this land is then a matter for the government. How can a dollar figure handout solve the health issues?
Richard Devon, Fishing Point
LOCATION HAS SOME VALUE
THE $172,000 compensation for PFAS contamination at Williamtown may not seem enough by some, but if the owners still retain ownership of their property and invest the $172,000 they can assume property values around an airport, that will eventually go international, will grow in value. Try buying a property or land around Sydney airport without paying a considerable sum of money, thus the same will happen in Newcastle.
I reckon those who choose to stay will reap the reward and those who wish to go will also find investors ready to pay a fair price. To foolishly spend the $172,000 without investment, will force those who would like to go back where they started.
Carl Stevenson, Dora Creek
DON'T START YOUR ENGINES
AS I was walking past the new council building this morning I am certain that I heard someone say "Vrooom Vrooom Vrooom". I hope it wasn't an offer for Formula One to use the Newcastle East circuit after Albert Park was cancelled.
Les Brennan, Newcastle East
CORONA IS CONVENIENT
UP until a month or so ago the government would have us believe that the economy was "strong" and unemployment under control, in spite of evidence to the contrary. Question: why have official interest rates just kept falling, to their lowest ever?
I believe we have been in a recession for a long time. Indeed, I don't think we ever recovered from the global financial crisis more than a decade ago. The banks in my opinion learned nothing from the GFC, hence the royal commission, and then, still nothing learned.
Now, blaming the coronavirus pandemic, the government admits that we are in severe financial trouble. You can almost hear them saying it wasn't their mismanagement that did it, it is the coronavirus. How convenient. I can almost hear a certain former PM saying this is the pandemic we had to have. We should all feel insulted that they don't think we can see through them.
Bill Snow, Stockton
THREATS PAST THE VIRAL ONE
THE World Health Organisation has now declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. In recent weeks, several letter writers have tried to put this threat into perspective by comparing the impact of the virus COVID-19 and other health threats. We have been told that "ordinary" flu kills around 650,000 people every year. Dysentery has about the same mortality rate, while air pollution now tops the lot with over two million people dying each year mainly from fine particulate matter. Even the response by governments appears dismissive, with greater concerns expressed for the economy than for human life. Perhaps this is because all the deaths recorded do not leave a blip on the population growth charts.
What is most disturbing, however, is that these human emergencies dominate the headlines and we forget that events that threaten our food chain are of greater concern. The African swine fever, also a virus, has all but destroyed the pork industry in China and threatens to do the same in other nations. The H5N1 virus created havoc with their poultry industries and together with the viral, bacterial and parasitic devastation of fish farms have created an acute shortage of protein for the people of that region.
Cereals are also at risk from numerous diseases. Wheat is a source of food for over a billion people but a new aggressive form of wheat rust has emerged and is spreading rapidly. Much the same is occurring with maize with two types of rust disease, while bananas, one of the most important staples in tropical areas, are threatened by Panama disease which has evolved to the point where it could seriously reduce yields or even wipe out production.
I believe all these threats to humans and our food chain are interconnected. The intensity of transmission of a disease is directly related to the density of its host. Both our cities and farms are becoming like petri dishes, providing ideal conditions for disease transfer and a race to see which disease will win.
Don Owers, Dudley
SOVEREIGNTY TAKES WORK
AUSTRALIA is a jewel in the Southern hemisphere; a large open country surrounded by water and sharing no borders with other nations. A land of wide spaces and natural resources; the envy of many nations.
The Asia-Pacific is home to some of the world's largest and technically advanced armies, increased nuclear capable states, differing ideologies and competitors for economic resources.
The ASEAN agreement (Association of South Eastern Asian Nations) facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational, and sociocultural integration among its members. Australia, New Zealand and India are "friends" but not members (differing ideologies). China dominates control of the ASEAN by its economic and diplomatic strength.
Australia walks a diplomatic tightrope, the US and China at each end. We are part of the Asia Pacific Nations with roots firmly in a democratic ideology. Let's make no mistake China is making the south Pacific a US exclusion zone and a democratic Australia is problematic to that aim. There is an undefined line between normal trade/foreign influence and silent subversion; between paranoia and political incompetence.
There are subtle ways to change political systems, other than armed invasion.
The modern concept is subversion by stealth i.e. attacks by cyberspace technologies to destabilise political and economic systems, the use of economic power and wealth to orchestrate influence, educational systems to indoctrinate, and control of essential resources by ownership and trade dependency.
China's strong influence extends to Australia. The cost of freedom is eternal vigilance.
Paul Duggan, Garden Suburb
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
I WOULD like to express concern at the Government's financial handling of the coronavirus crisis. Right now economic stimulation is not helpful. We need an economic pause, with most transactions suspended. Non-essential work should cease, and mingling be minimised. This will slow the COVID-19 spread and buy time for scientists to develop a vaccine. Instead of stimulation, government funds should be used to secure food production and provide essential services.
Dave Hamilton, Jewells
WITH Mother Nature making us feel insignificant, drunken oafs butchering innocents, and now COVID-9, it's easy to despair. Come on Jets and Knights, give us something to smile about.
Dave McTaggart, Edgeworth
A FRIEND and I recently discussed the possible lack of intelligence displayed by those panic buying toilet paper. Should we be concerned that these same people will start to panic buy limes? After all, everybody knows that limes make a Corona better?
William Hardes, Lakelands
IT seems we are not alone. The following shopping notice comes from the city of Calgary, Canada: "Valued customers, due to the recent outbreak of stupidity and panic-purchasing by complete idiots, the nation is currently experiencing a shortage of toilet paper and common sense. We expect to be replenished once these sheep-minded morons have all starved to death in their homes, surrounded by toilet paper but without anything to eat."
Brian Ladd, Newcastle
THE poor old Labor voters who are still recovering from Shorten losing the "unloseable election" last year. ScoMo's holiday with his family is old news, so get over it ! And with Albo now at the helm ScoMo will win the next election in a canter.
Don Fraser, Belmont
THE Knights' management should take the lead and close their upcoming game to the general public.
Bill Slicer, Tighes Hill
I SHOP weekly at Coles. Both last week and this morning there was no toilet paper so I asked if I could be put on a backorder list. No, you'll have to line up out the front at 6.00am like everyone else did this morning. Never have I been one to not spite my face by cutting off my nose, so I then walked out without buying anything. I am now vowing that I will buy nothing from Coles until they figure out how to manage this fiasco, and I am inviting others to join me. Stupidity is never an excuse for poor management.
Margaret Neal, Belmont
RUMOUR has it that the toilet paper these days has a shelf life of 4 to 5 weeks before it then disintegrates leaving you with a problem of what to do with a bag of paper pulp.
John Bradford, Beresfield
DID we not reclaim Kooragang from the bottom of the harbour? This would be a sensible use of the sand to Stockton to overcome the erosion problem. Why wait for a council meeting to ratify a proper suggestion?
