IN the midst of the COVID pandemic it's very disappointing to witness so many Novocastrains failing to QR code in at so many venues around town. The Newcastle Herald's headline on Thursday read "Newcastle, Hunter cases jump to 93 as NSW total falls further".
What is going to happen in the coming weeks as restrictions are lifted? Are we going to see Newcastle breaking all the wrong records, with new COVID cases in the hundreds and more and more pressure placed on our health services?
Everyone who calls Newcastle home has a responsibility to keep each other safe and follow the COVID protocols of QR sign in, masks, and social distancing. You can catch the virus at a convenience store or petrol station just as easily as you can at a large supermarket, so please don't be lazy. Use the QR code and sign in everywhere you go. Keep Newcastle safe.
Monday October 11 looms large. Let's not be pushed back into lockdown; we should be better than that.
Terry Jeffery, Newcastle
Falling records region's concern
WHAT concerns me most of all beyond Monday is not NSW reaching 80 per cent double vaccination and Sydney being allowed to travel to regional NSW.
Rather, it's the clear and present danger much closer to home. While NSW COVID-19 figures are trending down, Newcastle and the lower Hunter last week tallied record numbers.
I had my second AstraZeneca jab last weekend, what I saw driving home via Lake Macquarie's eastern foreshore alarmed me. It was a concern reinforced when I returned to Maitland to find the city's fullest carpark, where mingling is just the beginning.
Check Hunter New England Health's Facebook page; the local data is there for all to see and analyse.
Garry Blair, Maitland
Grand history of our libraries
BARBARA Heaton's big hooray for our public library system, ("New chapter for library a welcome diversion", Letters, 29/9), triggered many memories of the vital role that the network of local Mechanics Institutes and Municipal Libraries have played in the cultural and educational development of my family and those of many other fellow Novocastrians across the generations.
Henry Lawson was grateful forever for the excellent tutelage he received at the Mechanics Institute in Wickham whilst he was a transient Novocastrian painting railway carriages in his youth. No doubt Bill Dobell swatted up on art history in the city library in his early days.
Vera Deacon attributed her entire education after leaving school aged 13 in the Great Depression to the libraries of Newcastle City Council and the local CPA, as did my mother and my father and many other good citizens of their generation. In the 1950s and 60s my post-WWII generation haunted the library at the top of town and, nearer home, in our own suburbs from the moment we became Argonauts and began sending off our poems and stories to Jason at the ABC, earning blue certificates as we sought the glory of the elusive Golden Fleece.
Yes, Barbara, hip hip hooray for the great tradition of public libraries, and especially that one in Laman Street with its wealth of local history.
Marilla North, Hamilton South
ICAC transparency is the point
I RESPECTFULLY disagree with Dr John Tierney's opinion piece, ("Reform 'crucial'; Berejiklian victim of unjust ICAC model", Opinion, 6/10). To say that Ms Berejiklian has been an outstanding Premier in my opinion belies the facts.
I do not agree with the premise that Ms Berejiklian resigned because ICAC's process is cumbersome. Those who oppose the independent workings of ICAC are those that may have been adversely affected by them.
ICAC's independence was proven when Premier Nick Greiner was their first casualty. He initiated ICAC and did not escape it's clutches. He was caught in his own petard.
As for Operation Spicer, ICAC had MPs scurrying for cover. There were fears that donors could buy political access or political influence. However, it went deeper than that. ICAC should not be meddled with. It is fit for purpose. To deny ICAC its transparency would be a fundamental flaw. The public has a right to know.
Maybe ICAC should next look into ICARE.
ICAC cannot prosecute; they can only refer evidence on to the DPP. In the case of Ms Berejiklian, the DPP may find no fault.
PM Morrison, bring on a Federal ICAC.
Dennis Petrovic, Rutherford
Watchdog isn't for everything
IN Jeff Hollingsworth's letter, (Letters, 5/10) he has asked for an ICAC enquiry into the over 800 deaths in VIC due to COVID.
To state the obvious - ICAC conducts corruption enquiries - so can Jeff please advise where he says the corruption is alleged to have occurred?
Is he associating corruption with border security/hotel quarantine issues which have also occurred in other states?
Or, given lack of vaccine supply is one of the biggest issues of the pandemic, is Jeff saying there were issues favouring the Queensland-produced AstraZeneca over meeting with senior Pfizer execs to ensure Pfizer supplies?
Or, given the majority of 2020 deaths occurred in Victorian aged care facilities that were governed by the feds, is there corruption here? Or is he attacking the heroes with capes; the health officials?
Given the issues with the biggest consequences occurring within federal responsibilities, it looks like Jeff is joining the campaign for a Federal ICAC. I would support him in this respect.
Glen Wilson, Cardiff
Host more than horses at track
WHY not a car race track in the middle of Newcastle horse racing track?
Warwick Farm had a great car race track, same as Oran Park, but expanding residential housing caused the closure of these tracks because of noise restrictions. Wakefield Park at Goulburn now also faces the same restrictions and may not survive.
Fortunately, Eastern Creek race track is surrounded by a huge raised mound covered in grass acting as a sound barrier and works rather well. Whether the same or something similar would work at the Broadmeadow horse track is certainly worth an investigation.
Apart from the continuation of Supercars, it would certainly pay its way; Eastern Creek raceway is constantly booked out 12 months in advance, costing thousands of dollars per day. Eastern Creek is the best ever investment for the NSW government, maybe they will see reason to do the same here, NSW with hundreds of car clubs are crying out for more race tracks.
Car clubs and race tracks go hand in hand by keeping speeding off the streets, with driver training programs for teenagers, even before they are eligible for a driver's license. Maybe an extension of the light rail would also pay for itself.
Carl Stevenson, Dora Creek
SHORT TAKES
CONGRATULATIONS to all Lake Macquarie City Council staff involved in the proposed extension to the Fernleigh Awabakal Shared Track past Belmont Lagoon ('Landmark on the FAST track', Newcastle Herald 7/10). This is a long-anticipated tribute to Awabakal history and shared artistic interpretation through an imaginative and dynamic recreational addition to the Eastlake zone. it will provide outstanding recreational access to and secure management of a beautiful coastal wetland environment that has been overlooked for too long.
Greg Wright, Rankin Park
STEVEN Busch (Short Takes, 5/10), regarding daylight saving; we used to have it for the four months of the year you mentioned until the lead-up to 2000 Sydney Olympics and it was extended a month both ends and never changed back. It just drags on and on and on. We have enough daylight hours in late spring/summer here. Maybe we could use the extra hour in winter.
Lesley Pritchard, New Lambton
I BELIEVE Coles don't want to pay butchers what they're worth, which is more to the point of why they have sacked them. More plastic, pre packaged meat; it's a bit rich for a company that's pushing their environmental credentials.
Steve Barnett, Fingal Bay
WE'RE all in this together, unless someone's on the dole.
Dave Wilson, Bar Beach
MIKE Sargent (Short Takes, 6/10), so switched on. I have a (mostly unused) Facebook account. Never thought to get the COVID lowdown, from my US friends. Go figure. Stay safe, wishing you well.
Graeme Tychsen, Toronto
JUST when I thought we had seen the last of Greta Thunberg, up she pops in Milan. For the first time she actually said something, that for her, was in my opinion sensible. She screamed blah, blah, blah over 50 times, which made more sense than previous rants.
Don Fraser, Belmont North
GREAT letter, Andrew Hirst (Letters, 7/10). That's exactly what the government wants; fear in the community. Fear amounts to control, control is what is wanted by the government. They will continue to feed us BS as long as we let them.
Graeme Bennett, Warners Bay
TO all those grumbling about Supercars in 2022 why not get in now and book a holiday away in another part of our lovely state. Holiday rentals have been affected by COVID lockdowns so support them while enjoying yourselves. Go for a couple of weeks, not just the weekend. Win, win all around.
Lorraine Gillett, Fern Bay
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THE POLL
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