As a native Novocastrian and a former Stockton resident, I know firsthand how important the Newcastle to Stockton ferry is.
I spent my entire working life in the maritime industry and I fail to see the need for completely new ferries.
Since the government is reluctant to spend any money on Newcastle (for anything), I think the $5 million they are considering spending to refurbish the two ferries would be better spent on just replacing the current propulsion system with an electric one.
I believe the hulls, built at Carrington Slipways, are in reasonable condition for their age, so why replace them? The technology is there. Incat near Hobart in Tasmania recently built the largest battery-powered ferry in the world, capable of carrying 200 vehicles and passengers for service across a strait in South America. Perhaps the government should look further afield for solutions rather than just make in-house decisions?
Why is Barnaby Joyce of One Nation raising the issue of abortion? Do these old men have nothing better to do than meddle in what is women's business? Abortion at last is legal and safe. History tells of desperate women resorting to illegal abortions and dying. Do we really want to go back to this? Why, in trying to solve our problems, do we look to the past?
I have a novel idea for Barnaby: let's look to the future and care for the children we already have. A million Australian children live in poverty, childcare is expensive and its quality unreliable. A homeless woman gives birth in a tent, the baby died. Domestic violence causes long-term damage to children. Public schools need more funding to ensure every child reaches their potential, and the planet needs urgent assistance so they have a great place to live.
Please, let's put valuable political energy and money into solving these entrenched problems. Women are becoming more reluctant than ever to have children, and restricting abortion will not solve this. Housing affordability, cost of living, men still trailing in equal participation on the domestic load, plus a climate crisis. A better future is what we want our political system to deliver, not the chaos going on in America. The past was often not kind to women, and no child should be born unwanted.
Regarding Monday's story ("Remembering the shelling of city", Newcastle Herald 8/6). I have read recently, on more than one occasion, that Newcastle's Fort Scratchley is Australia's only land based facility to fire in anger during wartime. I have great admiration for the volunteers who present Fort Scratchley and its history to the public, but I believe this statement may be incorrect.
On August 5 1914, the German ship SS Pfalz attempted to escape from Port Phillip Bay in Victoria. Within minutes of World War I being declared, Lieutenant C Morris, the fire commander at Fort Nepean, was ordered to stop her or sink her. Pfalz ignored orders to stop and the B1 gun fired across her bow. The Pfalz surrendered, and her crew was arrested at Portsea.
I believe that this shot was the first fired by Australia during the World War I.
Again, at 1.30am on September 4 1939 within hours of World War II having been declared the A1 gun fired across the bow of an unidentified ship. The ship then identified itself as SS Woniora, an Australian ship.
Fort Nepean is near Portsea, on the eastern side of the entrance into Port Phillip Bay in Victoria. There is plenty of history to be explored in this area of Victoria.
If we were culling sharks or crocodiles because too many people are being killed in recent times, it would be all over the media. But cull brumbies in our national parks and there's hardly a whisper. Brumbies are part of our history and folklore, and they are killed by shooters in helicopters. Yes, the majority of Aussies care, but it seems to me that the government doesn't give a damn, and the media won't give them a voice.
What a terrible suggestion to change Industrial Drive's name ("Time to rename Industrial Drive", Letters, 9/6). It is so named as a nod to the industries that formed the backbone of the city for so long. I think erasing the reference would be a shameful insult to those who toiled there for generations.
The improved intersection at Adamstown rail crossing has been a welcome addition to safety, but it seems that a lot of arguments about ongoing traffic delays focus incorrectly on the traffic management. The rail signals themselves need improving. It is not unusual to sit stopped in traffic for 10 minutes, but no train passes. That is simply unnecessary closure and a huge amount of time could be saved by fixing that.
We are told that "the outcome cannot be changed" of the automated tool, the Integrated Aged Care assessment (Herald, 5/6). What a PhD opportunity to study live: bureaucratic twaddle meets stupidity.
Carl Stevenson ("Labor has ceded working class", Letters, 9/6) makes a very valid point in saying most Labor ministers come from a union background with very little, if any, real life experience in the workforce outside politics and unions. Forcing up wages means the employee doesn't end up that much better off, with the government taking one third (in most cases) as extra tax, business needing to increase prices to help cover the extra costs and/or reducing staff and as a last resort shutting up shop altogether. A wage increase isn't all it's drummed up to be.
I read with interest Niko Leka's opinion piece ("Global reckoning: Zionism the greatest threat to Jews", Opinion, 9/6). It's the same theme through all of this person's articles. Can you say that no pro-Palestine protests has ever resulted in any violence or anti-Semitism?
Rumour has it Harold Holt walked into the sea and was picked up by a Russian sub, Kevin White ("Abbott's return inauspicious", Letters, 8/6). Maybe a secondhand AUKUS sub gifted to Trump by Putin? These things get around you know.
