I HAVE recently had the misfortune of needing to stay at John Hunter Hospital for almost one week. Whilst I was there the stress on staff and strain on the system was evident. Despite these difficulties, the care provided by the staff was excellent. I would like to thank all the nurses and doctors who provided great service to myself and all the other patients.
Thanks also to Hunter New England Health for fixing the Belmont hub booking system, although no new appointments available until November doesn't seem like much of a ramp up of the vaccine rollout locally. It is noted the responsibility for vaccine supply clearly lies with the federal government, although statewide allocation is a NSW government responsibility.
The current lockdown and strain on our local area's health system is mostly the result of the delays in vaccine rollout, and additionally the failure of the Sydney lockdown. One wonders if the porous Sydney lockdown was deliberate so there would be a statewide lockdown and not just Sydney.
The premier and prime minister are correct in saying we will need to live with COVID once the vaccine is rolled out. After all, the death rate from influenza and pneumonia in 2010 was 2372, in 2014 was 2879 and in 2019 was 4124 at a median age of 88.8 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, but not before everyone who wants a vaccination has a chance to get the vaccine of their choice. Hopefully with the increase in supply we can get some priority allocation of Comirnaty and Spikevax to the regional areas for the under-40 essential workers at the common exposure sites such as Coles, Woolworths and others, as well as our regional Year 12s and teachers prior to the vaccine rollout moving to open access and under-15s.
Warren Sager, Cooks Hill
Forget worst, let's find best next
DON Fraser, (Short Takes, 21/8) highlights a view that aligns with a particular media group on the "worst" prime ministers of the last 40 years. I believe you have omitted the absolute worst, John Howard.
His government introduced a draconian industrial relations system and after saying never ever, moved the taxation impost to those less able to pay. This GST is a major, ever-increasing contributor to inflation and therefore the cost of housing, as is foreign ownership policy. His government aided and abetted the war against the Australian worker. Have you heard of wage stagnation and, paradoxically according to alleged government policy, an increasing gender pay gap? Not learning from history, his government led us into two unwinnable conflicts. That's not a hindsight view.
Concerning whingeing, criticism and having nothing positive to say I recall the repugnant behaviour of the opposition during the Gillard years. Our current rhetoric-based government is too afraid to do anything being focused simply on winning elections. The big question is, does this country have a political party brave enough to reverse failed policies of the last 25 years and introduce forward-thinking policies for a civilised societal future?
Marvyn Smith, Heddon Greta
The kingdom in north doesn't pay
BILL Snow (Letters, 23/8), raises the old chestnut of having a separate state north of the Hawkesbury River. Sorry to tell you that over 80 per cent of the NSW population resides south of the Hawkesbury, along with 80 per cent of the state's income. By far the majority of funds the NSW state government receives is via the GST. Truth is that NSW north of the Hawkesbury receives more funding than its population warrants. For information, mining provides but a relative pittance to the NSW State Budget. NSW north of the Hawkesbury provides the state government with not a lot of income but a heck of a lot of requirements for roads, rail, medical and more.
Mike Sargent, Cootamundra
Ballots will remember margin calls
THE old joke that NSW stands for Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong seems well and truly dated now that the jeer that the state government think that NSW stops at Sydney appears to be increasingly more accurate. It's all very well and good for Gladys Berejiklian to tell us all to go out and get the jab, but back here in Newcastle, it's easier said than done when we have vaccines prioritised for HSC students in Sydney ahead of any Novocastrians. I put it to the Premier that her disdain for Newcastle is blatant, and making the odd fleeting reference to our city during her press conferences, when she remembers to, isn't fooling everyone. Perhaps if she actually cared, Berejiklian would have put a real "ring of steel" around Sydney rather than the revolving door that seemed to have been put in its place, leaving COVID-infected residents relatively free to come into Newcastle to spread the virus, thus putting us in lockdown until at least August 28. I predict that Newcastle will not forget this around election time, however, and Berejiklian will be reminded of the term "safe Labor seat".
Adz Carter, Newcastle
Fortify rebuttals with the facts
MICHAEL Gormly, (Short Takes, 16/6), calls environmentalist Michael Shellenberger a nuclear shill for simply being one of the millions of people who now accept that nuclear power should be one of our options for generating electricity. That's nuclear denial, I guess. There are "rebuttals" of Shellenberger's dismissal of climate alarmism but none of them contain any science, data, or evidence to rebut his conclusions. Surely his having been an energy expert witness to the US Congress and an expert reviewer of the last IPCC report should qualify Shellenberger to be taken seriously on Climate Change? Much of the bad science, strawman arguments, cherry-picking facts, and ad-hominem attacks appear to have been coming from his opponents.
Peter Devey, Merewether
Compassion due closer to home
THE sudden collapse of the Afghanistan government has sparked concern for the fate of those left to the tender mercies of the Taliban, an event which has resulted in a public demand of the government to accept refugees from that country. When this occurs we will all bask in a glow of self satisfaction at our noble gesture without considering that the cruelty of the Taliban is being replicated in Australia. Origin Energy, a supplier of gas and electricity to millions of Australians, is planning to frack the Beetaloo and MacArthur basin in the NT despite the objections of the traditional owners. They will do this with the strong support of the government who incredibly want to help fund the project with a $50m assistance grant. This project will not only create a huge increase in emissions but will force the Gunnai, Yorta Yorta and Wurundjeri people off their land, making them refugees in their own country. It's a crime against the Indigenous people that will, as is so often the case, go largely unreported.
Don Owers, Dudley
SHORT TAKES
I BELIEVE it seems to defy belief that Matt Byrnes' legal issues were unknown for 12 months. In my opinion Labor seems to have acted only after Independents and media brought it to their attention. A separate matter raised by his resignation is Cr Byrnes' admission that Labor caucuses prior to council meetings. I think that is a process against the spirit, if not the letter, of the Local Government Act.
John Beach, Cooks Hill
CAN someone please restart the new state movement? Free us from Sydney.
Bob Davies, Broadmeadow
AS a betting man, (Don Fraser, Short Takes, 21/8), I'd be prepared to wager that our self-identifying Christian PM Scott Morrison will do an absolute bare minimum to assist as few (rather than as many) Afghan people as possible. Why do something when I can do nothing seems to be his go-to policy on everything.
Mac Maguire, Charlestown
PETER Moylan, you have to be joking! Why on earth would you have Dictator Dan in charge of NSW so we too can be on our 6th lockdown and oversee 800 plus deaths? I suggest you separate political bias from common sense!
Steve Feenan, Edgeworth
DON Fraser believes Keating, Rudd and Gillard are the "worst PMs in the last 40 years". He doesn't tell us what criteria he uses to make that judgement. However, that group has been responsible for bringing us Medicare, compulsory employer superannuation and the NDIS - all valuable social policies that continue to benefit all Australians. Apart from John Howard's gun control laws no Liberal leader has done anything of substance for the wellbeing of society as a whole.
John Arnold, Anna Bay
PETER Moylan, I can come around and stick bamboo skewers under your fingernails. Why bother Dictator Dan? Perhaps you should ask the small business owners in Carlton's famous Lygon Street how they're going, if any are left that is.
Steve Barnett, Fingal Bay
MY live-in partner's birthday started with breakfast, ordered by her loving family in the Greater Sydney lockdown area, whipped up by some chefs and cooks in a kitchen in Newcastle and delivered contactless by someone in a mask, safety eyewear and double pluggers. I didn't hesitate to shovel it into my gullet. Remembering it was my partner's birthday I begrudgingly woke her up and shared it .
Bryn Roberts, New Lambton
THE case of the Costco staff who tested positive needs further explanation, noting John Barilaro's statement that they had "done the wrong thing". I have not seen any report of the fines meted out to the individual or to Costco and still wonder if a government loophole hadn't been used.
Wilton Ainsworth, Newcastle
COSTCO opening special; free COVID-19 for all Newcastle.
