YOUNG people, especially young women, see that coal town Muswellbrook's days are numbered. They continue to leave town, despite the temporary reprieve of coal as a result of the world's energy crisis ('Time to pay back the shire that fed the state coffers', Opinion, 4/7). I am not sure Muswellbrook Shire, or any other coal mining area, is owed anything by NSW.
Mining towns have always contributed disproportionately to state coffers. Locals are not owed anything morally or legally for the mining royalties that companies have contributed. The discovery and mining of a valuable mineral or fossil fuel is an accident of geography. Well paid mine workers have always moved on from mining towns, as mines have closed down, leaving an ageing population to live out their lives.
The Grattan Institute thinks the state government should help Hunter mining towns to transition to green energy. Maybe this would be good politics in winning the votes of coal and power workers. It might also make good economic sense. Certainly Muswellbrook, Singleton and Kurri Kurri are near existing power stations of Liddell, Bayswater and Kurri Kurri, and should be favoured for the development and installation of modern solar farms and wind turbines. These towns are near central nodes of the existing electricity grid. Maybe, in time, these areas could also produce and export green hydrogen. The cost of producing green hydrogen in Australia is about one third that of cold, dark, energy-starved northwestern Europe, which could become our main buyer of Australian green hydrogen exports.
A more important question is, will the mining companies clean up their mine sites when the thermal coal runs out or is no longer in demand or will the Hunter Valley be left with more pit voids and mountains of the moon? Will coal dust continue to blow through Hunter coal towns, as asbestos dust continues to contaminate parts of WA?
Geoff Black, Caves Beach
Container terminal has answers
TERRY Bryden asked three major questions about a container terminal ('Devil of container terminal may lie in detail', Letters, 5/7). His first question is: who generated the economic report that estimated 19,000 direct and indirect jobs? Answer: the port lessee, Port of Newcastle Investments Pty Ltd. His second question concerns container truck traffic: will the road congestion that is standard at Port Botany (a truck-dependent port) transfer to Newcastle? The answer is no - provided every container is railed.
By building a dedicated rail freight line between Newcastle port, Badgerys Creek and Port Kembla, every container in NSW, including Sydney, can be railed between an intermodal terminal and the Newcastle port.
His third question concerns what planning is being conducted into the transportation requirement for a Newcastle container terminal. The answer is that no planning is being conducted for a rail-based terminal because the state government penalises container traffic at the Port of Newcastle, for the purpose of preventing a container terminal. The state is currently selling the 52-hectare Intertrade site, next to the container terminal site, for the purpose of constraining, or preventing, rail transportation of containers.The Hunter needs to get serious about a container terminal.
Greg Cameron, Wamboin
The voting system hasn't changed
DON Ayres, (Short Takes, 5/7) the 2022 Labor government must have a mandate if history is any guide. The Liberal Party polled 37.4 per cent in the 2001 federal election and as a Coalition polled 42.9 per cent. To use your argument, that means we should not be lumbered by what I believe to be unfairly applied and by definition inflationary GST as 57.1 per cent of the population voted against this cornerstone of the election. In 2001 Labor won the popular vote with 37.84 per cent of the vote. You can thank your lucky stars that a preferential system that you referred to as being flawed returned the Coalition by a mere 1 per cent (50.95 per cent) on a two party preferred basis.
Marvyn Smith, Heddon Greta
Masks, vaccine no COVID panacea
GEOFF Black ('COVID measures are falling short', Letters, 30/6) quoted the opinions of a few doctors to support his argument on COVID infection risk. But that is still just opinion and I'd argue the evidence doesn't support it.
The research paper by Heba N. Altarawneh et al "Effects of previous infections and vaccination on symptomatic Omicron infections" NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine) was a big study of the whole population of Qatar (some three million people). It showed many interesting results.
All subjects (vaccinated or infected) had immunity that faded over time. But those unvaccinated and then infected retained 46 per cent of their immunity compared to those uninfected with two vaccine doses who had -1 per cent retained immunity, three vaccine doses (uninfected) who had 52 per cent retained immunity and those who had been infected and with three vaccine doses retained 77 per cent immunity after the same length of time.
What I believe that is indicating is that being infected gives you much better protection than just vaccination alone. That has been the case for just about all viruses we have known and studied. There is nothing magical about the COVID virus to make it perform differently. Being vaccinated will not stop you from being infected, getting sick or passing it on to others. I believe demanding vaccine mandates is not validated and should be removed from all situations. Similarly, mask mandates (clinical masks) have not been scientifically shown to confer population protection and I think shouldn't be enforced outside medical treatment.
Peter Devey, Merewether
Ends don't always justify means
I HAVE no doubt that your irate correspondent Michael Hinchey (Short Takes, 5/7) believes his tadpole project was brilliant but more serious research by the award-winning Institute of Public Affairs indicates that 61 per cent of Australians want a pause in the quest for net zero emissions by 2050. Mr Hinchey apparently believes it's ok to cause unnecessary disruption as long as it's for the "right" cause. I believe the few annoying climate zealots that are left, if they are serious, should at least be performing outside the Chinese Embassy or, even better, go to Beijing to confront the president about their near 30 per cent emissions. Good luck with that! Australia cutting its 1 per cent isn't going to change the world's weather.
Greg Hunt, Newcastle West
What are we really flagging?
THE butcher's apron drooling blood over our national ensign shows us where we have been: the murder, dispossession, and disenfranchisement of the native peoples, the theft of their children to create a servant class for the "new" nation's growing middle class, the seizure of Pacific Islanders to provide slave labour, the White Australia Policy ejecting many of the Chinese who helped to build the country, and, shamefully, the lack of acknowledgement and mistreatment of the many Aboriginal soldiers who fought for Australia. Well might we consider the past and hope that in the future those bright Southern Cross stars may fly free.
Peter Ronne, Woodberry
SHORT TAKES
I WOULD like to publicly thank the effort of the two bus drivers who got us safely back home recently. We were travelling back from Hobart. The plane was delayed. The train was delayed, then stopped at Gosford where buses were then required. We bussed to Wyong, then another bus eventually arrived and drove us to Cardiff, stopping at all stations. The drivers traversed these roads with skill and patience under very difficult conditions. We very much appreciate them being available on a cold, dark night to assist us to get home safely. Kudos too, to the Newcastle taxi driver, who delivered us home from Cardiff at 1am.
Lesley Comerford, New Lambton
IS it possible that the recent spate of criticism of the Teals comes from males who are afraid of having a group of well educated and successful women in the halls of power? I can assure you their contribution will be far more than knitting beanies and I look forward to it. I am also sure every one of them would have condemned the stupid person that disrupted the Sydney Harbour Bridge traffic and yet they cop criticism because John Cooper ('Climate voices missing on protest', Letters, 6/7) did not see it in print.
Lloyd Davies, Stockton
I FIND it amazing that there are people comparing Anthony Albanese's trip to the Ukraine to Scott Morrison's trip to Hawaii. How anyone can find similarities between a Prime Minister going on a diplomatic mission to a war-torn nation and a Prime Minister leaving the country to holiday in a tropical paradise is beyond me. Strange how the right wing press has a problem with Mr Albanese's trip, but didn't object to Mr Morrison's. Rupert Murdoch claims that Mr Albanese has "abandoned the country", which I think is more than just a bit bold considering that Mr Murdoch hasn't lived in Australia since 1968.
Adz Carter, Newcastle
COLIN Fordham: "bravely" you can sit at home criticising me, for what reason I don't know (Short Takes, 6/7). We all have our trials and tribulations in life. My point and bottom line was (Short Takes, 2/7) we all have to be thankful and count our blessings. If you've taken offence to that, well I'm sorry.
Alan Harrison, Glendale
CORRECT me if I'm wrong, but would the Tonga volcanic eruptions have anything to do with increasing rainfall in Australia or are Singleton's coal miners to blame?
Steve Barnett, Fingal Bay
NO point cleaning up after your miniature chihuahua, Michael Gormly 5th, if you are going to turn a blind eye to your neighbours' mastiff defecating on your front lawn. Time for those who believe climate action is urgent to start holding China's government to the same standards they demand.
