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Newcastle Herald

National

Letters to the editor

The sustainable night life debate in Newcastle can't be about silence

If you own a home in town, how far do your rights extend into the surrounding area? If you are fortunate enough to have the money to purchase a home at all, does that give you some newfound right to tell people in that community how they should behave?

I would contend that the community itself should decide, and it sounds like people are voting with their feet. We want a community with vibrant nightlife.

I personally want it. The ability to go out and enjoy where I live day or night is part of what makes living in Newcastle so great. After being largely stuck at home for most of the year, we are ready to get out and have some fun.

I live in Cooks Hill, and it is not uncommon on weekends for me to hear loud night-time revellers walking past the front of my house at all hours of the night. It wakes me up, and sometimes it is annoying. But I live in an area with lots of people, and noise on the street is what comes with living in an area where people are out and about.

If you want quiet, move somewhere quiet. If you want vibrant, move to where the nightlife is. You can't have both.

Jake Fly, Cooks Hill

Centuries of mistakes behind us

IN February 1800 Alexander von Humboldt, explorer/scientist stood beside Lake Valencia, Venezuela (a Spanish colony at the time). Local people told him that the lake's water levels were falling rapidly.

Humboldt observed that the surrounding rainforest had been cleared by settlers for their crops, exposing the soils beneath to the elements. Soils were depleted and less fertile. Without the lower forest canopy, grasses and moss to filter heavy rain, the dried soils washed away and there was catastrophic flooding. It was here that Humboldt developed his idea of human-induced climate change.

He had seen it all before in Europe as well as in South America and, later, in Russia. When he published his observations on his return to Europe he wrote how humankind unsettled the balance of nature. Humankind, he warned, "had the power to destroy the environment and the consequences could be catastrophic".

"Man can only act upon nature, and appropriate her forces to his use," Humboldt would later write, "by comprehending her laws." That was 220 years ago, people. Time for some comprehension.

Gwen Collis, Mayfield

Rising tide of skate park concern

BACK in early August I wrote to this page highlighting the ridiculous decision by council regarding the $12 million skate bowl contracted to be built right on the beach at Newcastle South beach.

At the time there had been a week of very large seas affecting a lot of the east coast and causing damage to Stockton beach and houses at Wamberal. In September the contractor started earthworks on the beach and along the cliff face. In the past couple of weeks they had started to produce steel forming, preparing to pour concrete. In the past couple of days the seas have again been large and have destroyed their temporary sand hills and completely flooded the foundations. I believe the combination of sand, sea water and construction steel is a complete disaster and will greatly affect the quality of construction. This again highlights the crazy decision by our council to proceed with this development in this location.

John Fear, Newcastle East

Disclosure gave us transparency

ALL power to Kath Elliott's elbow ('Elliott censured for leaking', Herald 29/10) if indeed she forced the council's hand to explain just how much it was paying for its new offices. The reluctance of local, state and national bodies to explain and justify their decisions is a spreading malaise which I believe can sometimes be explained by a host of unsavoury reasons including poor decision-making, or worse still, corruption.

Thankfully we have a powerful Auditor General and NSW and Victorian versions of ICAC, both stretched thinly, but arguably the federal government is the worst offender due to the recent sports grants and other pork barrel politics. It seems to be doing everything possible to stymie a national anti-corruption body in the week that key staff in government run or owned bodies have had to fall on their swords.

Secrecy is the enemy of good government but the auguries for an open, transparent democracy are not good. We need more like Cr Elliott.

Jeff Fothergill, The Junction

Frenzy is the enemy of logic

THAT Conservative and Brexit lover, Nigel Farage, has left his base to grace the shores of the United States in support of his buddy, Donald Trump.

Farage and Trump have been lathering each other up with praise, with Farage telling Trump he is "the only current leader in the free world who has the guts to stand up for the nation state, to fight for patriotism, to fight against globalism".

Farage indicated a vote for Trump would be a vote for "decency and plain speaking". Surely Farage must have Trump mixed up with someone else, because most of what I have heard that comes out of Trump's mouth are strings of lies, false accusations and bully-boy talk.

The sad shame is that everyday people, many of whom are Christians, believe Donald Trump to be a saviour of sorts. Rallies show people chanting over and over "we love Trump, we love Trump" with one arm outstretched.

The idolization and adoration of a politician like Trump is frightening and in my opinion reminiscent of the footage seen in Nazi Germany last century, with huge crowds swept up with the same zeal, fervour and love for their beloved Fuhrer.

When considering how to vote in an upcoming election a level head mostly devoid of emotion and plenty of research is necessary. This will give a clearer picture of which party will, as much as possible, be fair and just to all people when in government and avoid the frenzied scenes we are currently seeing in the United States.

Julie Robinson, Cardiff

Incident must have repercussions

I BELIEVE Qatar should not be on your list of places to visit, especially in two years time. In my opinion Australians should boycott the FIFA World Cup there after the horrific recent event where Australian women were subjected to a humiliating internal examination to determine if they had just given birth to an unwanted baby in the airport toilet.

In my opinion Australians should refrain visiting any country where their government allows such treatment of women to occur.

The realisation that the spectacular stadiums built for this football event in two years were at the expense of workers' lives makes me think our government should come down harshly on Qatar for their inhumane treatment of women, and we should advise any possible travellers to boycott Qatar.

Graeme Kime, Cameron Park

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

PEOPLE from Port Stephens can visit Queensland, people from Sydney can't. Sydney people have been like outback flies on a dead dog in Port Stephens recently. The logic behind the Queensland Premier and her team's decision is no surprise.

Steve Barnett, Fingal Bay

CITY of Newcastle council is looking more and more like a dictatorship everyday; questionable accounting practices ('City wipes $101m bill', NewcastleHerald 24/10) and censuring its detractors ('Elliott censured for leaking', Herald 29/10). What's next? Wake up Newcastle.

Phill Hatch, Paterson

IF, as reported in Thursday's Herald, it is true that Newcastle council's new offices have 99 car spaces ('Elliott censured for leaking', Herald 29/10), how is it that more car spaces aren't allowed in other civic developments, primary examples being the university and courthouse? I believe it is clearly a very hypocritical stance by the Council to discourage vehicles entering city limits when Council mandarins apparently enjoy such a privileged amenity.

Zenon Woloszyn, Rutherford

IT has become very noticeable that the rift is widening between government officials and various Indigenous-led movements seeking recognition and equality. I think the Black Lives Matter movement has added weight to the situation. The backflip by the National Rugby League to scrap the national anthem for their State of Origin series demonstrates the touchy environment that exists. Prime Minister Scott Morrison must stop this deep division and disunity throughout Australia and bring all Australians under one banner: a newly designed national flag. It must incorporate all three of the officially proclaimed Australian flags, being the Australian national flag, the Australian Aboriginal flag, and the Torres Strait Islander flag. Then all Australians would be proudly represented and united under one flag and not a few by one.

Dick Jenkins, Stockton

MICHAEL Hinchey (Letters, 29/10) attempted to clarify for my benefit, what he actually meant by suggesting that whether Gladys Berejiklian actually did anything corrupt herself is irrelevant. I'm no academic, but the University of Wollongong did help me to evaluate the odd passage or two some years ago and I'm afraid I found his efforts to spell it out for me a little less enlightening than some of his comments in the original letter (Letters, 24/10).

David Stuart, Merewether

CARL Boyd, like many, overlooks the mental health issues, the amount of people world wide plunged into poverty and the economical cost caused by the scare monger campaign run by these useless politicians. I will give credit where it is due though world wide not one flu death, not a single one. This is an outstanding achievement.