HOW democracy has changed. Phil O'Neill's excellent summary of fly-in candidates for Labor was very interesting, ("Political parachutists: celebrity status anxiety in a tough arena", Opinion 27/9). The slap in the face for local Labor party branches who find and nurture candidates who really know their community is obvious.
In the case of Jodi McKay, pictured, she was up against Bryce Gaudry who was doing a great job and reporting back to his branches and double checking local issues continually. It seems fee-paying local members have become mere fodder for election pamphlet help for head office. The people's party is no more; from the ground up I believe now has no meaning. How interesting that the Labor candidate for the Hunter will have an excellent Nationals candidate opposing him pre-selected by local branches.
Susan Macleod, Clovelly
Nationals can't delay any more
IF the Nationals are split over a fairly distant and hypothetical carbon emissions target, perhaps that's the price you pay for peddling a myth that it is fine to do nothing indefinitely, a policy of denial that's exposed Australians to greater climate risk, disproportionately affecting farmers who the Nationals supposedly represent and the young. Both the Coalition and Federal Labor must adopt a more ambitious 2030 target, plus a real plan for emissions reduction. A 2050 zero target by itself isn't enough and leaves the door wide open for more delay.
Jim Allen, Panorama
No incentive on the other end
IT is just as well Scott Morrison cannot deliver his suggested Christmas gift: the reopening of state borders, a bid to win the votes of the angry and fed-up voters in the locked-down states of NSW and Victoria.
The COVID-free states that trail in their vaccination rates are unlikely to open their borders before Christmas. Apart from tourist-oriented businesses, most businesses there have never closed, and employees remain at work. Why would these states introduce the rampant Delta strain? Why would they decimate their unvaccinated populations and overwhelm their underfunded hospitals? Voters should not forget that it was thanks to federal failure to order enough vaccines that we are all not fully vaccinated and borders are shut.
So, Mr Morrison is no Santa Clause. He is more like the malevolent and mischievous Krampus. If the COVID-free states open before Christmas, they risk receiving a most unwelcome gift.
Geoff Black, Caves Beach
It's an unforgettable betrayal
"I CANNOT believe that French people have such a short memory span. Have they forgotten the thousands of our young men who died defending them?" laments your correspondent (Letters, 27/9). No, they have not forgotten nor have they forgotten the one and a quarter million of their own troops and the six hundred thousand of their own civilians who were killed under the onslaught of the Central Powers.
My wife and I have experienced first-hand the gratitude and respect that the French people have towards Australia. We have stood at the Menin Gate in Ypres at 8pm, where every night - yes, every night - since 1932 (except during German occupation in WWII) a special ceremony has been held to acknowledge the Australian defence of the region. We have had a young French woman, on learning that we are Australian, simply say to us: "We owe you so much".
No, the French people do not have a short memory. But they are aggrieved at being deceived and humiliated by the government of a country that they believed was a partner in a special relationship, forged through the battlefields of Northern France. Yes, the submarine contract negotiated by the Turnbull government was a bad contract and perhaps needed to be voided. But the Morrison government chose to engage in subterfuge and deception rather than diplomacy and negotiation. To trumpet the new alliance with the US and the UK and leave it to the media to inform the French people and their leadership of the betrayal was the kind of conduct that perhaps we have come to expect from the Morrison government, however the French people did not know of the penchant of Morrison for secrecy, deception and for delaying action until it is unavoidable. The French people feel that they have been betrayed by a special friend.
John Ure, Mount Hutton
Road rage is far too rampant
SO I'm out driving today. To set the record straight, I'm a community nurse and my car is my mode of access to my clients. My car at the moment is my office. My car is my haven of safety. So it's the same old same old. Aggressive dangerous drivers in their plenty. They tailgate. They speed. They overtake and abruptly pull in front of your car so that you have to pretty much brake so that they don't collide with you.
They are young blokes, old blokes, women, mothers. All categories of people. And often in 4 wheel drives. To all you people that fit into these categories do you have any idea how intimidating you are, how scary you make the driving experience. I drive spot on the speed limit. Yep, more out of preservation of my licence so that I don't put my job in jeopardy and also I have a responsibility to uphold the reputation of my employer and of course my own reputation as a citizen of the community. I've seen first hand what happens when people are involved in motor accidents and it ain't pretty, trust me.
So my message; next time you hop into that motor vehicle of yours before you drive off, think about the consequences of what your driving can do. Even if it is only scaring the heck out of a community nurse driving around to attend care to people in their homes. Please.
Carol Selmeci, Murrays Beach
Responsibility lies in choices
SPEED cameras are making the state a large amount of money. I have been fined only because I was speeding. A friend was fined for not wearing a seat belt when he was not wearing a seat belt. How nasty is that? The sooner we stop trying to save lives of stupid people the better. It appears about 10 per cent are anti-vaxxers, ignore speed signs or don't wear seat belts. That should make a difference to population growth and global warming.
John Hollingsworth, Hamilton
Keep COVID patients contained
A RECENT piece ("13 positive cases in hotel", Herald 25/9) mentioned "a Newcastle East hotel has been locked down after 13 COVID-19 cases were detected on site. The cases were detected at Alloggio Newcastle Beach and have been moved into isolation at Alloggio hotel at Thornton, which is being used as a quarantine facility".
The question I would like to raise is, why are positive COVID-19 cases being moved from the Newcastle LGA into the Maitland LGA? Yes, the same operator may run both hotels, but surely the public health orders should state that they quarantine in their own LGA. It would be like moving positive cases from Sydney to Lake Macquarie so that they have a better outlook while in quarantine.
Let's keep the positives in their own LGAs.
Stewart James, Thornton
SHORT TAKES
REGARDING the RAAF Base water issues ('It's a mess', Newcastle Herald 30/9), imagine how bad it will be when the seas really start to rise.
Roland Inman, Booral
THE Knights are not looking to replace senior assistant Anthony Seibold, and are happy to keep the existing structure (Herald 27/9) . Maybe a new attacking coach is needed because they are so one dimensional and boring in attack. Take Ponga and a cut out pass away and we don't score a point.
Paul Skovgaard, Glendale
THERE is no doubt that China's recent announcement to stop funding overseas coal projects has the potential to reduce demand for Australian coal, ("Looking behind China's foreign coal investment withdrawal", Herald, 25/9). For example, Indonesia's plan to develop dozens of new coal-fired power stations in the next few years using Belt and Road money must now be under a cloud. Given the Sun Cable project supplying renewable energy to Singapore via Darwin, it's highly likely that Indonesia will want to jump on board and the Chinese decision will prove to be a boon for the NT. The Hunter's green hydrogen hub cannot come soon enough.
Ray Peck, Hawthorn
CARL Stevenson (Letters, 27/9): the electric cars being produced these days are 100 per cent recyclable and a lot of the components used to build them are recycled material. You seem to forget the amount of power and pollution that goes into making petrol and diesel cars that go on polluting until the end of their lives. Let's not forget that there were people who said automobiles were a novelty and would never replace the horse. Don't be one of those guys.
Bob Watson, Swansea
ONE could be excused for thinking that with almost 80 per cent of Victoria and NSW having had their first jab and under hard lockdown, case numbers should be dropping like a rock, but that's not happening.
Steven Busch, Rathmines
THE new AUKUS submarine deal is baffling, to say the least. The French are angry at the axing of their contract and the secrecy surrounding it. Hell, it took everyone by surprise. It looks like the decision had been made on the run, with no contact and, to my knowledge, no dollar figure put on it. The French have been gazumped and a couple of billion dollars wasted....again.
Neil Meyers, Warners Bay
SO Sydney people aren't allowed to travel to the regional areas when we get to 70 per cent jabbed? It didn't stop them before. Where do you think all our cases came from?
Mark Fenning, Mount Hutton
AM I the only person in Tighes Hill who wears a mask when going for a walk?
