Safety on Newcastle buses is certainly an issue ("Abused on the bus", Newcastle Herald 13/6). My partner recently had to catch the number 14 bus to a medical appointment. She said never again.
The number of feral people on the bus had her on edge. She said she actually feared for her safety.
After her appointment, she decided to call a taxi to take her to the interchange to get the Port Stephens bus home rather than take the risk of being on the 14 again as a lady by herself.
It's time the police transport authority blitzed the public transport services every day for three months to get these useless types under control, or better still, locked up.
Craig Foster wrote on social media after that goal in the World Cup last Sunday scored by the 20-year-old refugee Nestory Irankunda that:
"For most of us, we can't even imagine what Nestory's journey has been like... displaced, homeless, full of hope but in desperate need of safety. A chance. An opportunity at life. With a dream and a ball, making a new life, in a country with a proud history of welcoming refugees, but facing its own forces of opposition today. Nestory didn't just shoot the ball into the Turkish net, he struck a lightning bolt to the conscience of millions of Australians."
Does the Australian government have a conscience? In 2014, then-immigration minister Scott Morrison said that no refugee in Indonesia would be allowed to come to Australia, that he was "taking the sugar off the table".
That policy has stayed in place, despite changes of government.
About 12,000 refugees are living on the streets or prisons of Indonesia: having escaped certain death, only to face a slow death. There was a skilled visa pathway that a handful could access. Recently they were told it's all cancelled, even for those candidates who had job offers here.
As long as candidates are living in Indonesia, they are not eligible to apply for skilled visas to Australia.
They thought we were a decent country that upheld the Refugee Convention.
They didn't realise the Australian government had turned it into a lie.
What a pathetic policy. Shame on all anti-refugee parties.
Carl Stevenson talks about the Labor government "forcing ideological conditions on the people" ('Labor has ceded working class", Letters, 9/6). Sounds serious, but a bit rich from someone who loudly pushes his ideology on this page.
As for One Nation knowing "how to communicate with the working class", I agree. The party's policies and voting record tell the working classes loud and clear it doesn't care about them. As far as I'm aware, since she's been in the Senate, Pauline Hanson has consistently opposed wage rises for the low paid and the protection of workers rights generally. Her party has voted against the same-job-same-pay laws, and against legislation making it easier for casuals to become permanent. Earlier this year, bemoaning the unfair dismissal features of the industrial relations system, she said "you can't even sack anyone". All music to Gina Rinehart's ears, I'm sure. But this isn't the worst of it.
It's recently become clear that renewable energy and batteries are decoupling Australia's power prices from volatile global markets, helping shield consumers from severe electricity bill shocks due to the war in Iran. While Britain and parts of Europe and Asia are facing double-digit power and gas price hikes this year, many eastern Australian households will receive power bill cuts starting next month, driven by steep falls in the wholesale cost of electricity. Energy experts say that with the doubling of installed grid-scale battery storage over the past year, the national electricity market has "crossed a threshold", making it much better able to withstand fossil fuel price shocks caused by events overseas. I believe Hanson would try to sabotage all this and go full steam back to coal. How would that help the "working class"?
Again, reading your editorial ("Youth and opportunity are priceless", Opinion, 8/6), was worth the effort. However, the point about the rising generation's enviable four forms of wealth - time, health, youth and opportunity - fails.
Many have no prospect of buying a place, and must continue living at their parents' place well into their 30s. They cannot afford to have children, work insecure and unpaid long hours at highly taxed multiple jobs just to survive, and a growing number of young people face testicle and breast cancer in a worsening, grossly-polluted world.
There's widespread need for medications, especially anti-depressants, and there's a far weaker social fabric, where more and more are seen as your competitor.
Just see the rising number who report loneliness and the number of young men, especially, who are all at sea. It means great care must be taken when commenting on this besieged generation. On loneliness, our governments are missing in action. It is reported 70 per cent of Australians do not even know their neighbours' names these days. That defeats all having a fair go. Youth and opportunity are priceless, beyond extremely valuable, but are being wasted.
Julie Robinson ("Sinking feeling is a familiar one", Letters, 12/6), is there any chance that Tony Abbott could walk into the sea and be picked up by a Russian submarine? We'd have to change our address I reckon 'cause they'd soon send him back.
It's reported around 600,000 Americans paid $100 deposit for a Trump gold phone, $60 million from his faithful. When no phones were forthcoming, the preorder terms were updated to explicitly say the company does not guarantee the device will ever be produced or made available for purchase. Tough luck, suckers. Considering that level of Trump grift, I think the Australian government had better check the fine print of the beleaguered AUKUS "deal". We've already given the US about $2.2 billion for nothing tangible.
I also agree with Callum Pull that the 30kmh speed limit all the way along Honeysuckle Drive is just ridiculous ("Push for verdict on waterfront speed limit", Herald 13/6). It can even be a hazard as one spends more time watching your speedo than what's ahead. As for bike riders, most of them ride on the walkway along the water's edge.
