WHO would have thought that City of Newcastle council is apparently more afraid of vandalism than of its citizens catching coronavirus? Once again large signs have been erected along Bathers Way as a NSW Public Health directive telling all to wash your hands with soap or sanitiser while the council continues to provide neither in its public facilities, despite repeated requests over the last twelve months.
This means that local cafe workers, those who pick up dog poo or change children's nappies, Landcare volunteers as well as many pedestrians and beach goers from Merewether Baths to Nobbys Beach are denied the opportunity to remain COVID safe. I believe the hypocrisy is mind boggling.
Port Stephens Council has large soap dispensers in their facilities, as do many other councils. They would cost far less than the expensive ads currently in cinemas promoting Newcastle as "The Event City".
My last letter to the Herald on this issue was during Surfest, when we had many international visitors, yet nothing has changed. It seems the vandals have won.
Robin Wilson, Merewether
Heavy metal ain't all pollution
MATTHEW Kelly's report ('Coal ash keeps piling up', Herald 20/10) raised concerns about the increasing coal ash waste dams from power station coal combustion. The report Out of the Ashes II by the Hunter Community Environment Centre complained that 100 tonnes of heavy metals leach into NSW waterways every year from the combined 216 million tonnes of accumulated coal ash waste.
Sounds terrible? Well, maybe not.
That 100 tonne figure is equivalent to less than half a gram per tonne of coal ash. The description "heavy metals" was used three times through the story. Heavy metals, such as lead and cadmium, are metal elements that are both dense and toxic.
Of the seven environmental risks from coal ash listed: selenium, molybdenum, boron, vanadium, nickel, zinc and copper, not a single element was a heavy metal. Selenium and boron are not even metals, let alone heavy ones. The question of leaching into waterways would depend upon the mobility or solubility of those elements into water. Most of those listed would have formed insoluble products with the coal ash and not be very mobile.
Coal ash could be productively used in lots of products including cement making, road base and road surfaces. It is still a waste accumulation problem but hardly the toxic problem that the Hunter Community Environment Centre seems to think it is.
Peter Devey, Merewether
Range of responses is telling
HAVING read replies to my letter (Letters, 12/10) it has been a worthwhile exercise. I refer to Dave McTaggart (Short Takes, 15/10). My letter was directed at the behaviour of modern citizens.
Mr McTaggart has focused his criticism on "the first major hurdle will be reaching out to Australia's first nation's people, and being guided by them to at least try to bring the country back to what they looked after for over 60,000 years."
I suggest he read the book Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe, firstly to educate and gain a superficial acknowledgement of the capabilities of the first nation's people, and secondly to inform him that the present life he describes for them has been brought about by the invasion. There is no comparison regarding lifestyle as compared to Papua New Guina.
As for Steve Barnett's ridiculous interpretation that I meant returning to the landscape of 60,000 years ago, in my opinion it demonstrates his difficulty with prose. Thanks to Julia Risley (Letters, 12/10) and Graeme Tychsen (Letters, 12/10) for expressing the 'greatest danger of our time' so eloquently. Don Kirkpatrick (Short Takes, 14/10) calls out Greg Hunt (Short Takes, 10/10) by claiming "an old dog can't change his spots."
Pat Garnet, Wickham
Not on my watch, Mr Morrison
THE Prime Minister was appalled during Parliament on Thursday to find out the Australian Post head Christine Holgate defends a purchase of four $3000 Cartier watches for very well paid senior executives. The PM ordered her to stand down and his colleagues showed their indignation at such waste of taxpayers' money.
Now normally we would all jump up and down at such apparent waste of our money.
But the PM Morrison and his cronies who think that paying $30 million for a 12-hectare property worth only $3 million is a bargain or good value.
Well we're all watching and not feigning indignation like the PM and we are disgusted at the utter hypocrisy.
I believe that this is why we need a federal ICAC right now.
Mr Morrison, like Mr Turnbull, promised it years ago, and like everything SlowMo does it's at snails pace. Big on rhetoric, but lacking any substance. In my opinion he is like a show bag; full of useless, shiny crap.
John Undery, Kotara South
Value is what someone will pay
HOW much is too much in a seller's market? What's a parcel of land worth in the middle of a billion-dollar project, that by refusing to sell at land value could hold up the works for months on end?
It's worth what someone is prepared to pay in a seller's market to avoid hold ups. As for the price, I believe the purchaser has no option but to pay the asking price rather than face repercussions regarding contract finishing time, with penalties possibly higher than the difference in price.
What would you do if you owned the land or held the contract?
Carl Stevenson, Dora Creek
Don't deny us information
The front page of the Herald on October 16 drew attention to the cost of a Parliamentary call for papers from Hunter Water Corporation. ('Waste water', Herald 16/10).
The papers are in connection to a review of the Lower Hunter Water Plan. The article raised the question of the value of the call for papers in relation to the cost.
I am a member of Saves Chichester Valley Group. The public availability of these papers allowed us to access information that deeply and directly impacts our future.
I don't consider the call for papers a waste unless Hunter Water has already settled on the content of the revised Lower Hunter Water Plan, and as such the community consultation process would not be as it appears.
If we are to form opinions that are to be of any value, then we need access to this information. If the cost is too high, don't deny us the information. Come up with a better way of providing it.
Allan Rumbel, Upper Chichester
SHORT TAKES
NOT only are older citizens getting poor care in aged care facilities, but sexually assaulted with 50 assaults reported weekly. The neglect and crime must stop. People need the best protection and care possible, not the worst.
Julie Robinson, Cardiff
DOES anyone else find it ironic that Prime Minister Morrison sticks the boot into Australia Post's chief executive for sanctioning expenditure of $12,000 for wrist watches because four of her underlings performed well, yet treads relatively softly on the largesse (and huge dollars) of the sports rorts and the government's purchase of land at Badgerys Creek (just two examples)? Arrogance is a word which comes to my mind.
Ken Dighton, New Lambton
BRAD Hill (Short Takes, 21/10) suggested the reason why Alan Jones and Donald Trump are popular is because "they talk facts and do not tolerate fools". An alternative view is they present distorted facts or fiction to a gullible audience, many of who are fools.
Lloyd Davies, Stockton
BRAD Hill (Short Takes, 22/10), we are in deep trouble if us so-called fools start listening to and agreeing with Trump and Alan "I'm right and that's final" Jones. It's people like those that are creating so much unrest in the world today.
Wayne Grant, Waratah
NOW I know Brad Hill is having a lend of us, claiming that Donald Trump talks 'facts' (Short Takes, 22/10). Where do I start with possibly the biggest liar in political history? Maybe "The churches will be full by Easter Sunday" or "One day it will disappear, like a miracle"? Or that his inauguration crowd was "the largest audience ever"?
Michael Gormly, Islington
BRAD Hill, I cannot sit by and read your ludicrous ideas any longer without making a comment of my own. For you to put Alan Jones and Donald Trump in the same category in my opinion shows how far from reality you actually are.
Alan Robins, Merriwa
IF someone was working for a boss, or some other type of god, and told them they were free to say to their enemies what they'd be sacked for saying to them. Then I'd take that freedom and neither praise, nor condemn, in case there be an enemy who in future became a friend.
Dave Wilson, Bar Beach
GEOFF Black's letter (Letters, 21/10) asks questions which should be answered but probably, sadly, may never receive an honest response from those currently in charge of our nation. We plebs must keep asking questions in hope of receiving answers. We must also keep pushing for an ICAC which will demand honest answers. I was quite amused at his use of the words integrity and politicians in the same sentence.
Robert Tacon, Adamstown Heights
THE POLLS
ARE additional Newcastle to Canberra flights good news for the Hunter?
