SO many whingers and pessimists firing off missives about the high-speed rail (HSR) proposal (Letters, 2/9/24).
Please note that over $50 billion has already been spent on the Sydney metro tunnels, with more to come, and the advanced tunnelling technology developed for those projects is about to be used to complete Snowy Hydro. So are we going to sit here and moan while the rest of the state gets on with it? There is zero reason for reticence.
As a coastal region we have every advantage over the rising temperatures of western Sydney, which will soon be unliveable without air con, and never mind the past. The HSR is certainly now doable and will be a necessity by the time it's completed in over a decade. We need to demand it - not pour scorn and contempt on a serious initiative. Let our region get ahead of the curve for once, rather than lagging behind the rest of the world when it counts.
Kate Newton, Dudley
Tighten belt, don't blame profits
RUTH Burrell complains about the obscene profits the large supermarkets make ("Supermarkets smiling all the way to bank", Letters, 29/8). Apart from the fact that businesses are in the business of making profits (that's why investors invest in them) the profits are hardly obscene.
For every dollar spent in the supermarket they make between 2 to 3 cents. If they were to return the whole of their profit to reducing prices, the saving on each article would be 2 to 3 cents in the dollar.
I've got a better idea for making far bigger savings on your food bill. I'll bet I could go and look in Ruth Burrell's shopping trolley, or anyone else's for that matter, and find at least six items that are completely unnecessary. The largest aisles at the supermarket are the chips, biscuit and lolly aisles and the soft drink aisles, most of which are completely unnecessary and actually harmful.
How many people buy bottled water at $3 to $4 dollars a bottle when they could fill it up at home for a cent or so? How many spend $5 for a cup of coffee to take to work when they could take their own ingredients and make one for a couple of cents? The same goes for paying $8 for a sandwich you could bring to work for a fraction of the cost, and on it goes.
I don't mind people wasting any amount of money they like, but then don't whinge about the cost of living.
Jan Phillip Trevillian, Fennell Bay
Ban the bikes in busy area
I THINK that it is about time that the City of Newcastle, and maybe the state government, do something about these so called 'fat bikes'. Recently while swimming at Merewether I saw six of these bikes ridden by teenage boys doing wheelies, and speeding around the baths. Someone is going to get seriously injured, or even killed. These riders had a complete disregard for people around the pool.
Whilst this is a problem throughout Newcastle, I think the walkway between Merewether surf club and the ocean baths should be a bike free zone. There are too many pedestrians, many of them young children. Bikes just do not mix in this area.
Derek Thompson, Newcastle West
Theme parks are not habitats
ATTACKS like the Dreamworld tiger trainer mauling last week are common and inevitable. The 47-year-old woman, said to be an "experienced" tiger handler, suffered multiple lacerations and puncture wounds to her arm.
Captive tigers are still bound to follow their instincts. Such confrontations show that these animals experience profound levels of stress, anxiety and agitation. Captivity is a living hell for them and denies them the opportunity to engage in any of the activities that give their lives meaning.
Entertainment parks like Dreamworld don't actually help to conserve endangered animals, because those animals are almost never released. Those who are rarely fare well, since being reared in captivity leaves them ill-prepared to cope with life in the wild.
The best way to save animals from imprisonment is simply to stay away from facilities that display animals as living exhibits for humans to gawk at. We can protect endangered species by supporting habitat conservation, not animal prisons.
Dr Desmond Bellamy, PETA Australia
Sink subs and tackle bushfires
EVELYNN Campbell believes that defence spending should have increased 50 years ago ("Defence spend long time coming", Letters, 31/8), and I agree. We certainly need more fire trucks and our Hercules transport aircraft should have been fitted with the cassettes that allow them to be used for fire bombing. Some of the Navy's surface ships should be converted into hospital or emergency response vessels capable of providing for coastal towns afflicted by climate disasters. We desperately need a dedicated stationary orbiting satellite or perhaps drone coverage for detecting fires in their early stages along with a rapid response system which is the only way we will be able to deal with fires in this hotter world. Fortunately all the above can be afforded by ditching the AUKUS system and this would probably leave us with enough to build a few hospitals as well.
Don Owers, Dudley
Fast rail can't cost the true trip essentials
IF they ever do build high speed rail from Newcastle to Sydney, I hope they don't use the shorter travel times as an excuse to exclude toilets from the carriages.
Peter Ronne, Woodberry
Yank US tone from commentary
I SEE that our Aussie commentators, like the Olympic ones, are copying the American pronunciation for the words defence and offence. I believe these blokes, sorry guys, are letting themselves and other proud Aussies down with their slavish following of the American butchers of the English language. Not "cool", just pathetic copycats with little national pride. I really hope that this letter doesn't cause these fellas, sorry guys, OFF-ence.
Bob Salter, Stockton
More than houses needed to live
NEW unaffordable apartments in West Newcastle. That's why there is no hospital, school, parking, grocery shops and other infrastructure there.
Amanda Johnstone, Mayfield
Little power in paltry savings
I CAN do one better than Fred Saunders ("Electricity bill saving a meagre one", Letters, 31/8), and his estimated electricity cost savings of $10.94 over the next 12 months. We received the same letter estimating our savings to be $9.25. Whoopee! What a joke, considering everyone's electricity charges have gone through the roof lately. Do these suppliers think we are all idiots or what?
Ian King, Warners Bay
Stadium switch sells us short
HOW can it be that a government body can decide to take from the community a sporting facility being a basketball stadium, that it will replace with high rise housing, then develop a sporting precinct virtually next door and declare that a basketball stadium does not belong there. That cannot make sense, especially when so much land is available. I guess the reality is that sporting precinct is maybe only a suburb name for another housing development.
