OVER the past 20 plus years the Newcastle Herald has printed my letters, for which I am thankful. In the August-September period you featured me in a few stories on the value of the local press in which it was noted that I had been raised in care by the Sisters at St Patrick's Orphanage Armidale as a two-year-old in 1930. As a result a 90-year-old lady in Calvary Care at Tanilba read the story and realised that she had also been in care at St Patrick's at the same time. The lady contacted the paper and asked that her number be passed to me so that we could talk.
I was delighted to contact the lady, Hazel Parker, and we had many calls and visits recounting stories of our time in care. We agreed it was a period of considerable hardship as the country was going through the Great Recession. However we also confirmed our mutual great affection for the sisters and our appreciation of their care for us under such difficult circumstances. Both of us had grown to have rewarding and happy lives that reflected what we had shared in the orphanage.
I was delighted that Hazel could be my guest at a lunch, pictured, organised by Kate Washington MP and attended by ALP leader Chris Minns and four other MPs to honour my life of community activism where she learned of the success of my sister, Joan Bielski OA, AM and brother Dr James Ward, as well as my OAM. Hazel had lived a rewarding life including much overseas travel before she and her late husband retired to Mallabula.
It is with great sorrow that I report, after a short illness, Hazel passed away on Sunday December 18. I am deeply grateful that I was able to share the last months of Hazel's life as I did her early childhood days as we talked at length about those days in care and the benefits we gained from the Sisters' example of service to others. I express my deep condolences to her family and my greatest thanks to Hazel for confirming the memories we have of our life in care over a very difficult period of our lives.
Frank Ward OAM, Shoal Bay
Uni staff have sent clear message
AS a 20+ year University of Newcastle employee, I am heartened by the resounding no vote from both professional and academic staff to the offer put on the table by management. The numbers speak for themselves, and the message is loud and clear: you do not care to understand us.
I say "do not care to" because only hours before the result was to be made public, the Vice Chancellor sent out a final Christmas email of congratulations and holiday cheer which contained no fewer than 11 contact details for mental health services. Can there be any clearer admission that the university's workforce is suffering under a regime that I believe imposes unacceptable workload expectations on staff?
This could have been a matter for negotiation, but was left out of the "deal". The new Academic Workload Allocation Model (AWAM) has now been implemented, I believe without any transparency, and in my opinion will surely see access to those services rise. Add that to the smoke-and-mirrors offering of more "flexible" leave, a supposed "industry-leading" pay rise of 9.5 per cent over three years (it is not - other universities have agreed to numbers like 15 per cent), and the exclusion of real rights for casual/sessional employees including pay for actual hours worked (or even voting rights). I believe the significant majority of staff at the university have effectively said they have no confidence in university management. It would be good for management to use the Christmas break to take this on board, to say the least, and reflect on why so many staff are unhappy.
Sharon Cooper, Hamilton
Bans won't drive free speech
SINCE Elon Musk bought Twitter, I'm continually amazed by the people who attempt to paint him as some sort of anti-establishment industrialist martyr. But not only has this trust fund man-child proved himself to be devoid of people skills and humour by banning anyone from making any sort of parody accounts, Musk has also recently posted a tweet that read "my pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci". So now the man who named his son "X A-Xii" is making fun of pronouns, and also wants to have the former chief medical advisor to the President of the United States Anthony Fauci prosecuted simply because he disagrees with him? More recently, Musk has gone on a spree suspending the Twitter accounts of any journalists who report about him in an unfavourable manner. Yet despite all this, there are some who actually still believe that Musk is a champion of free speech.
Adz Carter, Newcastle
Not all on right are extremists
JENNA Price, ("Where's the web safety for adults", Opinion, 16/12), wrote about the recent tragic murders at Wieambilla, Queensland as being no accident and launched into an attack on right wing conspiracy theorists even citing the One Nation party, as if they were somehow responsible. QAnon even got a mention. I found little substance in Ms Price's article, but plenty of dark shadows and fearful suspicions from academics. It was enough to make us worried about what was allowed over the internet. It was all looking, well, like a conspiracy theory. Monday's editorial ("Conspiracy theories aren't harmless", Opinion, 19/12), continued the concern. Noting that "one of the three", Gareth Train, "was involved in an on-line conspiracy group". What, only one of them? And former school principal Stacey Train had refused a COVID jab. How dare she?
The terrible events that occurred in Queensland should not be a subject of cheap humour. But nor should those murders be exploited to gaslight anyone and everyone right of centre, libertarians, anti-vaccine mandators or just simply those against COVID lockdowns as being far-right nationalists or mad conspiracy theorists as I believe Deakin University academic Josh Roose has done.
Notice how the media never refer to people who are right of centre as being "right-wing" anymore? They're all "far-right extremists" now apparently. There are no "far-left extremists" of course. The Herald was right in being concerned about "crazy views" being expressed. But one of those crazy views may well be the view of Jenna Price that we need to keep adults safe, just like we do for children, from conspiracy theorists and far-right extremists. Ms Price may be just the person to do that for us.
Peter Devey, Merewether
Who's in power on energy front
MR Albanese may be going to great lengths to ensure the cost of domestic power supply is reduced, but I believe he misses the point regarding the value of power supply. The domestic market may keep him in a job but he should be considering the industrial and commercial market's that provide most other jobs. People won't be able to pay their power bill regardless of how low it may go if their workplace loses power.
Any form of electric transport's availability will be decided by the reliability and availability of sufficient base load power, not by the price. Look at the big picture. It's the big picture that will power our economy. The value of an unlimited amount of industrial power supply cannot be underestimated, it's only when power supply becomes scarce that it becomes unaffordable.
Carl Stevenson, Dora Creek
SHORT TAKES
WE all know there is a skills shortage in the workforce, but if Kevin Rudd is the best Labor can come up with to represent our country in the US then things really are dire. Mr Rudd has a bigger ego than Trump.
Dave McTaggart, Edgeworth
KEVIN Rudd, as ambassador? I believe he's a nasty, divisive person. Even half the Labor Party don't like him.
Don Fraser, Belmont North
DAVID Stuart, (Short Takes, 20/12), argues that the electorate should have a say regarding Morrison's place in Parliament. It is a false proposition, and could be applied to any unpopular or rejected candidate. Sadly, Morrison's continuing bad behaviour has ruined any legacy, or rights he might claim. Obfuscation, avoidance, misinformation, blaming others, self promotion - these failures should mean his own party will deny him any further role. The Robodebt RC report might conclude the matter, we shall see, but those who want Morrison to retain his voice and keep his seat should first insist he undergo a serious course of ethics.
Warren Dean, Newcastle East
CONSERVATIVES on these pages seem unable to grasp a simple logical point. Peter Devey takes me to task about his hero, Donald Trump, ("Judge by his actions, not his words", Letters, 19/12). I keep asking why, if the FBI has had Hunter Biden's laptop since 2020, there have been no indictments. Peter seems to think I was taking a swipe at the FBI, and defends their integrity even under Trump's presidency. This however only reinforces my point. As we both assume the FBI has been honest, it only shows there was nothing on the laptop that concerned them. Meanwhile I hope Peter and his friends all purchased one of Trump's hilarious digital collector cards that show him as a Transformer-style superhero, only $US99 each. He needs the money!
Michael Gormly, Islington
ROB Bernasconi, if you were not entertained by the World Cup final, a 3 all draw after extra time, then you must be a very hard man to please.
Ethan James, Whitebridge
NOT sure where Robert Dunning, ("Pipeline didn't carry all the oil", Letters, 20/12), gets his facts from. Reuters reports that most of the oil that would have been transported by the Keystone XL pipeline will use existing pipeline infrastructure, not roads or railways. And the lost jobs are not in the "thousands" as Mr Dunning claims but rather the hundreds. Most jobs were temporary. Unlike Trump, Biden is concerned about climate change. He wants to reduce consumption of dirty fossil fuels and invest more in clean renewables. Biden's recent Inflation Reduction Act with $369bn for emissions-cutting measures is the largest in US history, and while not perfect, is a big step in the right direction.
