WITH the passing of Leigh Maughan, the Hunter has lost a special fellow ('Leigh in a league of his own', Newcastle Herald 1/3). Leigh drove the Sydney rugby league hierarchy crazy with his fanatical determination that this region be included in the premier competition.
I worked on radio commentary with Leigh and his philosophy was simple: "Our boys should be able to play at the top level in front of their families and friends and sleep here in their own beds that night".
To that end, he was obsessed. He achieved that dream and then proudly and faithfully served the club in various management capacities. He was a mix of intense seriousness and hilarious anecdotes. A wonderful character.
I've not met anyone else like him. I expect the Knights to acknowledge his passing in an appropriate and ongoing manner.
Vale Leigh Maughan.
Lindsay Young, Waratah
Policies outweigh personalities
CARL Stevenson's recent support of Peter Dutton is admirable. The real problem which people do recognise are issues of character.
Are leaders made of the right stuff? Courage, respect, resilience and compassion. Politicians know very well negative commentary works in alienating voters. Consequently we become very tough on our leaders most of which end up as "roadkill".
Generally we have become more immune to the negative commentary.
Most would like to see policies and outcomes they are producing, namely a strong broad based economy with strong policies securing our social structures.
I'm so glad the footy starts this weekend. "Go Tigers." My second team is the Knights, all Tigers fans know you need a second team.
Grahame Danaher, Coal Point
Dutton weighed as PM, not a mate
YOUR correspondent ("Don't judge Dutton on superficial", Letters, 1/3), suggests that Peter Dutton should be judged by what he stands for, not what he looks like. He goes so far as to state that he doesn't think Dutton would "change his character to be elected, because that's not him".
In his I have a dream speech, Martin Luther King dreamed that his four little children would "one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character".
I believe the majority of Australians seem to have judged Peter Dutton on the "content of his character" and found it lacking in terms of leading the country.
How he looks or whether he is the life of the party is irrelevant.
John Ure, Mount Hutton
Language rethink a worthy step
FINALLY, we are starting to get some recognition that balance is needed in reporting weather events. The Bureau of Meteorology chief, Andrew Johnson, has appealed for the government to stop labelling extreme weather events as one-in-a-100, one-in 1000, one-in-10,000 as it confuses the community and is very poorly understood.
It is unfortunate Mr Johnson did not go a lot further in his advice in the use of emotive words used by some of the press and so-called experts, in regard to abnormal events, such as floods and bushfires. Every one of these major events these days is "catastrophic", "unprecedented" and allegedly caused by "climate change".
The first major bushfire recorded in Australia occurred in February 1851, where fires covered a quarter of Victoria. The worst flood happened in 1852 when massive flooding on the Murrumbidgee River swept away most of Gundagai and 89 people were killed.
Perhaps it may be a good history subject for school students to get a proper perspective of the country they live in.
John Cooper, Charlestown
$60 bottles send wrong message
MY 10-year-old granddaughter wants a new "fashionable" water bottle costing $60. I was outraged when I heard this.
House prices are up, food prices are up, electricity and gas prices are up and now water bottles? Companies have social media and the internet to stimulate sales.
No, I don't want to live in a Communist country where prices are very tightly controlled, but there has to be a balance. What are we teaching our children? When I recovered my dignity I told my granddaughter to send her hard-saved $60 to charity and to watch the news to get a feel for the hardships other children in the world face.
My granddaughter thought for a while and said, "Oma, if you buy 2 bottles you save money and get them for $50 each".
Speechless.
Sue Boele, Hamilton South
The Coalition needs a plan to help battlers
I know the Coalition has opposed award wage increases for the low income battlers in NSW, and also voted to stop the coal and gas price controls and renewables projects which have now dramatically reduced the wholesale power prices. They gave Labor a power grid about to collapse, with power stations closing causing escalating prices and no real plan for a transition. They also managed the economy for nine years with low productivity, flat-lining wages. What are the LNP policies to lift productivity and wages, or get cost of living down?
Darryl Stevenson, Coal Point
Can politics get more forthright?
THANK you Mike Sargent ("Politicians often share some traits", Letters, 29/2), yes it's a sad truth that almost all pollies lie. I don't know how we change that but I do know that those who don't accept that truth are a big part of the problem.
Dave McTaggart, Edgeworth
Labor's numbers adding up
FRED McInerney ("Don't Labor point on economics", Letters, 2/3), says that "a few letters to the editor questioning the economic credentials of the Labor Party". I would suggest more than a few, particularly regarding the total waste of $450 million on the Voice Referendum and $40 million on selling the stage three tax cuts. I have no idea just what the "$1 trillion figure" is that he mentions, but I presume the 10 years in a row promise of an in-the-black budget he refers to is that of former Labor Treasurer Wayne Swan, which is strange coming from a staunch Labor man.
Ian King, Warners Bay
Nothing supreme in recent leaders
I HAVE encountered very few politicians who can be considered supreme leaders. In fact, even leader is a hard description to merit for almost every politician I have seen recently. To me the inference of someone entitling themselves to the name of 'supreme' is somewhat beyond the pale. Perhaps one will be sent to us, or is that the US? I remain quite disappointed.
