SENATOR Lidia Thorpe's outburst at our head of state has in my opinion proven she is not worthy to sit in the Australian senate.
There must be some mechanism to remove her?
Peter C Jones, Rathmines
Why Glendale is a slam-dunk for new stadium
THE logical location for the new basketball stadium complex is at Glendale. The land near Stockland, the former NSWGR railway workshops and Main Road is ideal. It would sit well with the Hunter Athletics and Gymnastics facilities.
All it needs is for the Basketball Association and the three levels of government to agree to build it there and then begin the construction. There would still be space for residential and commercial use and this would work well together.
Glendale is within easy reach of both sides of the lake, the coalfields and Newcastle.
A Lake Macquarie Transport Interchange with rail station and perhaps a light rail link to Wallsend and Callaghan University Campus would enhance the location even more.
It should happen, and I ask the relevant local state and federal members and the mayor of Lake Macquarie to seek urgent meetings with Basketball Association to see how the various governments can work to facilitate this much needed piece of infrastructure.
John Pritchard, Blackalls Park
Flag concerns with the Union Jack
AS monarchists everywhere have noted with clucks of approval, the King of Australia drives around Australia with his own Australian flag on his car. He does not fly the Union Jack or anything which includes a Union Jack. The King of Australia does not use anything foreign or partly foreign for a flag.
Surely at least one of the cluckers can demand that Australia and our states follow the king's example?
Also, could a second one of them demand that the state governors stop flying the Union Jack? It is the flag of a foreign country, after all. Monarchists everywhere know that it has nothing whatsoever to do with the king who the governors represent.
After that, another of them can demand that we play only our own national anthem for our own king. A foreign anthem is utterly wrong.
Grant Agnew, Coopers Plains
We're building towards disaster
THE federal Coalition has pledged to build 500,000 new homes in five years if elected next year. The plan includes helping buyers with water, power, and other necessities to speed up production. The big question is, who is going to build these homes. We currently have a massive shortage of qualified tradespeople in the country as well, a major shortage of building supplies. Migrants with the necessary qualifications are very hard to come by and with the Coalition's stand on immigration, the shortage will be impossible to overcome. They also plan to construct seven nuclear power plants in a short time frame. These plans are in the fantasy basket and cannot be taken seriously.
Darryl Tuckwell, Eleebana
Student objections worth hearing
NEWCASTLE university student representatives and local residents expressed legitimate safety and amenity concerns with the proposed location of large high-rise student accommodation in Honeysuckle ("Residents object to uni student accommodation", Newcastle Herald 21/10).
The latest NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) hotspot map of alcohol related non-domestic violence, validates these concerns. This area is the epicentre of some of the consistently highest rates of violence and sexual assaults in NSW.
University planners would also appreciate the research of our late Public Health Professor Kyp Kypri, that university students have some of the highest rates of risky drinking of their age group.
The cocktail of the perpetual existence of this alcohol fuelled violence hotspot, student drinking rates, shortcomings in responsible alcohol service and police shortages could sadly prove a deadly combination.
The NSW government's abolition of Newcastle's successful harm controls was based on the very shaky and deliberately vague claim that our CBD had "matured" and was "vibrant".
The new alcohol vibrancy laws championed by Minister Graham may only compound alcohol harm risks in our CBD.
I believe they have eviscerated law-abiding residents' historic rights to seek reasonable noise and disturbance moderation, and legally challenge a small number of high-risk licence applications.
The vibrancy laws also deliver further concessions and freebies to the alcohol lobby in terms of weakening industry compliance and enforcement, removing some licensing fees, and I fear eventually 24-hour noise and trading hours for some of the most violent pubs in NSW.
The first principle of managing risks is removing the risk. No one is advocating a return to prohibition. Rather, we want the adoption of successful harm control measures with the industry paying its fair share of the high health, policing and social costs, to restore and sustain an impartial and a liveable city.
Tony Brown, Newcastle
We face a fork in the road
A WELCOME to country for King Charles and Queen Camilla in Canberra and a wonderful speech by His Majesty, only to be interrupted by Lidia Thorpe. So where does it stand? Australia Day? Invasion Day? What's it going to be?
Matt McAlary, Waratah
Sworn oath is first part of job
As I understand it, when a person takes the oath of office they swear allegiance to the monarch. If Lidia Thorpe is not prepared to have allegiance to King Charles III then the senate president should have her removed. Such allegiance does not ever prevent criticism of the monarch or their office. I await her urgent removal.
Milton Caine, Birmingham Gardens
It's plain planes are a problem
SO aircraft contribute around 2 per cent of CO2 emissions, about the same as Australia, and yet we are spending billions on re-inventing the electricity grid to run on renewable energy, which is entirely dependent on the weather. We will soon be flooding Australia with disposable battery cars. Agriculture and mining will be penalised for methane emissions, while aircraft remain a protected species, because I believe the world economy needs them.
Steven Busch, Rathmines
Stand-off not the first bloodbath
I RECKON it's Peter Dolan ("Hostages key to peace process", Letters, 19/10), who doesn't get it or doesn't want to. International medical volunteers in Gaza say they saw no Hamas or evidence of them at their facility. Israel has been regularly invading Gaza since at least 1956 and Lebanon since 1948 and each time it's been a massacre.
Colin Fordham, Lambton
The right to bare harms us all
GARRY P Dalrymple ("Time to take aim at odd gun logic", Letters, 18/10), Americans have the right to bear arms. Australians used to have the right to bear fruit through hard work, but today the only thing bare is their cupboards (if they actually live in a house with cupboards). Tents and cars are a bit crowded with a cupboard and kids.
