I've noticed a lot of talk lately about people having problems parking in Newcastle. This isn't limited to the CBD.
It might interest Adamstown residents, particularly around Teralba and Brunker roads, that Housing NSW proposes to replace an existing single-storey aged-care property with a public housing development of up to four storeys high.
If approved, the development will include 24 apartments - 12 one-bedroom units and 13 two-bedroom units - with a whole 12 on-site car parking spaces.
Assuming one person occupies each of the one-bedroom units (12 people) and two people occupy the two-bedroom units (26 people), that's 38 people vying for one of those 12 on-site car parking spaces.
Where are the other 26 people going to park?
It's all well and good to force people onto public transport, but the transport has to be reliable and actually get you from A to B quicker than your car will.
There is already no parking in the vicinity of the Teralba Road site with a speed hump, no parking signs either side of the driveway and a bike lane across the drive.
All too often it seems like people let one or two things slide, and then wonder why it becomes a precedent.
You just have to look at the Broadmeadow end of Brunker Road. If you want to protect your right to park close to where you live/work, then you might want to take these proposed developments seriously before they become a precedent.
Jo Mackenzie, Adamstown
Hidden costs in aged-care report
The ALP's aged care taskforce report was released on March 11. Having read the report, I can only say anyone over 30 should read its conclusions and recommendations.
If implemented it will have big implications.
First, while the report makes many recommendations it largely kicks the can down the road in coming up with solutions.
In essence its authors seem unable to address the problem that more than 50 per cent of the Australian population will be unable to afford to pay for their final years and it seems the government cannot either.
The report suggests many ways to extract money from the 30 to 40 per cent of people who have saved and paid to enter age care for their final months or years.
My wife has been in aged care since a fall in 2022 and I have spoken with a number of people all of whom say how little the community understands about the cost of entering aged care.
Many families are pooling resources to find up to $550,000 to get either mum or dad into a home and then pay the many fees.
In my case the annual costs this year were $67,000 in cash and a further $25,000 in lost bond earnings.
The report mostly uses up space trying to work out ways to extract more money from me and other self-funded retirees.
John Davis, Newcastle East
Read energy promises' fine print
YOUR editorial ("LNP nuclear energy push a cynical ploy", Opinion, 13/3), rightly highlights the cynicism of the federal opposition's attempt to distract from the climate crisis and to prolong the use of fossil fuels for Australia's electricity needs.
I believe Peter Dutton and Ted O'Brien are disingenuous in proposing nuclear energy as the means of Australia honouring its climate change abatement commitments.
They must be aware of the realities: if construction on a nuclear power station started at, say, Eraring right now (a fanciful idea as it would take years, possibly a decade, to get the necessary approvals and legislation in place), it would cost $70 billion to $80 billion and it wouldn't start producing electricity until the 2040s.
This would have to be taxpayer money as, around the world, the private sector will not build nuclear without direct government involvement.
At current prices, nuclear-generated electricity is three to four times the cost of renewable energy. While the cost of renewable energy keeps coming down, the cost of nuclear energy keeps going up.
John Ure, Mount Hutton
Politics overpowering on nuclear
THE editorial ("LNP nuclear energy push a cynical ploy", Opinion 13/3) took the LNP to task for their very recent pro-nuclear energy policy.
It rightly asked why didn't the Abbott government in 2014 proceed with a nuclear power policy?
The answer may be that they didn't have a majority in the Senate where recalcitrant Greens and independents would have almost certainly voted down any nuclear energy legislation.
Coal power was cheaper to build in 2014 than nuclear and still is, but energy politics has become so toxic to coal generation that it's unlikely to get approved in any state.
Small modular reactors make sense but, as the Herald pointed out, "they do not, as yet, exist in any workable form anywhere in the world" though many have been planned.
As yet, 100 per cent renewable energy doesn't exist in any workable form anywhere in the world, and it appears unlikely that 100 per cent renewables will be online for any country this century.
The foundations for an approved nuclear power plant have existed on Commonwealth land at Jervis Bay for years.
It could be built now in a shorter time-frame than for a green-field site in the eastern states where left-wing state politics would again attempt to sabotage it. Why not do it?
Peter Devey, Merewether
Dogs inside? Why I've been speaking out
I MUST back Simon McCarthy's Topics on Monday that dogs don't belong inside dwellings ("Why dogs don't belong inside the house", Topics, 11/3).
When I was a lad we had a dog. The only time it came inside was during thunderstorms, and only then because we couldn't stop him.
Yet he was loved and played with and a normal dog in every way. Right now in my lounge room I have two overly large hi-fi loudspeakers. They sound sublime.
Whenever people who allow dogs into their homes visit and criticise the monstrous edifices I have a usual response.
I say that I don't have to feed them or walk them, and they don't jump up on guests. And they think I am weird.
Ray Dinneen, Newcastle
Prices driving some hard choices
WHEN I was 18 years old, petrol was 10 cents a gallon and a schooner of beer was 15 cents. Now petrol is $12 a gallon and beer is $12 a schooner.
When one has to make a big decision either to put petrol in the car or have a beer, it could be time to give up driving. Just a thought.
Darryl Tuckwell, Eleebana
Politics may beckon beyond Kerr
I NEVER thought I'd see the day that a white person would pull the racist card.
The English policeman that has accused Sam Kerr for calling him "a stupid white bastard" would never have seen the light of day if it wasn't for Sam's celebrity status.
I would suggest that this person would have been called much worse than this.
If this matter were to make it to court, I imagine it may have to be proven that he is in fact, "white; a bastard or stupid".
If it's the latter he may have to resign from the police force and go into politics.
Neil Meyers, Warners Bay
Everybody's free to make a choice
I AM puzzled by all the hullabaloo about Meta deciding not to pay media organisations for the news on Facebook.
I understand the potential impact that the loss of revenue may have, but why should Meta pay for material people or companies post?
We get no payment for anything we post. If media companies wish to post material on Facebook, are they not free to do so?
So why do they expect payment when none of us mere mortals get nothing?
Advertisers place material on Facebook because it gets a very wide and diverse audience.
That's their choice.
I am yet to be convinced that media organisations should get paid when no one else does.
